With so many things packed into a nearly one-and-a-half-minute video, Los Angeles-based indie pop group Smallpools are exceeding expectations with their music video for the new fast-paced single “Run With the Bulls” — and it’s premiering exclusively on Billboard.
“The song exhibits paranoia,” singer Sean Scanlon tells Billboard. “The voices come from different sides as if they’re voices in your head. A rock in your shoe that you can’t stop to fix because of the feeling of a stampede approaching. You’re worried you won’t make it, that the seats are all taken, but in reality, there are so many available. You remind yourself you run with the bulls.”
Scenes in the video rapidly cut from the band playing in what appears to be a small white room then immediately transforms into different shades of color along with a dance scene between Scanlon and a female dancer. Then a person with a teddy-bear head and a knife comes for Scanlon, further intensifying the paranoia. It is a chaotic video that continues to spin out of control the more you watch it, but don’t blink because chances are you will miss something important.
“Run With the Bulls” taps into the visual idea of being out of control. “The video attempts to portray these anxieties and mood swings, where a moment of overwhelming confidence is then quickly questioned and shadowed by doubt, and back again, all the while being distracted by random thoughts, desires and imaginations,” Scanlon told Billboard. “Our minds are not easy to control.”
Watch the video for “Run With the Bulls” below: