"Popstar"
Rico Nasty, APG

Concept

Jason, Joyride's Creative Director, was hard at work in Los Angeles with Rico Nasty on the rollout for her debut studio album Nightmare Vacation, then COVID-19's stay at home order hit in March of 2020. Jason and Rico were sent back to their homes and were unable to continue working on the rollout, that is until Rico called Jason with an idea to do COVID's first stay-at-home video.

Shooting Approach

The song was called "Popstar" and the title and catchy hook demanded rockstar visuals that quite literally popped. Jason and Rico fell in love with a late 90s - early 00s pop-punk aesthetic. The trick then became having Rico shoot it without putting her or her family in harms way of COVID-19. 

Joyride created a simple shot list and a rough animatic to direct Rico's performance and requested camera angles. Despite it being a bit nightmarish, it got the job done and clearly communicated the angles needed for production.

Post

Post-production for "Popstar" was completed in just 1 day, with minor edits made on a second day. From the first cut Rico was in love with Jason's vision and Joyride's post and VFX execution on that vision. 

Reception

The single and video for "Popstar" was released days after its conception and just 9 days after the stay-at-home mandate. The video garnered tens-of-thousands of fan interactions, was named one of the best music videos of 2020 by Paste Magazine, and received praise from other major publications. For more info on the creation of "Popstar" watch the behind the scenes here.

Credits & Final

Starring

Rico Nasty

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Shot in

Maryland, VA

Directed By

Jason Carman

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Produced By

APG

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Shot By

Juug Films

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Post Production by

Joyride Studios Inc

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Special Thanks

Malik Foxx

Rico