April 2009: J Williams, Jonny Love, Ladi6, Luke Thompson, Lydia Cole

The siblings and the shoes, taxi driver confessions, a different tropical island, touring the country, and a reflective surface.

J Williams featuring Lavina Williams “Stand With You”

J Williams teams up with his older sister and Australian Idol star Lavina Williams for the inspirational ballad “Stand With You”. While the Williamses emote atop Mt Eden, the video follows a wannabe hip hop dancer. He his life goals: to get a pair of sweet Nikes and to win the local talent show. Fairygodfather J provides the shoes, while the dancer shows up to the talent show and outperforms acts like the skipping rope jumper, the saxophonist, and the drum soloist to earn a standing ovation. But did he win the competition? We don’t find out, but at least he has his sweet Nikes.

Director: Ivan Slavov

Jonny Love “Take Me Home”

In the “Take Me Home” video, Jonny Love plays a black-cab driver, only he’s in Auckland, not London. In one busy night, he picks up a succession of passengers who all leave something behind that the next passenger takes, and so on. The video also frequently cuts to Jonny eyeing up a sad looking girl. The items left behind vary, including a colouring book, a corsage, a box of Fererro Rocher (!) and a guitar. How do you leave behind a guitar? At the end of his shift Jonny drops off the sad girl and wonders what might have been. Nothing, actually. He goes home and washes his cab.

Director: Ivan Slavov

Ladi6 “Bang Bang”

Oh, scream! This video was shot in New Caledonia! It even includes some scenes outside the Tjibaou Cultural Centre, which was designed by the acclaimed architect Renzo Piano. As well as just hanging out amongst the pines and on what looks like Anse Vata beach, Ladi6 is also shown performing at a live show, which might be New Caledonia’s Pacific Tempo festival, though I’m not sure if that’s still a thing. It’s really nicely shot and it’s just nice to see a different Pacific island starring in a New Zealand music video.

Director: Oscar Kightley
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Luke Thompson “Satellites”

This video was filmed during Luke Thompson’s Little Blue Bus tour of New Zealand (12 dates!) in April 2009. The video captures a lot of mundane life on the road, endless travelling (though, realistically, not all that endless because it is New Zealand). It’s not until three minutes into the four-minute song that we actually get to meet Luke and experience him as a performer.

Director: Mark Fruish
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Lydia Cole “Tonight” – missing

“Tonight” sees Lydia sitting and playing her guitar in a white studio with a sunny yellow circle behind her. Below, a reflective surface is slowly working its way up, threatening to swallow her, like the murky swimming pool water of Fur Patrol’s “Dominoes” video. It’s quite stark and arty compared to the sweet folky pop of the song.

Note: “Tonight” was previously available on a random video hosting website, but it’s since been removed.

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