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Robyn 'U Should Know Better' feat. Snoop Dogg by Decida

Davis Silis - 8th July 2013

Forget the fact that Robyn's hit album Body Talk Pt. 2 was released three years ago. Some videos are just worth waiting for. Like one where Robyn and Snoop Dogg swap genders, strike up a motley friendship in London, practice dance moves in a teenage bedroom, tend a questionable botanical greenhouse, and ride or die together in a bright red, old-school Volvo.

This has to be one of the better examples of late-night, inebriated 'hey wouldn't it be awesome if we shot a video about…' conversations actually turning into a bizarrely great video. Which is exactly how the idea came about, between Robyn, director and long-time collaborator Decida and one of their friends, who would go on to play Snoop.

Decida's snappy pop style really comes through in every scene, shaking up signature choreography with vivid art direction to create a parallel universe where it totally makes sense that Robyn would be a rambunctious blonde teenage boy hanging out with a 20-something Swedish female Snoop Dogg.

Robyn explains how the video came about: "Decida came along for a part of the European tour I was doing, we had dinner, drinks and laughs with Decida's friend Pernilla and we were talking about how much Pernilla looks like Snoop. It was there and then that Decida and I decided to pursue our idea of making a video for U Should Know Better where Snoop and I switch gender. All we needed to do was to find a 'little Robyn'. A year later in London, we did."

Decida:

"Hopefully the U Should Know Better video sparks some laughs, but also thoughts on what identity really is. Would you be the same person in another context? Does society have certain expectations of a person based on class, gender, colour, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and cultural background? How much do these expectations then affect your so called self?

"I kind of like the idea that we grow up in a transnational pop cultural mosh pit were you can choose who you want to be instead. All of this is what our 2FACED1 project is about, to know identity is dependent on context and therefore is something fluid."
 

Davis Silis - 8th July 2013

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Decida
Producer
Mira Bajagic
1st AD
Richard Newman

Camera

Director of Photography
Sam Brown
Focus Puller
Sarah Rollason
Steadicam
Barney Davis

Art

Art Director
Lucy Hayley

Casting

Lead actor
Tyler Keohane
Lead actor
Pernilla Philip

Editorial

Editor
James Norris
Editing company
Whitehouse Post

Grading

Colourist
Björn Frithiof

VFX

VFX
Maceo Frost
Post production company
Splice

Davis Silis - 8th July 2013

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