David Knight - 12th Mar 2018

John Newman goes back to his Yorkshire roots, and shows his true mettle, in Ozzie Pullin's impressive video for Fire In Me.

Filmed in Hull, this starts out in a boxing gym, where the sparring match that follows suggests that Newman is on the road to a big title in the ring. But Pullin's video defies expectations, and ends up showing him in a far more impressive light.

Laced through with a rollicking performance in a working men's club, it eventually pulls the narrative and performance together, and then delivers the valuable message that John Newman does not need to fight to win.

OZZIE PULLIN:

"I wanted to create a video that stepped away from the old John Newman, or what people perceived him to be and make something that felt mature.

"John came to me with the idea of incorporating boxing, but I didn’t want to make it all about that or try to make him out like a legit boxer. It needed to just feel like a small thread in the overall narrative. A catalyst for all the action that comes afterwards.

"As a fellow northerner it was essential for me we shot in Yorkshire and what better place than the current city of culture, Hull. This location provided us with authentic backdrops that fit the overall 'gritty' aesthetic that I was aiming to create. It also helped with shooting on 35mm film and street casting the entire video."