Reminiscent of many 2010s music videos due to its self-conscious, ‘fly-on-the-wall’ style cinematography and wildly ambitious choreography, this video emphasises that ‘Ravers’ really is a love letter to Goulding’s Queer and Alternative fanbase.
It is three and a half minutes of beautifully camp visuals and funky rave aesthetics. Thus, effortlessly accompanying the techno beats that drive the whole track.
Directed by Sean Price Williams, who has also worked with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter and Addison Rae, the video opens with Goulding arriving at an underground rave space ready to dance the night away and forget all her troubles.
The first few moments emulate the music video for Nicole Scherzinger’s ‘Wet’ – a pop princess in cool but casual clothing about to dance for her life in an eerie abandoned building. On a technical note, like Scherzinger, Goulding dances with precision; the choreography is expertly executed with outstanding precision and verve.
Then comes the peak of the song and video, which sees Goulding really let loose, throwing her hands in the air, dancing with a crowd of bohemian, eclectic friends like no one is watching. This creates many sequences that mirror the dazzlingly chaotic video to Rita Ora’s 2012 smash hit, ‘How We Do (Party)’.
The whole project feels empowering and unapologetic. There are boys kissing boys, girls kissing girls, and lots of pearls and leather on show. This is certainly not a subtle, understated exploration of underground nightlife; that is for sure.
The video serves as a marker for Goulding’s shift in style ahead of the release of her upcoming seventh studio album, ‘I Know Too Much’ (out September 4th). She is playing around with genre, embracing her dance-pop roots by embodying a trance, euro-house, clubland-esque vibe on her own terms.
This is an album that bodes to be a ready-made Mighty Hoopla setlist. And if ‘Ravers’ is anything to go by, Goulding should almost certainly be headlining the festival next year; you heard it here first… The next time I go to a club, I want to hear this club classic and pretend that I’m in this music video. It’s that good!
Cory Gourley
Image: ‘Ravers’ Official Single Cover
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