IDLES have shared a new music video for their song “Grace,” and it sure looks a lot like Coldplay’s famously melancholy video for “Yellow.”
In fact, it’s almost the exact same video — only in the “Grace” visual, Coldplay’s Chris Martin is singing the words to the IDLES song instead. The video was created with deepfake AI technology to give the impression of a 23 year-old Martin mouthing the words to “Grace” in the same way he did in the “Yellow” video.
IDLES frontman Joe Talbot claims that the idea for the video occurred to him in a dream, and shortly after having it, he brought the idea to Chris Martin himself. Martin not only approved, but later helped train the AI to make his lip-syncing look more realistic. To make things even more dreamlike, however, the video’s director Jonathan Irwin occasionally blurs Martin’s movement, offsetting the already uncanny presentation. Watch the video for “Grace” below.
IDLES are gearing up to release their fifth album, TANGK, this Friday, February 16th. The “Grace” video arrives on the heels of their electrifying and intimate show at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom last week, as well as their performance of TANGK single “Gift Horse” on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. The band has a long list of tour dates this year in support of TANGK, including a fall North American run. Get tickets for US dates here, and international dates on viagogo.
The band also recently wrapped a brief Asian tour, playing Hong Kong’s Clockenflap festival along the way. Read our Q&A with IDLES conducted at Clockenflap, where the band goes in detail about their live shows, their new album, and more.