The first thing that comes to mind is that it feels like that there was more than was some kind of game played by a team to figure out all the cool shit they could do with the footage. Something about the lack of theme and how many ideas are jammed together in succession. It's like the Adventure Time of music videos. This isn't a complaint, it just occurred to me that my dream job would involve the rapid generation of creative ideas. I can only wish.
This is the first I have heard of Jain, and I love the song, and I love the video. The imagery is super cool... there is definitely a thread tying it all together, but it isn't obvious, or structured like a "story". I wonder if she's a Zef artist? Zef is this school of art/music from South Africa that is pretty much centered around the band, Die Antwoord, who you probably know from the track "I fink u freeky". But their music videos tend towards these stark and striking images, that are roughly linked together conceptually, but not really telling a story, either. Die Antwoord is definitely more hardcore than Jain, but even if you don't like the music, you will probably find the videos fascinating. (And their track Fatty Boom Boom also includes some amazing images as well. But it's more of a story.)
Hoh shit, I didn't even make the connection of Jain and Die Antwoord. I fucking love them. The difference between the two is the way that I imagine the work between the two. In my head, both have to be story boarded, but Jain's video requires some working together with the director and the editor / animator in order to work.
Editors wield the real power. Walter Murch is a brilliant and famous example. The RadioLab episode called +"Blink" has Murch talking about one of his interesting discoveries from his extensive film editing career. It really can't be over-sold... anyone who has done any audio or video editing knows that there is a deep and visceral power held by the editor. I've had the privilege of narrating a movie or two. And when I saw what the subtlest edits could do to the viewer... it was sobering. We really are machines, and we can be programmed and manipulated in scary-easy ways.
Since I saw your post I became obsessed with Jain. I didnt know her, but heard -and liked- another song on the radio: Come. The clip for it, has some weird visual too. Jain is a french artist from Toulouse a medium town in the south-west. Her mother is a metisse ( from Madagascar) . And she spend her youth living in others country (which I guess explain her choice to sing in English) She wrote that song when she was 16. But waited 8year to wrote her first album. With the help of 'Yodelice' (whoever the dude is) In an Interview she confirmed that she want to have a visual identity (so she always wore the simple black robe with white collar) . In that, she acknowledged copying Stromae, and his choice to have distinct visual. Thanks for posting that weewoo²
Might wanna start building up your portfolio of weird shit to showcase! The video is creatively disruptive. The visuals don't seem to follow a theme, like you said. That reminds me of the African rhythm, where what seems like a simple jam of sounds that just seem to work are, in fact, an interposition of several rhythms.