Bastille - survivin'

What this video is

Released on 6 October 2020 during the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic, 'survivin'' arrived as both a personal artistic statement and an inadvertent cultural document. Written before lockdowns began, the song addressed the unspoken emotional toll of Bastille's seven years as a band — the pressure to maintain a public facade of success — but its themes of barely holding on resonated profoundly with global…

Why it matters

The video represents a pivotal stylistic evolution for Bastille, marking their transition from stadium indie rock toward a groove-led, art-pop identity. The fully animated format — relatively rare for a British indie act of their scale — elevated the single beyond conventional music video norms,…

The director

London-based British/Iranian filmmaker Reza Dolatabadi is known for visually ambitious animated and mixed-media music videos. He served as director, producer, and writer on the 'survivin'' video and had previously collaborated with Bastille on the 'WHAT YOU…