Will Joseph Cook - Be Around Me

What this video is

Released September 9, 2020, 'Be Around Me' arrived during the UK's COVID-era digital music surge, when independent artists were pivoting entirely to streaming and YouTube-first releases. Will Joseph Cook self-released the track on his own imprint Bad Hotel, exemplifying the post-major-label indie model that defined early-2020s UK alternative pop. The video's Peckham, London location grounds it in a recognisable…

Why it matters

A defining artefact of the 2020 UK indie-pop wave, merging guitar-driven songwriting with digital-native visual production. The video exemplifies a mode of music video-making where YouTube-bred filmmakers and indie-pop artists share aesthetic DNA — DIY, warm, fast, intimate — creating a cohesive…

The director

Bertie Gilbert (b. 1 May 1997) is a British-South African director and writer based in London. A former child actor known for playing Scorpius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and appearing in BBC series Horrible Histories and a Macbeth…