M83 'We Own The Sky' Official video - M83 'We Own The Sky' Official video

What this video is

Released as the fourth and final single from M83's critically acclaimed fifth album Saturdays = Youth (April 2008, Mute Records), 'We Own The Sky' arrived at the intersection of the synthpop revival and the early YouTube creative economy. The contest format — in which Anthony Gonzalez invited fans to submit their own official music video — was a pioneering model of participatory media that prefigured the…

Why it matters

The video is a landmark artifact of the late-2000s indie electronica / dream pop moment, representing both the aesthetic zenith of M83's Saturdays = Youth era and a pivotal early example of fan-competition-as-official-content. It crystallized the 'youth nostalgia' visual language — golden light,…

The director

Young Replicant is the directorial moniker of Toronto-born, Los Angeles-raised director Alex Takacs, who co-founded the collective with creative partner and producer Joe Nankin. Takacs studied graphic design and media at UCLA. The M83 'We Own The Sky'…