Winnetka Bowling League have shared a new music video for their single “Congratulations,” the title track from their most recent EP. The video was filmed in Los Angeles, and directed by Caitlin Gerard.
“We made a video for ‘Congratulations’ that’s about freeing yourself from the pressures of online perception and we got to play the song 23 times while a machine shot foam at us,” Winnetka Bowling League lead singer, Matthew Koma, said in a press release.
“Congratulations” sees a social media obsessed woman working to make sure all of her content appears perfect, going so far as to ask her followers which outfit she should wear for the day. The pressure of maintaining her presence online soon becomes too much to bear, as she cuts the outfit her followers had picked, eats her cake with her hands and ruins her makeup, slathering lipstick all over her face. She finds an alternate dimension to crawl through, meeting Winnetka Bowling League as they’re performing their song in front of a foam bubble machine.
The upbeat tone of the track matches the picturesque world that the woman had tried to create on social media, Koma’s lyrics reflecting her descent from the online world with “Congratulations on your good life/Are you elated?/Are you swimming on thin ice?/Did validation have a high price?/You’re telling everyone ‘the weather feels so nice.'” The flowing instrumentals bring a bright feeling to the song’s critiquing lyrics that emphasize the envy felt on social media.
Koma, born as Matthew Bair, is known for his work with Hardwell, Zedd, The Knocks, Shania Twain and more. Koma had helped write Zedd’s Grammy Award winning song “Clarity.” Koma created Winnetka Bowling League alongside Dan Book, with the two releasing their self-titled EP in 2018. Congratulations came as the group’s second EP, and had been released earlier this year, in September.