New Order has shared the music video for their single “Be a Rebel,” which appeared on their EP of the same name that had been released in September. Spanish director NYSU helped to create the music video, returning to work with New Order after 2015’s “Restless.”
“We’d previously worked with NYSU from Madrid when they created a memorable video for us to go with ‘Restless,’ and their imagination and creativity with film really struck a chord with the band,” New Order said in a press statement. “For ‘Be a Rebel,’ it has been great to team up with NYSU again, and their inspirational treatment and unique aesthetic compliments the track with a very original vision.”
The music video follows a young couple trapped in a state of purgatory, the woman informing her former lover that she has met someone else. The synths begin to swell he lays in a bed looking off in despair, the woman sitting a desk anxious to get out. She shoots him with an arrow, the video depicting his sense of heartbreak at their ending relationship. A disc slips out of his chest as the track continues its enthusiastic synths, the two soon dancing in colorful hues.
New Order released the single back in September, the song coming as their first in five years. Along with the single, New Order announced that they plan to tour with Pet Shop Boys during the fall of 2021, the tour dates making up what had been cancelled for 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. New Order’s Bernard Sumner revealed in November that he is currently covering from COVID-19, saying he felt that the illness was “like Russian Roulette.”
In 2019, New Order released the live album ∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So It Goes.., from New Order’s 2017 performance at the Manchester International Festival (MIF). New Order’s latest music video for “Be a Rebel” follows their 2015 music video for “Restless,” which had also been directed by NYSU.
Photo credit: Marv Watson