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Music

Dev Hynes Gives Himself A 90s Video Game Character Makeover

For the latest video of the Blood Orange project, the electropop frontman gets computer animated.

Devonté Hynes of Blood Orange, and formerly Lightspeed Champion and Test Icicles, has revealed his newest music video “Champagne Coast.” The video, directed by creative Haley Wollens, takes us to the singer’s apartment where a group of two dimensional girls (one of which is VICE’s Slutever star Karley Sciortino) dance around as Hynes sings from the screen of his laptop. The animated interiors are set against a New York skyline and just about everyone in the music video looks like they’ve come out a Second Life YouTube video or 90s video game (like Duke Nukem or Lara Croft to name a few).

In order to morph the real with the virtual, Hynes and Wollens teamed up with some of today’s computer animation gurus, including motion graphics artist Andreas "Nout" Schmidt and editor Jude Miller-Chapin. With their help, the whole video achieves a flat, photoshoped feel that mimics a Sims world or perhaps even a virtual MTV Cribs episode.

“Champagne Coast” is a track off Blood Orange’s Coastal Grooves, now out on Domino USA.