Watch Gary Allan’s Intoxicating ‘Hangover Tonight’ Video
Rather than cast one leading lady in his new music video, Gary Allan recruited about a dozen, filling the three-and-a-half minute clip for “Hangover Tonight” with photogenic camera operators, makeup women, directors, gaffers and production assistants.
The video-within-a-video begins with Allan sitting in front of a mirror, receiving a last-minute touchup before walking into a large production studio. There, while cameras roll, he rips into “Hangover Tonight,” pausing several times to discuss camera angles with the director, lounge on a couch with his backup singers and, as the song winds to a close, cast a few knowing looks in the direction of his favorite crew member. During the final shot, Allan and Miss Crew wander down a hallway with two highball glasses and a bottle of liquor, looking to celebrate a hard day’s work in style.
“Hangover Tonight” is the lead single from Allan’s next album, a still-untitled follow-up to his ninth record, Set You Free. He co-wrote the song with Cary Barlowe (Lady Antebellum’s “American Honey”), Jesse Frasure (Florida Georgia Line’s “Sun Daze”) and songwriter-turned-solo-artist Chris Stapleton (Josh Turner’s “Your Man”), with all four writers looking to pour the sounds of Motown records and southern R&B classics into something new. Allan compares the song’s throwback vibe to Del Shannon’s “Runaway,” which he covered on the 1999 album Smoke Rings in the Dark.
Allan, who performs today at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, will remain on the road for much of the summer.