See Dierks Bentley’s Ominous ‘Pick Up’ Video
A villain finally rears his ugly head in the third installment of the four-part Dierks Bentley video series that plays out a feverish love triangle.
The country star’s clip for “Pick Up” picks up where “What the Hell Did I Say” left off. All those drunken text messages from a secret lover have now been intercepted by the woman’s boyfriend. And now we know whose side to take, as the boyfriend’s true, violent colors come out in his discovery of his girlfriend’s infidelity.
Filmed in black-and-white, the climactic clip alternates between sexy and sinister — with flashbacks to the lovers’ trysts alternating with startling scenes of a fight between the woman and her jilted boyfriend.
“When you’re in the throes of a relationship, it can be crazy and lustful, even obsessive and jealous,” says Bentley. “‘Pick Up’ drops into the sequence as that point when you just have to be closer to your girl. For the storyline and plot of these videos, Wes [Edwards, director] definitely takes it there and puts a shocking spin on it.”
(In other words, make sure you watch through the very end.)
While it’s a yearning song with a dark, gritty video, “Pick Up” first resonated with Bentley in more of a lighthearted, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus kind of way. It’s sung from the perspective of a guy who’s about to lose his mind over his lady’s failure (or refusal?) to answer the phone.
“Guys always have their phone charged, ready to go. . . probably because we always have pockets and carry phones all the time. But my wife, it’s unbelievable. She screens me!” Bentley tells Rolling Stone Country with a laugh. “I’ll be on the road and I’ll let it ring, and I can tell she pressed ‘decline.'”
“Pick Up” is featured on the singer-songwriter’s upcoming Black album. With its title a nod to his wife Cassidy’s maiden name, the LP is sequenced in a way that takes the listener through the ups and downs of relationships.
“It’s a romantic album, but it’s not all happy,” says Bentley. “It’s just about love. . . the edgier and darker sides of it, too.”
This four-part video series, premiering exclusively on Rolling Stone Country, reveals never-heard tracks from Black, due out May 27th. The first in the series was Bentley’s duet with Maren Morris, “I’ll Be the Moon.” The last — a clip for the title track — will debut May 13th.