Ex-Swedish House Mafioso Axwell Crowdsources ‘I Am’ – Premiere
For their joint track “I Am” featuring vocalist Taylr Renee, former Swedish House Mafia member Axwell and production duo Sick Individuals took an unconventional route with the video, calling on fans to submit their own visual creations. “We decided to try something a bit different for the video of ‘I Am’ and give new film directors the brief,” Axwell tells Rolling Stone. “Genero.TV [the platform they used] was a concept I’d liked for a while. We put it up on site and I didn’t know what to expect.”
The 25 DJs That Rule the Earth
Their expectations were quickly exceeded by the quality of submissions, so the artists decided to make the video a collaborative project, enlisting a handful of their favorite applicants. “The level of entry [was] really incredible,” Axwell says. “When we were over 40 videos in, I decided to get more than one of the directors involved in creating a film for all the versions of ‘I Am.’ It’s been a great process to get this track out in so many ways and see so much fresh talent.”
The end result is an uplifting video about a missing person’s reunion with his family, after living on the street and being discovered by his brother’s personal assistant. On his bio, director Matthew Laeng says, “Most of what I shoot [is] highly influenced by my experiences. I enjoy making films that create some type of emotional impact the audience can relate to – whether it be through the characters, the visuals, or most importantly, the story.”