Parisian musician Zimmer has shared the new visual for his latest collaboration with Panama entitled “Make It Happen,” which we are proudly premiering today on Pursuit Of Dopeness.
The music video was directed by Claire Palliser from Parisian studio A440, the CGI based video dives deep into Zimmer’s imagination, which he calls “a magnetic journey into a mystical world.”
The video plays out like a surreal scene from a movie, showing the central character walking through a museum of finely sculpted figures depicting memories, with an audience comprised of different versions of himself.
Zimmer’s highly anticipated self-titled album is out now via Roche Musique. Watch the video above.
Along with the premiere I got to ask some questions to the track’s protagonists to learn more about their work together, the concept of the video, and more. Check out our Q&A below.
Oscar Oliva (OO): We’re premiering the video for “Make It Happen,” which follows a marble statue walking about in a museum surrounded by other sculptures ending with its scaled-up head floating into the skies. Who came up with the concept for the video? What is the message/story the video is depicting?
Zimmer: The video is a part of a global vision for the album. It’s a collaboration with Ludo from H5, Claire Palisser the director and myself. I like people to make up their own mind about my videos. There’s lots of symbolism, surrealism, things that can be interpreted in different ways. The one thing I can tell is that there’s a continuation of the character in Mayans and on the cover of the record, which is a 3D scan of myself, and that the other character is actually Panama.
OO: How did you connect with ZIMMER to feature on “Make It Happen” for his latest album?
Panama: “I had previously worked with Baptiste (Zimmer) on a song called ‘Wildflowers’. I found the process of collaborating together really rewarding and I was extremely happy with what we created. ‘Make it Happen’ is a continuation of our collaborative partnership, except this time we went about doing things differently.”
OO: What’s the creative process like when you’re working together and how has it evolved the more you collaborate?
Panama: Well now that we’ve finished our second song together, I can tell you that it’s been a very quick way of working (from my side of things). When you’re working with someone else it can be beneficial because you’re able to not worry so much about your decisions creatively. In regards to the process we used for composing ‘Make it Happen’, I came up with the initial idea on the piano at my studio at home (in the Blue Mountains of Australia). From there I sent the ideas across to Baptiste and he started mapping out a plan for how the song would be arranged and structured. You’d have to ask Baptiste, but I think he had a really creative day/night where it all came together for him in regards to the production process.
Zimmer: It’s a very natural process. On make it happen, I sent Jarrah a bunch of instrumentals. He came up with the beautiful vocals and a new piano idea. I ended up re-writing an entire track around these ideas, scrapping the original instrumental. When a song flows, I usually finish it in just a couple hours, which was the case for Make It Happen.
OO: Your sound has grown progressively more somber compared to the sunnier sounds featured throughout your 2017 EP Hope For Something. What has inspired this new artistic direction?
Panama: Well, I do like to explore different emotions in my songs. I think it keeps things interesting for me as a writer, and it also creates more of a dynamic shift between moods on work I’ve done. Composing music that is more reflective and sombre is something that comes to me quite naturally. I did explore this kind of thing earlier with my ‘Always’ record, although I think my interpretation of sombre has changed since then.
OO: Give us a little insight into the recurring theme of huddled monochromatic faceless figures that has been used previously in the cover art for “Wildflowers” and now for “Make It Happen.”
Zimmer: They were faceless on Wildflowers but on Make It Happen it’s actually my face ! It’s a play on the idea of crowds and singularity, which is a recurring theme in my music. I make music to connect people, to create than one magical moment when you feel like things are coming together. Yet at the same time I make music mostly alone, and my music can be listened to in a more self reflection state.
OO: Is there a chance you two are doing something like the Simpsons did in the 90s when they hid a McBain movie by splitting clips of it in different episodes of the show?
Zimmer: I wish! We’re playing with a similar idea with the director, let’s see if we can make it happen.
