Kevin Bronson on December 2nd, 2020

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It’s great to have fans. Even better to have superfans.

The video for the Bleu single “I Wanna Write You a Symphony” is the work of one of the latter — and it’s an ingenious visual for a genius song.

First, the song: Released in March, the latest from the songwriter born William James McAuley III details how he would profess his love in music, and as he lists the ways, the tune shifts styles accordingly. It’s pure songwriting flex from an incredibly versatile artist and producer who has worked with the likes of Demi Lovato, Big Freedia, Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez, Michelle Branch, Hanson, Air Traffic Controller and Alexz Johnson (among many others) and has written extensively for film, TV, video games and advertising.

The video is the work of Graeme Wilson, a filmmaker and marketing guru from Moscow, Idaho, who started following Bleu’s career in 2008 and decided to contact him after Bleu casually mentioned in an email newsletter that he was puzzled about how to put his pile of new songs out in the world. Wilson offered his services, pro bono.

The songwriter was interested in a lyric video for “I Wanna Write You A Symphony,” but, Wilson says, “I didn’t want to just do what most lyric videos do: display a digital text readout over a nice-looking texture or other aesthetic. So I came up with this idea for a character to go into a record store and find all these records with each lyrical phrase on them.”

Bleu went for it — and even wanted to design a couple of the faux record covers himself. So after the script was written and the artwork designed, Wilson shot the video at Revolver Vintage & Vinyl in Moscow, with his brother Gunn Wilson in the main role and Gunn’s wife Abi as the girl at the register.

Wilson says he was thrilled to be “collaborating with someone who cares about craft. It was always clear from his music that Bleu cared about the craft of songwriting and dialing in an aesthetic, so it was incredibly gratifying whenever he was stoked about one of the finished covers, a particular shot, or the finished product all together. An amazing time.”

As for Bleu, whose recent collaborations include Taylor Locke and Gabriela Bee, he is currently plotting next year’s release of his sixth solo album. He’s also working on an upcoming tune with Kate Pierson of the B-52’s and new material from recent Island Records signee Owenn.

||| Watch: The video for “I Wanna Write You a Symphony”