Bakar’s new music video is a huge, joyous after-school dance

When the singer Bakar linked up with the London-based photographer and director Tom Emmerson for the release of his new track Lonyo! (the name of the artist who made the original track, Summer of Love) Tom referred back to a mental bookmark: an Instagram video of South African kids dancing in uniform in a school playground. With so much “AI doom and gloom steadily taking over the creative industry”, Tom wanted to make something totally human. And what gets more human than a dance video?

The wonderfully warm video features school children dancing on a playground touched by the last of the day’s sun – it’s almost feels like a celebration of the end of the school day. The song itself is an upbeat and minimal house-inspired banger, peppered with booming 808s and Bakar’s tastefully modulated vocals whilst a sample of children singing bursts with positivity.

Tom’s frequent work with AntsLive in music videos such as Captain Ants and Number One Candidate shows why his knack for elevated and conceptual works is so sought after by clients like Adidas, Reebok and Grammy award-winning rapper Doechii. Knowing how to expand or minimise ideas into their most fun and vibrant forms, one of Tom’s greatest strengths is that he knows when to be hands-off. “It was so simple, it was just about finding the right cast and letting them do their thing in collaboration with our choreography team: Joe Grey Adams, Jordan J Funk, Aisha Amuah,” says Tom, who worked with production company Business Club on the final film.

Positive media involving children is making a comeback in what has been described as a culture of “bleak depictions of Generation Alpha” and Tom wants to help change the tide. “We definitely all need a little positivity at the moment,” shares Tom. The POV of the music video looks as if the viewer is standing on top of the school, whipping from one dance troupe to the next – lending itself well to large-scale choreography, and it’s undeniably triumphant.