Our Holi celebrations are noisy, boisterous, fun and unmatched by ANYONE else. What happens when a bunch of foreign artists try celebrating Holi in their music videos? You be the judge, as The Sherp has handpicked a handful of them for you to decide!
1. Coldplay – Hymn For The Weekend
The music video itself caused quite a stir in the country for its apparent “cultural appropriation” and Sonam Kapoor’s appearance. But, the boys from Coldplay celebrated Holi in our country (who cares if it was off-season?), much to the amusement of several locals and a few hardcore Chris Martin fans!
2. Iggy Azalea – Bounce
Apart from the blatant cultural appropriation, Iggy Azalea’s infectious hit Bounce got a music video shot entirely in India. While most of the video is filled with wedding sequences and elephants (duh), there’s this Holi sequence towards the end that shows the Australian drenched kids among the colours, while her white sari STAYS WHITE?! How is that even possible?
3. Kesha – Take It Off
Trust the Americans to play with coloured powder in a skating rink. While this Kesha video might be Holi celebration goals, we don’t have many open skating rinks in India. Bummer, right?
4. Madeon – The City
Fancy hopping from building to building and throwing coloured water balloons? This video is definitely for you! They have much-better water guns, shields and even colour bombs! The song matches the entire Holi vibe though, as Madeon brings colour into his disco-infused songs!
5. Paramore – Now
If you’re more of the ‘Holi warfare’ kind, this video for Now by Paramore is definitely for you. It’s twice as fun when there are cute army costumes to protect yourself from all that colour. Don’t mind all the monochrome at first; this entire video is about how Paramore stops armies from fighting by spraying coloured powder instead. Holi’s the festival of happiness, indeed!
6. Regina Spektor – Fidelity
Don’t panic; the Holi part is towards the end. Watch as this conventional couple plays conventional Holi by covering their faces in colour and throwing powder in the air. Nothing else.
7. Calvin Harris – Colours (Colourfonia)
https://vimeo.com/26906724
Though it’s an unofficial video for Calvin Harris’ Colour, it is really well-made. Watch as these amazing girls play Holi (or try to play) in slow-motion. The entire video’s in slo-mo, and it’ll make you use that iPhone filter when you play Holi!
Have some more music videos where foreigners try to bring in Holi influences? Leave them in the comments!