This Day in Pop: 'Scream & Shout' music video premieres in 2012 (November 28)

[PokemonSpears]

 

On November 28, 2012, will.i.am released the music video for Scream & Shout, featuring Britney Spears. It was premiered during The X Factor, where Britney was participating as a judge at the time, and it was later uploaded to his official VEVO channel.

 

The music video was directed by Ben Mor. It was filmed in October in Los Angeles. will.i.am described the concept for the video as "uber fresh fashion". He originally intended the video and the song to be released at the same time, but due to the song leaking, they had to officially release it a few days earlier.

The music video doesn't really have a storyline but it's more about the imagery and symbolism of the song. We see will.i.am and Britney in front of white and black backgrounds, in different poses and activities, as well as some extras and shots of several objects.

Ben Mor, who would work with Britney the next year for her music video Work *****, told MTV News that he had one word in mind for the production of this video "iconic".

He said:

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"I was very, very excited. Needless to say, I've always wanted to work with her and so completely looking forward to it, super stoked that I finally get to work with her. And she was absolutely super professional. [She] wasted no time, showed up before anybody else. [She] was spot on time, not a minute late. Her hair and makeup team, her glam team was amazing to work with. She did her thing. It was awesome to watch. She just lights up. The music kicks in, and it was just awesome. I can't say enough good things about her and her team. They were just awesome."

He also commented in the relationship will and Britney had with each other on set:

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"They definitely have like a brother/sister kind of camaraderie. You can tell they're comfortable around each other. ... Completely friendly, just completely natural. They were just sweet, effortless."

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"[the video] was essentially trying to reduce what the song is about to symbols. And that's what it was ... just really keeping it clean and iconic."

"Again, I think when I decided on the style, I knew it was going to be sleek, minimalist. I knew it was going to have a white environment, a black environment, and I knew that I was going to a fashion kind of world, so it's almost like a moving fashion spread. Making them multiple matched the beat and visually popped. It's just a stylist choice. It didn't take too much brains to figure out it looked fresh. What's better than 10 Britneys, you know?"

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"So to me it was just about, you know, every scene is like a photo. I just liked it, I liked seeing the human heads, and I liked seeing the gold chains off of the plaques and then making it scroll. And then it was an awesome way to introduce characters, some friends of will ... so that it wasn't just about them."

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"It was about trying to show some youth culture. To us, we both like what's going on with all the GIF madness. GIFs are kind of like the new photos. The whole video is like hundreds of GIFs put together, if you will."

About the disco ball in flames:

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"I got the image in my head like I wanted to see a disco ball on fire."

 

Ben Mor would also work with will and Britney in early 2013 to shoot the remix video of the song. He would also direct Work ***** music video.

Before the release of the videoclip, Britney Spears commented on working with will.i.am through an official statement: "There are few people on the planet who inspire me like will.i.am does. I couldn't be more excited to work with him again.  I can't wait for people to hear the song and see the video."

The music video became a hit. To this day, it's got over 969M views, making it the most watched video on YouTube of both artists. It's expected to hit 1B views in May 2023.

 

 

 

[GlitterRain]

What a moment  

[CHAOTIC STYLE.]

A global smash hit & top #10 of the most streamed song of 2012.

[Blackout2006]

We don't talk enough about how big Britney was in the early 2010s. She had just came off her biggest era in terms of the US charts, 4 WW hits, a remunerative deal with one of US' biggest talent shows at the time (X Factor), finished a successful tour, a splendid pop record, scored 4 top 10 hits and 2 #1s, won MTV's Michael Jackson Vanguard award and was the highest earning female musician of 2012.

 

She was literally on fire during this era and boom, she features herself in one of the top biggest hits of 2012. Whew

[PablitoXS]

I just can't believe it's been 10 years since S&S was released! I guess we are getting old, folks! haha

[levxy]

Happy 10th birthday! Now everybody go watch the video for 1 billion views!!!🔥🔥

[Fab britney]

In hindsight that song was huge, can’t believe it wasn’t milked for nominations at the award shows around that time (not including the Grammys)

[DulaPeeps]

I had such high hopes when this dropped. Maaaaaaan did that come crashing down quicker than the comet in HIAM 😭😭