WATCH: KARMIN CHANNELS WILLY WONKA IN ‘COME WITH ME (PURE IMAGINATION)’ MUSIC VIDEO
The latest music video by Karmin may be trash… but you can give them props for trying.
You may have heard of the cute-couple pop duo from their good old YouTube days, when they rose to Internet stardom from performing covers of popular songs like Look at Me Now and Super Bass, which have amassed hundreds of millions of views.
Formerly signed to Epic Records, Karmin has chosen the path taken by independent musicians, aiming for “a more musically honest approach.”
Question is, was it worth it?
Interestingly, Come with Me (Pure Imagination) is a cover remix of Willy Wonka’s bittersweet Pure Imagination from the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
It sounds pretty wacky, and it is.
The song itself is inventive and it’s impressive that Karmin have completely revamped a song that was more suited to musical theatre than pop. Producer Nick Noonan has added catchy beats and dreamy instrumentals that underlay Amy Noonan’s (yes, they tied the knot) expressive, but otherwise flat voice. Honestly, this song is pretty soul-dead, or maybe that’s just me.
As for the music video, it’s not unusual for Karmin to produce eccentric works that are more influenced by ‘artistic’ style than substance. This one has shamelessly low production value and looks like something out of a B-grade horror flick.
I can appreciate that they were largely inspired by the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory surreal aesthetic, with Amy appearing out of a very green chocolate river like some kind of lagoon creature, as glowing fairy versions of herself dance around her. But this is just too tacky.
All of this takes place underneath an anthropomorphic moon, with Nick’s isolated avocado-green head appearing out of the bushes and staring creepily into the camera. Oh and there’s some weird ass flowers with human heads that sing, “Come with me and you'll be/In a world of pure imagination”.
No thanks. If this is Karmin’s version of paradise, I think I’d rather just go home.
