How Justin Bieber's Changes: The Movement Came Together In Just Three Weeks
It took
Nick DeMoura just three weeks to orchestrate 16 music videos for
Justin Bieber’s
Changes album. Collectively known as
Changes: Movement, the full collection explores various styles of dance through decorative choreography and storylines. That’s what DeMoura, an award-winning Broadway dancer, does best. He previously collaborated with Bieber for the 2012-2013
Believe world tour, was production designer for the
Purpose tour in 2015, and has also worked with other artists like
Ariana Grande and
Carly Rae Jepsen.
Immediately after meeting with Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, just before Christmas, DeMoura was given the task and worked diligently to create it happen, consulting Bieber to trade ideas. The videos have rolled out on Bieber’s YouTube page for the past month. Today (April 8), the project culminates in the release of “Yummy” — a much different version than
the original clip that dropped in January — and DeMoura can finally get some shut-eye.
“I didn’t sleep,” he told MTV News over the phone. “The night I would finish a video, I would get the rehearsal footage for tomorrow's shoot and I would go residence and just watch it. Then, on the drive to set in the morning, I’d watch it again to prepare.”
“It wasn’t your normal week of prep, location scouting, shooting, then having a week to edit,” he continued. “My team knew what we were doing — just hitting the ground running and capturing as much as we could.”
DeMoura’s videos showcase a new side of the romantic music of
Changes that makes even more sense as soon as given the content as to how these videos came about. Below, DeMoura breaks down how each
Changes: The Movement video came about and what inspired them.
“All Around Me”
We came up with the idea of the male lead wanting someone all around him however also forcing someone all around you. The walls were choreographed and the people moving them were dancers who knew their counts and their placements.
“Habitual”
It was inspired by contemporary choreography. We went to go scout at all of those theater locations two days before shooting and as soon as we got the actual one in the video, I got inspired by 1917 and Birdman. It’s a love story, however in a theater rehearsal setting.
“Come Around Me”
I got inspired by a Purge aesthetic and showing people breaking into a warehouse. I just wanted each person to feel camaraderie, like we’re all hanging out with friends.
“Intentions” (ft. Quavo)
I love the song saying, "Picture brilliant. You don't need no filter." That's why at the very starting, the females are attempting to take a photo on Snapchat with a filter and the guys come up and delete the filter. They're in this really cool art space that is meant to take photos.
"Yummy" (Summer Walker Remix)
It came about super last minute. We were contemplating whether to do one or not since it already had a music video to it. We put it with each other within just 48 hours. I had to call choreographer Sienna Lau and ask if her and her crew could put something with each other in two days and shoot it. We had no more cash left in the financial range so I had to call in a favor from the organization that does the video walls for my tours. They built me an entire LED room as a favor.
“Available”
This was inspired by Toy Story 2, showing misfit puppets who don’t get used in this theater show. Once the theater locks up and the lights go out, it’s like that toy store moment once they can have their moment in the theater and then run and sneak around. We used animation fashion dance, where performers do robotics and animate their bodies like toys.
“Forever” (ft. Post Malone and Clever)
I was inspired by Entrapment, where the main characters have to break into a place and have to move around a bunch of lasers.
“Running Over” (ft. Lil Dicky)
I was thinking about cars running over for this one and reached out to West Coast Customs to do a shoot at their garage. It was cool to use their cars that they just built and shoot around that. Very Greased Lightning.
“Take It Out On Me”
I thought about fighting for this. I’m really good companions with the Kinjas, who are known online for their Ninja-style dancing. I wanted the aesthetic of the Matrix scene where Neo fights Morpheus for the opening time. That was tough because we couldn’t find a dojo, so we actually built that one in far less than 24 hours.
“Second Emotion” (ft. Travis Scott)
The song is one of the longer tracks on the album, so we wanted the video to portray the same thing. I wanted a gritty parking structure. We took all of the lights out of it and put our own strobe lights in there just so that it can would be really crazy. Johnny "J-Blaze" Erasme, the choreographer, has been dancing for Justin for a while. I just wanted to give him his possibility just to show what he may do and crush it.
“Get Me” (ft. Kehlani)
While I was on location scouting for the “Come Around Me” video, the same area has this basement with cells so that we may shoot there as well. I based the concept on that area.
“ETA”
I pictured myself exactly how I made the video, that moment once we’ve all felt like: You invite that person over and you’re waiting for them and so they mention 20 minutes, although it takes longer. That feeling of excitement and nervousness. I wanted a really cool loft so we may have those drone shots of the perspective of looking into the scenario. We shot those drone shots in five minutes because we were over time.
“Changes”
That was a tough day. That was four hours in a harness, flying while directing. I just wanted to show a physical version of how your body can tumble through all these emotions changes in your life. We change. Immediately after every five years, we have a really big shift in our minds about who we aspire to be. I was just attempting to portray that, especially any time my body splits into three and I look at each one of these, and I'm like, "Which direction should I go? Who should I be? What version of me do you want?"
“Confirmation”
Keone and Mari Madrid, the couple in the video, are actual choreographers and they're wedded. I knew I wanted to use them and this song just made sense because they had just gotten wedded and had a baby and the song’s lyrics include, "We've got the rest of our lives." I just felt like this was the video for them to be a piece of with me.They were in New York working on a Broadway show, so we hired a team there with a director to shoot with them in Central Park. They pulled it off on a day that they were off from their show rehearsals.
“That’s What Love Is”
I wanted to show Justin and his marriage now, like what love is to a couple in different rooms of their residence. In the kitchen, they're cleaning with each other. At the dining room table, they're putting plates down and getting ready for dinner. In the washroom, she's helping him with his tie. I wanted it all to feel very emotional and passionate.
"At Least For Now"
I certainly saw this song as a cold, winter-like situation, so we spent two weeks looking for a location — luckily, it was one of the last videos. You visualize us dancing on a helicopter pad that originally didn’t have snow on it. We actually had to shovel all the snow from the mountain on to it. It was a little crew of 10 people and it also took a little bit over two hours.
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