When Will Butler's single "Anna," from his 2015 album Policy, dropped in January, it was accompanied by a simple DIY video of Butler dancing to the song in a dimly lit field. For the official music video, he ramped things up with Emma Stone starring in a dance number aboard a cruise ship.
The video was directed by Brantley Gutierrez and has Stone playing the ship's damsel as she struts down the ships many corridors as the sailors on board swoon over her in an elaborate dance number.
Stone is dressed in a simple yet powerful white dress that pops against her bright red lipstick. The video opens like a scene out of Miami Vice with crystal blue water and Butler's hypnotizing synths pounding in your ears with its distinctly '80s vibe.
Butler repeats the lyrics "Count all the money, money, money, money..." over and over again to the catchy hook that gets stuck in your head as Stone has green bills thrown at her from sailors down the ships halls. She gets pretty into the role at one point eating the money and playing some sick air piano during the song's solo. Watch the video via Billboard below.
For those unfamiliar with his work, Butler is a member of Arcade Fire and brother to the band's frontman Win Butler. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the original score of the film Her.
For the podcast Song Exploder, Butler even breaks down the song into all of its parts. He considers the Korg MS20, which produces the gorgeous synth sound heard in the song, his primary instrument and he talks about why he added the modern saxophone sound and the discordant piano. Anna is apparently a very strong character that is loosely based on Anita from West Side Story, so it makes perfect sense that Stone was cast for the part.
Listen to the podcast from Song Exploder below to learn more about the intricacies of this relatively simple, yet infectiously catchy, song.
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