“Antisocial,” the new video from Ed Sheeran and Travis Scott, has something for everybody—provided “everybody” is a subset of the human population that really wants to watch Scott’s head explode, Total Recall-style, or Sheeran bully a robot. Released today in support of Sheeran’s new album No. 6 Collaborations Project—which, as we noted when the track list came out last month, features not only Scott, but also all other musical human beings—the video is a sort of live-action cartoon, catering to all the people who want to see Ed Sheeran leering at them while slathered in calavera make-up, or anyone who wants to see him get stung in the eye by a bee. (So, again: The gamut.)
The song itself is energetic enough, in an “Ed Sheeran singing over the top of a hip-hop beat” sort of way. But the real appeal is just how silly the video gets as Sheeran flips through his various personas. (It’s a bit like that Taylor Swift video with all the zombie Taylors, except a tad more self-aware in how intentionally dopey the singer is willing to look.) There’s also a bit that sees Sheeran riding around in a glass box while hundreds of little blue birds attack him, which is a little on the nose in terms of metaphors for Twitter, but it’s not like it’s not also pretty apt.
No. 6 Collaborations Project is out today; it features Sheeran collaborations from Eminem, Cardi B, Young Thug, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Chance The Rapper, and more.
