Wilco has released a music video for the breakout song “Meant to Be” from their 13th studio album Cousin, which dropped last September. The video, filmed at Chicago’s legendary roller skating venue The Rink, highlights a unique corner of the city’s South Side.
Videos by American Songwriter
The Rink is important in music history because it is the birthplace of JB skating, which is a style of roller skating that blends dancing, skating, and a laid-back attitude. It emerged in the 1970s and was often done in synchronized groups to James Brown’s music. The “Meant to Be” music video draws on this history, featuring Calvin Smalls—one of the originators of the JB skating style—and Darius Saunders, No. 1 ranked roller skater in the U.S.
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Sense of Nostalgia
On the rink, synchronized skaters groove to the music as Wilco performs in the center under the glittering disco ball. The unique imagery includes the skaters and Wilco beginning as two separate scenes before merging into one, creating a unified world of music and skating.
In an interview with Spectrum, per a press release, bandleader Jeff Tweedy said that “‘Meant to Be’ is a song I wrote three or four years ago to see if I could write a song that would have come out in 1984, or ’83 … like Echo and the Bunnymen or The Cure, and I ended up writing a song that sounded like it was some suppressed memory of being heartbroken about somebody maybe not wanting to hang out with me in the summertime.”
The style of the song and video blend together beautifully to create a sense of nostalgia and lost memory. It’s a video out of time, recalling the heyday of roller rinks and groovy tunes. Wilco have harnessed those memories and given them back to fans in a cleverly shot, well-executed video featuring incredibly talented people.
Wilco was on a whirlwind tour of North America, Europe, and the U.K. in 2023 in support of Cousin. Starting in March, the band will tour Japan and Australia, culminating in the Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts in June.
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Photos via YouTube, Ghostrobot
