Nowness premiere Emmy The Great video for ‘Algorithm’
Dating app algorithms inspire a video for London chanteuse Emmy the Great
Singer-songwriter Emmy the Great talks about the concept behind her dating software-led collaboration with London-based artist Daniel Swan:
“My research for the video began with shopping and dating algorithms, then moved on to narrative software—such as Wordsmith and Narrative Sciences— which takes data and turns it into narratives for e-commerce and reporting. Artist Daniel Swan and I decided to ‘ask’ an algorithm to write the video for us.
“With the help of Nicolas Seymour-Smith, a programmer and artist, we built a machine that generates music-video treatments. We taught the machine what a music video plot was by feeding it synopses of music videos—classics like “Thriller” and “Scream”, and modern favourites from Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. The machine began generating plots based on what it had learned and ‘Algorithm’ was born.”
‘Second Love’ is available for pre-order now and will be released March 11th via Bella Union.
