Photo: Getty Images
Carrie Underwood is pointing out all the highlights of her cinematic music video, teaming up with director Randee St. Nicholas to reflect on the making of “Ghost Story.”
Underwood and St. Nicholas have worked with one another for a decade, since she released Blown Away in 2012. “Ghost Story” includes nods to some of Underwood’s previous photo shoots and video shoots with St. Nicholas, including photos and music video snapshots when the man who plays her ex in the video scrolls through his phone. Fans can spot pictures from “Smoke Break,” “Cry Pretty,” “Two Black Cadillacs” and “Blown Away” throughout the video.
“We had a treatment and outline to follow but on the day, as has been my experience with every video or photo shoot we have done together, Carrie’s magical energy surpasses any expectations we may have and breathes an unpredictable life into the imagery,” St. Nicholas said of his experience working with Underwood. He noted that the video was filmed at the famed Los Angeles Theater, built during the Great Depression, in downtown L.A. “Carrie’s lyrics and her music lend themselves to her own unique kind of storytelling which is a surprising and refreshing departure from what one might expect. For this one she had a general reference to Moulin Rouge type performance with costume and colors.”
Underwood — who has also been performing in her jaw-dropping Las Vegas residency — revealed that the stunning trapeze scene was “super fun, but surprisingly hard! It may not look difficult, but it was.” St. Nicholas added: “To see her bravely swing high above the stage, dancers and audience was truly breathtaking to witness. She stood up on the swing with such style and grace as if she has been doing it all of her life and everyone in the theater clapped and cheered with every take.”
“Ghost Story” was the first single to release from Underwood’s latest album Denim & Rhinestones. The highly-anticipated 12-track project is one that aims to “cover a lot of ground” with its music.
“The music video, if you’re gonna usher in a new era, I want to do it big,” Underwood previously said in a statement shared by her record label, explaining how the cinematic music video is like an entire movie packed into just a few minutes. “That one I was like we can kind of go over the top, but that’s what we wanted. We wanted it to be beautiful and imaginative, because I feel like the song is, so a lot of really great imagery that’s written into the song and we just wanted to kind of bring that to life.”
Watch the making of “Ghost Story” here: