smile

The moment when you realize that you’re not as up on the current music scene as you should be. I first heard of Conor Maynard a few months back when he dropped his first single, Can’t Say No. I hadn’t seen the video at that point, so I had no idea who he was or what he looked like; I just thought it was a dope song. The other day I’m watching TeenNick, and the video for his latest, Vegas Girl came on. I had thought Maynard was a grown man, at the very least, college age; so you can imagine my surprise to find out that he’s a Frodo looking teeny bopper dude (actually, he’s a couple of months shy of 20, according to AllMusic). I don’t like this one as much as Can’t Say No, but it’s still a good track. This video isn’t the most original, in fact, it’s a pretty blatant ripoff of the video for Have A Nice Day, but I decided to post this one because my hometown looks great in it. Some of the locations featured:

• In front of The B Cup Cafe, where Maynard first meets Alaura.
• Various spots around The Lower East Side, where the street team posts banners/stickers.
• The artists’ workspace and graffiti covered rooftop where Maynard dances and has the party is 5 Pointz in Long Island City, Queens. The Twitter invite at 2:42 has the actual Google Map location. Billy Idol‘s Hot In The City was also shot near here.
• The shots of Alaura leaving the subway and walking with the elevated subway tracks behind her are also in Long Island City.
• The bridge with the red fences Maynard walks across is the Williamsburg Bridge. He’s walking toward The Lower East Side.

Okay, this isn’t a travelogue, so I’ll digress for now. Enjoy the video; I think this kid is going to be massive in the next couple of years.