Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah

MAY 09 2006 · 12:00

Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah (2006) Director: Jay Martin Era: Mid-2000s Indie Pop/Acoustic Crossover (2006) - Era of acoustic-driven pop-rock breaking into mainstream radio; MySpace virality and post-emo sincerity aesthetics dominate alternative music visual culture High curatorial value as a defining artifact of mid-2000s acoustic indie-pop crossover culture. The video's split-screen realism and restrained production quality are formally inseparable from the song's emotional sincerity, making it a textbook case of form-content alignment. Its chart and awards history, combined with its directorial pedigree (Jay Martin), make it an essential entry in any archive of 2000s music video history. Context: Released in 2006 and peaking culturally in 2007, 'Hey There Delilah' became one of the defining acoustic crossover hits of the MySpace era, when stripped-back confessional songwriting was gaining mainstream traction alongside the post-emo boom led by Fall Out Boy and Paramore. The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 2007 and received double Grammy nominations in 2008. The video's split-screen structure, performer in one space, subject in another, separated by geography, visually encoded the song's long-distance longing in a manner that resonated with a generation communicating across distance via early social media and instant messaging. Time magazine named it one of the 10 Best Songs of 2007. Director notes: Directed in 2006 for Hollywood Records and Fearless Records, tied to the re-release of 'Hey There Delilah' on the album Every Second Counts. The video employs a split-screen device showing frontman Tom Higgenson performing the song in one frame while footage of a woman in New York City plays in the other, literalizing the song's long-distance romantic premise. The video was produced in conjunction with a re-recorded version of the song that added strings and additional production by Sean O'Keefe. The video appeared on VH1's Top 40 Videos of 2007 at number eight.