Filmed last October on location throughout New York City, this was one of the most high-octane shoots we've ever undertaken. In devising the concept, we wanted to accentuate the mind-boggling aspects of Steinway's new Spirio* instrument while paying homage to the Big Apple: the provenance of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, Steinway & Sons, and our duo itself. (Incidentally our alma mater Juilliard now stands at the very locale of Bernstein's beloved, brilliant musical.)
In the history of our music videos, the scope of this project was unprecedented in terms of its location-per-duration ratio. (In two short minutes, we basically traverse Gotham!) When Greg and I originally conceived the concept of the video, we imagined the Spirio working its magic in various iconic NYC sites; in order to bring this vision to life, we had to jump through a variety of daunting logistical hoops (while trying to focus on our "day job," i.e. concerts), such as crisscrossing the city during the scouting process, applying for permits and insurance, anxiously awaiting approval of these applications, then anxiously checking the hourly weather forecast as the shoot approached ("What's the precipitation percentage??"), and finally schlepping one of the rare Spirios in existence from borough to borough. Such feats were made possible by our excellent producer, Victoria Sendra (who also collaborated with us on our Taylor Swift video, which we shot later that weekend) and our supportive colleagues at Steinway. Normally our filming operations are super small—just Greg and me with one or two people helping out—but this time, we utilized a talented and enthusiastic (yet still relatively condensed) film crew. When the first day of filming finally arrived, it was a butterflies-in-stomach sensation to arrive at Washington Square Park just after sunrise and take in the sight of the Steinway piano, grand and gleaming, between the famed arch and fountain. Amid the intensity of the day's schedule, I made sure to soak in the scene as well the excitement of the crowd that spontaneously gathered around us. (Shout-out to the NYU students, sightseers, and urbanites hanging out at the park that day!)
Some standout memories of Day 1:
-Teaching our extras to shout "MAMBO!" on cue and urging them to jive to the music
-Cutting my finger on the inside of the piano during our "percussion" shenanigans #bloodonthekeys
-Getting photographed by celebrity photographer Christopher Peterson and appearing on his Instagram feed immediately after we wrapped our park footage (let's just say I was tickled to be featured among the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alexa Chung, and Naomi Watts):
