Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran are giving Miley Cyrus (circa her 2015 Dead Petz psychedelic glory) a run for her money with their music video for “I Don’t Care.” The video dropped Friday, May 17, and fans can’t get enough of the head-scratchingly random nature of the pair’s collaborative single.
The video opens with a glowing Ed Sheeran shifting uncomfortably in his seat in the middle of a busy ballroom full of people wearing fancy clothes, while he looks woefully out of place. Just as the second verse hits, however, the screen gives way to a flash of colorful animation and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it green screen. What follows is hard to describe: a video collage of Sheeran dancing in a panda suit, performing onstage in a bathrobe, propped up on an elbow poolside, and at one point, in a purple-and-teal tracksuit, running in place.
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It only gets weirder from there when Bieber floats onto the scene, shirtless, riding an animated magic carpet. TL;DR: the music video looks like what would happen if a bunch of Internet memes exploded in one spot, with banana suits, ears of corn, an ice cream pegasus, and two cowboys grooving to a catchy beat in front of a green screen flashing displays of the beach, a grassy field, a billion balloons, and a tennis court at different points throughout the video. Lots of rainbows and flowers abound.
The song itself is about feeling alone at a party and not being able to connect with anyone except for the protagonist’s (in this case, Sheeran or Bieber) love interest. So, in that way, it makes sense that visual counterpart to this happy-go-lucky tune about social anxiety is a surreal hodgepodge of unrelated graphics and poorly Photoshopped images — because that’s how it can feel sometimes.
Earlier this year, Bieber made a comeback on the Coachella stage during Ariana Grande’s headlining set, telling fans that he’s looking forward to putting out new music this year, with a possible new album “coming soon.” He also recently announced that he’ll be partnering up with YouTube for a “top secret project,” though details about that are scarce.
For now, fans will have to fill up on more repeats of Bieber and Sheeran’s catchy “I Don’t Care.”