A big warm Happy New Year to all my programming friends! It’s Andy Gesner and the staff from HIP Video Promo, back with another must-see clip from a red-hot alternative act. A few months ago, it was our great pleasure to introduce Annie’s “Heartbeat” video to channels on these shores. Americans discovered what Europeans have been going mad about for the past two years – a dance-pop wonder as irresistible as Kylie Minogue, as cool as Dubstar and St. Etienne, as hip as Roisin Murphy, and as sexy as Madonna herself.

The gorgeous “Heartbeat” was Annie’s lead single stateside, but it was “Chewing Gum” that made the Scandinavian singer a star. Produced by the legendary Richard X – best known for his inspired mash-ups and his unbroken string of London club hits with the Sugababes – this collaboration is Europop at its frothiest and most delightful. This impossibly catchy track was named the “Pop Single Of The Year” by the notoriously fickle NME. Its success helped land Anniemal, the debut album, atop the charts upon its release in Norway, Annie’s home country.

And what a single it is. “Chewing Gum” has everything you’d look for in an international smash: a great beat, a flexible metaphor and plenty of double entendres, a fetching vocal performance, and wonderfully insidious melody that’ll get stuck to the back of your brain like tarpaper. Something of a Europop version of the indelible “Milkshake” (Richard X, perhaps not so coincidentally, has also worked with Kelis), “Chewing Gum” finds Annie reveling in the easy disposability of her boyfriends. “I’m just a girl who is chewing for fun”, she explains coyly to an alter-ego, asking after her success at picking up men. “You spit it out when all the flavor is gone”. Throughout the song, her voice strikes the perfect balance between glib dismissiveness and playful sexuality. As pop confections go, it’s hard to imagine one more inviting.

Annie’s teasing and put-downs would work in any context. But when you actually see the singer, her stance becomes even more compelling – she’s model-gorgeous, and she’s not afraid to show off her body. Director Barnaby Roper presents Annie (and several clones of herself) before a red backdrop, and cuts frequently between the versions of the singer. But mostly, he stays out of the way, as the blonde Norwegian executes her choreographed moves, and bends over and shakes one of the shapeliest posteriors captured in a music video in recent memory. Annie is not an acrobatic dancer, but she hardly needs to be: her body is so alluring, and her face is so stunning that every gesture she makes is saturated with star quality.

Barnaby Roper has become something of a star himself. The young video director has put together quite a portfolio of high-profile Brit-indie videos, including new clips from the Futureheads, Graham Coxon, and The Magic Numbers. In Annie, he’s found the perfect subject for his work: a performer who exudes cutting-edge chic, but is still not too shy, or arch, to style for the lens.

Though Annie’s record label is officially Big Beat/Atlantic, here at HIP we are thrilled to be teaming up with all of the cool folks at VICE to bring you this energetic and engaging new clip. We will have plenty of copies of Anniemal for on-air giveaways, so don’t hesitate to get in touch. If you need more info call Andy Gesner at 732-613-1779, or email info@HIPVideoPromo.com. You can also visit www.AtlanticRecords.com to find out more about Annie.

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For info about Annie’s previous video, “Heartbeat” click HERE