Premiere: Cable Covers One Direction's "One Thing"

Photo by Gia Coppola

One Direction must be hyped that Justin Bieber eclipsed their weed situation with N word-gate. They should be even more hyped about this Cable cover of "One Thing", co-produced by Dev Hynes, 'cause it rules. The video, directed by Eliel Ford, finds Tracy Antonopolous floating around New York in a daze while static-y drums pound and weird chimes chime. The boys never sounded this big.

Kim Taylor Bennett caught up with Eliel and the band to find out more about the charming clip.

Noisey: What was the concept behind the video?

Eliel: The idea for the video came from this Eifuawn video I saw on YouTube. I wanted to show Tracy and Ben floating through space, drifting from the country to the city in a kind of One Direction super-fan escape fantasy. The song has this dreamy, spaced-out tempo that I wanted to match with the pacing and the feeling of the video. The GoPro camera's huge, warped, fisheye lens let us get that feeling of wide open space. The Beastie Boys video "Sure Shot" was definitely in mind. The concept for the intro, honestly, came from when Tracy and I were meeting to discuss the now latter part of the video and were hanging around a few of my friends. Seeing what they were saying through her eyes, and how crude they could be, inspired that whole dialogue.

Why cover One Direction?

Tracy Antonopoulos: I personally love One Direction, for more reasons than one. I grew up in Florida at the height of the N*SYNC and Backstreet Boys boy band craze. During this time I was in middle school and high school and was very shy. NSYNC were an escape for me, from the social pressures and insecurities that everyone goes through at that time in life. I got to "know" them as people through all of their constant media coverage, and fanfare. They made me feel less alone. I also grew up as a performer; I trained as a ballet dancer and would perform in musicals, and looked up to these guys as performers. I wanted to be them. Two years ago, I went to a One Direction, concert and it brought me back to those days, and I loved seeing how they bring joy to so many people's lives. Also musically, they work with some of the most talented songwriters and producers, and have some of the best pop songs. To me writing a universal hit, an anthem, is the hardest thing to do as a musician. A lot of people my age and older probably immediately write off One Direction because they are a boy band, but if you play their song on an acoustic guitar, they sound like heaven.

Ben Morsberger: The cover was a nice exercise for Tracy and I to get in the mindset of what it’s like performing a radio smash. It was helpful to get an understanding of what these songs really are when you strip away the production and pre-concerived notions that come with celebrity. what we found were really well written, poignant songs. it was fun to reinterpret ‘One Thing’ into a Cable track and meet in the middle with a giant like One Direction.

How did Dev get involved?

Tracy: Dev is a close friend and when the One Direction album “Take Me Home” came out last year, we listened to the entire album together in one sitting and were nerding out. So it seemed appropriate that he collaborate with me and Ben on the cover. What are you up to now and next?
Tracy: We have a new original single coming out in two weeks with a video and album art that we are really excited about!