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Music

Watch a Three-Minute Transformation of Mobley From Nobody to Superstar In ‘Solo’

The rising Texan R&B star shares his latest co-choreographed video that looks at the ridiculousness of the fame game.

In the three-minutes it takes to watch Mobley’s video for “Solo”, the Texas-based singer, songwriter and producer goes from nondescript nobody to superstar.

Featuring multiple costume changes (and impressive body rolls), the video documents both the rise of Mobley and the affects of stardom. It also echoes Mobley’s distinctly DIY ethic that’s been built from sneaking around his college’s music department late at night and cutting vocals in the woods behind his dorm.

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As well as co-choreographing the video, Mobley a.k.a Anthony Watkins II, played every instrument on the catchy R&B-meets-dub-meets-electronica beat single.

Watch the video and read a brief chat we had with him.

Noisey: The video is intriguing, it seemed as though even if you want to be 'solo' you can't stop others from taking a piece of you.
Mobley: I’m hesitant to talk too much about my intentions, I think the meaning that people find and make for themselves is often so much more interesting. I’ll just say there are innumerable forces acting on us in modern life that can make us feel isolated. It seems that more people are experiencing some degree of loneliness most of the time. Also no one ever really does anything alone. Anything we ever accomplish is built from pieces left for us by other people, often at a cost.

Older women seem to have an affinity for you in the video.
That’s too funny. I genuinely hadn’t noticed. I’m going to dodge my love life and say that I think women, generally, and older people, generally, are undervalued in popular art. We were as careful as we could be about not putting up the barriers that usually confine them to certain kinds of roles in music videos.

Is there any significance of the "take pride in your work” sign?
Good eye. I’m all for people taking ownership of the things they work on, but “take pride in your work” too often just means “shut up and do what you’re told” and is rarely reciprocated with “take care of your workers". So that was a reference to the cliches you often see in offices that are really just calls to compliance.

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