Jem - They

2004

Jem - They (2004) Director: Honey Era: Post-Millennial Indie Pop Breakthrough (2004) - The year Welsh singer-songwriter Jem's debut album Finally Woken launched on ATO Records, marking a pivotal moment for trip-hop-influenced indie pop crossing into mainstream US radio via sync licensing and KCRW tastemaker culture. High curatorial value as a representative artifact of the early-2000s indie pop moment when British female singer-songwriters penetrated the US mainstream through non-traditional channels. The US Version 1 directed by Honey provides a textbook example of the low-intervention, location-based realist aesthetic favored for emotionally introspective tracks during this period, contrasting instructively with the more high-concept UK Version 2 by Laurent Briet. Together, the two versions offer a unique dual-market comparative case study within a single song cycle. Context: Released as the lead single from Jem's debut album Finally Woken (ATO Records, 2004), 'They' arrived during a period when British female singer-songwriters, influenced by Portishead, Massive Attack, and Dido, were crossing into the American mainstream via indie radio tastemakers like KCRW and sync licensing on prestige TV dramas such as The O.C. The song's philosophical lyrics about societal conformity and the questioning of authority resonated strongly with early-2000s post-9/11 introspective pop culture. The US video's park setting and use of children as symbolic co-conspirators visually literalizes themes of innocence, nonconformity, and civil disobedience without political aggression, anchoring a broadly accessible indie-pop message. The track samples the Swingle Singers' 1963 Bach adaptation, embedding classical music heritage within a contemporary trip-hop/pop framework. Director notes: Honey directed the US Version 1 of 'They' (2004), released in the United States, produced by Melissa Larsen. The video features Jem walking through a park accompanied by children, encountering and disobeying signs, with intercut scenes of Jem being spun on a roundabout by children. A second version (Version 2, premiered February 28, 2005) was separately directed by Laurent Briet for the UK/European market and features a different sci-fi spaceship concept. The YouTube ID qSLvcJ4I1mw corresponds to the US Version 1 directed by Honey.