Watch American Football's 'Wake Her Up' Video
(The Oriel Company) Midwest indie band American Football has released their music video for "Wake Her Up," a standout track from their groundbreaking fourth self-titled album American Football (LP4), released in May of this year.
Serving as the album's focus track, "Wake Her Up" is one of the band's more pop-forward songs (as Kinsella says "our best The Smiths impression to date!") featuring ethereal vocals from Wisp set against a sonic backdrop filled with percussion and electronic guitar riffs, the band effortlessly infuses elements of pop and classic late 80s British alternative into a true standout off the record.
The track's visually captivating video was co-directed by an acclaimed trio of artists in their own right - legendary skate filmmaker and aerial cinematographer Ty Evans (Yeah Right!), Oscar-winning writer and director, Cord Jefferson (American Fiction), and renowned skate photographer, Atiba Jefferson, the latter of whom collaborated with the band previously on their video for fan-favorite LP3 single "Uncomfortably Numb (feat. Hayley Williams)" along with videos for TV On The Radio, Soccer Mommy, and Turnstile. The video pairs American Football singer Mike Kinsella with Wisp as they go on bike rides around nighttime Los Angeles with picturesque views of Paris projected behind them. A track consumed with isolation and trauma, the video encapsulates the loneliness stemming from impossible love as Mike and Wisp look to find each other, wandering aimlessly to no avail.
"The female melody/line 'wake her up' existed for a while," Kinsella shares. "We didn't have anyone in mind to sing it, and then we heard a Wisp song and were collectively like, 'She's gotta sing that line!' The whole song is presented as if it's about the 'girl in the river Seine, but it's actually about the boy who fell in love with her."
"This video was a truly collaborative effort," Evans shares. "We wanted to create a visual approach that felt both cinematic and experimental, using technology and practical effects in a way that would produce something audiences hadn't seen before. The result is a visual language that blends two cities, two perspectives, and multiple layers of motion into a single frame."
"It's hard to do something different in music video making," continues Atiba Jefferson. "I'm very proud of the concept of using the projector overlay as both the background and key light on top of the subject, while using the Shotover to capture everything-truly best combo ever.
"I've loved American Football ever since I stole their first record from my college radio station 25 years ago," Cord Jefferson shares. "Getting to help out on this video was a dream come true.
The new music video arrives as the band kicks off the Midwest leg of their 2026 "No Feeling" World Tour tomorrow in Cleveland. Having recently completed highly successful runs on the West Coast, East Coast, UK, Europe and Asia throughout the summer, the band will continue expanding their global reach with additional performances across North and Latin America throughout the rest of 2026. The kickoff of the Midwest leg also comes with the announcement of the tour's supporting acts for the band's dates this fall/winter, with confirmed sets from Nine Perfect Lives, Circling Girl, Harmless, Alameda, and she's green, along with a very special guest performance by Rainer Maria at the band's headline show in Chicago next week.
The band is performing at the top of their game, and to rave reviews, across a continuous string of sold-out dates. In addition to the "No Feeling" tour's immersive stage production and striking visuals, crowds have also been treated to surprise guests along the way, including Hayley Williams (for the first ever joint-performance of "Uncomfortably Numb") at Kilby Block Party, Wisp (performing "Wake Her Up") at their sold-out show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, and fellow Midwest indie rocker Rainer Maria's Caithlin De Marrais (performing "Blood On My Blood") at their sold-out Brooklyn Paramount show last month.
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