Grandson and Jessie Reyez Battle Bad Guys in New Video for ‘The Suicide Squad’ Song ‘Rain’
Grandson and Jessie Reyez find themselves in the fight of their lives in the new music video for “Rain,” their collaboration for James Gunn’s upcoming movie The Suicide Squad.
The new clip pairs footage from The Suicide Squad with a parallel narrative in which Grandson and Reyez find themselves in a club being roughed up by some very large paramilitary goons. With the actual Suicide Squad indisposed, it’s up to the two musicians to take matters into their own hands, and the clip ends with a big blowout that leaves the goons neutralized and covered in flowers.
“It was really exciting because there’s things that I do in the video that I haven’t really done anywhere else,” Reyez tells Rolling Stone of filming the “Rain” video. “I dance a bit, I go back to my go-go girl days, which was a minute ago, when I used to bartend.”
“It was like you just when you’re a kid, you want to slay bad guys and be a rock star,” Grandson adds. “That was literally, when I was a kid and left to play around outside, I would take a stick and do exactly what I get to do in this music video with a fancy, shiny battle axe.”
Reyez and Grandson released “Rain” back in June. The song came about after Gunn heard Grandson’s song “Zen” and the two began exchanging messages and creative ideas online. With Gunn offering some basic instructions on the kind of song he wanted for The Suicide Squad — “He insisted that the soundtrack be essentially his late night jams playlist,” Grandson says — Grandson and his collaborator, Kevin Hissink, began to craft “Rain” and got about three-quarters of the way through before hitting a wall. Not knowing that Reyez was already prepping her own solo track for The Suicide Squad soundtrack, Grandson sent her “Rain” and asked, “Please crack the code on how to finish this song.”
While Reyez admits she normally doesn’t like hopping on projects halfway through, this situation was different due to the total freedom Grandson gave her, as well as the song’s message and the fact that it was for a summer blockbuster.
“I enjoy life that sees the fruits of my pain, I’m a walking example of making the most of the rain and making the most of heartbreak, and learning how to live at peace with your pain,” Reyez says. “So when I heard this song, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s an omen.’ It just made sense. And obviously if it’s with Grandson, and obviously if it’s for the movie, it’s like a no-brainer! It’s like someone coming by and being like, ‘You want this lovely piece of chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream?’ Who’s gonna say no!”
The Suicide Squad is set to arrive in theaters August 6th.
