A group of boys wanders into a neon-lit arcade on a warm Friday night. Looking to blow off some steam, they approach a pinball machine. A few coins clink into the slot and the machine twinkles with flashing lights.
Laughing, one of the boys looks away from the machine and locks eyes with a girl across the arcade. For a second, they are the only two in the room, sharing a passionate embrace after walking toward each other under deep red floodlights.
The boy shakes his head – the daydream is over. The scenes, which are from a music video, fade to black.
UCLA alumna Jessica Delijani and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo alumnus Tommy Nickerson released their debut single, “Shy,” on Wednesday under their duo name Disco Shrine. The two partnered with UCLA and University of California students and alumni to create a music video for the track, with the date of release still pending to accommodate Disco Shrine’s performance schedule.
Delijani said she knew about Nickerson through the local music scene in Los Angeles, but only met him in person after hearing his band play live.
The two composed “Shy” after they both had ended long-term relationships. Nickerson, the instrumentalist, said collaborating with Delijani, who contributed vocals, melodies and lyrics, helped channel their turbulent emotions into making upbeat, joyful music.
“Sometimes you feel more inspired by sadness than happiness,” Delijani said. “We made a promise to each other that if we ever made music together, it would be really fun music that people can just dance to.”
While working on “Shy,” Delijani met UCLA alumnus Andrew Butte during her last quarter at UCLA through a group project. Soon after he heard about Delijani and Nickerson’s music, Butte said he immediately began thinking of ideas for a music video.
Delijani said she originally intended for the song’s lyrics to celebrate newfound freedom and carefree attitudes. However, Butte said he looked to the title for inspiration rather than reading into the lyrics – in the title, he saw a person who wants to initiate contact with a love interest, but can’t because of his shyness.
Butte said the images he thought of when interpreting the title nevertheless coincided with the emotion behind Delijani’s lyrics.
“(In the music video), the people want to do whatever they want, but can’t necessarily because they don’t have the strength to do it quite yet,” Delijani said. “It was cool to see our idea grow into someone else’s idea and for them to have their own take on it.”
Samantha Little, a third-year English student and the producer and assistant director for the music video, said working with a very small budget meant the crew had to rethink its decisions for filming locations.
The lyrics for “Shy” called for a roller rink, but Butte said the location was too expensive to rent out. For the main plot scenes, the crew thus relocated to an old arcade filled with ’80s-style pinball machines and neon lights.
Butte said the improvisation in set location helped facilitate creativity in designing the retro aesthetic of the music video: The costumes, set design and props revolved around an ’80s theme, and included vintage cars, jean jackets and colorful lights.
“You can plan as much as you want, but the beautiful thing about film is that you show up and something unexpected happens,” Butte said.
Little added that if given the opportunity, she and Butte would enjoy working with Disco Shrine again because of the memories the crew made together.
Throughout the process of recording the song and filming the music video, Nickerson said the group of students and alumni grew close.
By bonding over their shared experiences such as lighting red Marine-grade flares in the middle of the night for a single shot, Delijani said working with the small crew helped make her and Nickerson’s music come to life.
“(Nickerson) and I talked about and still talk about it now, but it’s just amazing to see how this group of people came together for this common cause and that we could be the reason for that cause,” Delijani said. “It was so rewarding.”