The incredible stop-motion video for "What's Next," the first single from Reduction in Force, shows how straightforward singer and songwriter Mike Mills is. Mike Mills sings the song with confidence and a sense of fun the whole time. This is your first time hearing the song, but it's also a way to enter Mills' creative world, where every sound has a story and a reason.
The video is set in a crowded music room. It feels like a safe place to work and remember things. Mills makes the room come alive in ways that seem like they were made by hand and are very personal. This is where we meet Norman, a stuffed rat from our childhood who unexpectedly becomes the main character. Norman tells the story in a way that is both funny and serious. He is an underdog trying to figure out a world that has been built over many years.
"What's Next?" sounds like Mills' musical roots and the pop-rock he liked as a kid, which was mysterious, urgent, thoughtful, and a little bit rebellious. Mills' cool, magnetic voice is accompanied by slashing overdriven guitar, pulsing synths, and a fast electronic beat. But these familiar textures have new edges that come to life thanks to the confidence and clarity of someone who knows how to respect their influences while also carving out their own path.
In the three minutes that Norman's journey takes, it becomes a symbol of facing memories, putting them together, and moving into a future that was first imagined more than 30 years ago. It seems like "What Comes Next?" is both a beginning and an end. Mike Mills and Reduction in Force have worked together to make an exciting piece of art that hints at the next chapter in the story.