Spike Jonze just released one of the best music videos in recent memory

Spike Jonze has directed some of the best music videos of all time— “Sabotage,” “Buddy Holly,” “Praise You,” “Get Back.” There’s a sort of goofy exuberance to all of them that seems to come from a place of permanent, childlike (but never childish) playfulness. He’s continued to direct music videos over the years, even after making it as a proper film director, but this new collaboration is the first in awhile to have the spark of his earlier video work. Over Anderson Paak’s honeyed vocals and soulful, futurist beats, Jonze traces FKA Twigs’ desultory journey home and subsequent psychedelic odyssey through her urban home. There’s a touch of Michel Gondry’s practical-effect trickery at first, but not for long—soon Jonze is stretching the images to the breaking point, rearranging her mundane apartment into the sort of wide-open, futuristic spaces his characters traversed in Her. If that movie felt, at times, like a paean to the design ethos of Apple, it will not surprise you that he is here working directly for Apple: The whole thing is a HomePod ad. Reportedly the smart speaker has very good sound, so there’s that.