Phoebe Bridgers returned with her first new music in four years last week – and the music video features a RuneScape easter egg.
‘Lost Boys’ is the lead single to Bridgers’ upcoming album ‘Lost Weekend’, which is due to launch August 14. The track features vocals from her Boygenius bandmates Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker alongside contributions from Christian Lee Hutson and Jack Antonoff.
The fantastical music video sees Bridgers and some live-action role-playing friends driving around until they stop off at a petrol station, where they interrupt Licorice Pizza star Skyler Gisondo playing Old School RuneScape. After his encounter with the merry band, Gisondo’s character returns home and starts training with iconic RuneScape weapon, the pickaxe. He’s then welcomed into their clan for a woodland rave. The video ends with Bridgers and Gisondo inside a RuneScape-inspired virtual world as a chirpy, 8-bit remix of ‘Lost Boys’ plays.
Speaking to Eurogamer, a spokesperson for RuneScape developers Jagex said: “It’s incredible to see Old School RuneScape showing up in unexpected places like this. We’re huge admirers of Phoebe work and [director Lance Oppenheim’s] filmmaking, so when they contacted us to talk about getting a small piece of Gielinor into the music video, it was genuinely exciting and goes to show the wide-reaching cultural impact this game has had. Our community reaction has been so positive too, and moments like this remind us how Old School and RuneScape continue to live well beyond the games themselves. We’re grateful for Phoebe and Lance for featuring us and to have played a small part in the feeling the song ‘Lost Boys’ evokes in us all.”
Bridgers isn’t the only popstar RuneScape fan either. Earlier this year, Chappell Roan revealed she loves the soundtrack to the popular online multiplayer game. “It’s from the early 2000s and has video game sounds down,” she explained. “It’s really medieval synth shit. I’m a video game girl and I love synths and ’80s weird shit.”
However you won’t be able to play RuneScape while attending Bridgers’ upcoming headline tour, as she’s banned mobile phones. The arena run will begin in September in North America before heading to Europe and the UK in November. Visit here for tickets and more information.
In other news, several gaming stores are boycotting the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 due to the lack of proper physical release.