The UK’s king of visuals returns with fiery new single ‘Captain Ants.’
For most, the introduction to Antslive came earlier this year, with his smash-hit ‘Number One Candidate’. Ants described in the lyrics of this song how he was next up, and this was proved in the track’s success.
That triumphant banger was released alongside 8 other tracks, together making up the ‘Just A Matter Of Time’ EP. This project received vast support from publications such as NME, Dazed, I-D and many more. Co-signs arrived from the likes of Aitch, AJ Tracey, KSI, Mabel and Mia Khalifa. With everyone captivated by the exciting young artist, Antslive went from strength-to-strength with his next drop ‘Ooh La La’. Now he has once again created enormous excitement, this time for his brand-new track ‘Captain Ants’.
‘Captain Ants’ showcases Antslive at his absolute best. Audacious lyrics, catchy flows, and production that’s full of energy. That production is courtesy of Cadenza, who expertly samples ‘Paulette’ by Balla Et Ses Balladins to great effect. Latin guitar samples and bouncy percussive elements blend with Ants’ voice as if they were always meant to be intertwined. “I’m the captain, captain, take you all over the atlas” is locked in the brain of the listener after the very first spin. It’s hardly surprising after hearing what Antslive had to say about this song. He expressed,
“From when I heard the first 3 seconds of the beat, I knew I would f*** this song up. The tune is alive”. Antslive absolutely delivered; this song is very much alive.
At this point, it is impossible to go any further without talking about the visual accompaniment to ‘Captain Ants’. The video saw Antslive reunite with the man responsible for the hugely successful video for ‘Number One Candidate’, Tom Emmerson. Both Ants and Tom deserve a florist’s full of flowers, as together they have delivered two of the videos of decade so far. It is hard to overstate how good this is. When seeing the saturation of much of the visuals on offer across the scene, Ants’ videos are a breath of fresh air.
This video offers shots of Antslive vibing his way round an airport, before showing off an impressive salsa dancing performance. Perhaps even more impressive, is that Ants learned how to salsa over the course of six weeks, specifically for these visuals. I would suggest it was worth it, with this providing one of the most enthralling scenes in the video. It is only rivalled by the scene in which the young rapper takes to the skies. Strapped to the top of a plane, Ants delivers lyrics to his banger whilst hurtling through the air. His commitment to getting a good shot can never be questioned. This gives us an incredible finale to a remarkable video. Speaking on the topic Ants summed it up perfectly.
“When it comes to the visuals if you said I’m doing too much you’d probably be right. Standing on top of planes in the mountains and dancing salsa. But that’s cool with me. That just means everyone else isn’t doing enough”.
A sold-out show at Omeara, and supporting Aitch through the Irish-leg of his tour, shows Ants to have developed all the necessary attributes to reach the next level.
Antslive is part-way up a meteoric rise, and he shows no signs of slowing down.
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