ST1XX's latest visual leaves you "Too High" with emotions
ST1XX’s latest single, “Too High” is about toxic relationships and the imperfections of that relationship that we find love in. The video stars Drew Will and Monterra as the couple in a toxic relationship. ST1XX really shows his versatility as a producer and artist in this song. “Too High” is in very strong contrast with ST1XX’s last single “Body” which could be considered more of a club or dance song. This song is much more of a upbeat pop song.
When St1xx came to me with the idea for the video I instantly wanted to start shooting it. He showed me a picture of two people sitting on a couch at Shanr-Ri-La studios. He went on to explain that the couch is the central point for their relationship. Most of their interactions would happen there and he would be “stuck in the middle” for most of the more intense arguing moments. But we wanted to show off the ups of the relationships as well. We figured that would be the part that would grab the viewers attention the most because they could relate to it.
We didn’t have any of those more happy intimate moments planned out. We figured we would leave it to the models to be organic and come up with what fits best for them. Casting the video was pretty easy when I let the word “vintage” slip while we were planning this. St1xx instantly knew who he wanted and we had our cast. Monterra and Drew Will were absolute naturals on camera and didn’t need much direction. They would start being themselves and I would start rolling. Half the time we had to stop because they would bust out laughing from being absolute goofballs and we’d have to start over during the serious scenes. As for props much of what you see in the video was either brought from home from the models or Stixx himself.
Some of my favorite props that make subtle appearances are the guitar, skateboard, Sega Genesis, and 24Kt Pose t-shirt. The guitar that you see appears several times throughout the video. It get placed in the background while Monterra and Will are on the couch. You only see the very top of it but it’s enough to tie together the scenes. The skateboard can be seen multiple times but my favorite appearance is at the end as it’s laying on the wall i the final shot. The Sega Genesis is just dope honestly, but seeing the two sets of actors play it is an interesting parallel we accidentally made. It also appears in Wills solo shot as well. As for the 24KT Posse tee… it’s just fire lol
Deciding on the overall vibe and feel of where we would put them was the next task. Having to think quick on our feet we turned the second studio at My World Studios in to a set and made Highland Square our second set (every videographers rite of passage). Highland Square gives off the modern yet vintage feel we were looking for as well as how we staged the studio scenes. The props that Stixx, Monterra, and Drew Will brought from home essentially gave the scenes character beyond just the couch and lighting. The skateboard makes several appearances, my favorite is at the end of the video as they are walking out of the theater. The guitar being played by St1xx appears in several scenes when the couple are by themselves. An of course the Sega Genesis gets played by everyone in the cast at some point.
Although some things in this video were complete happy accidents, a lot of planning ahead of time went into this. We had the idea for about 2-3 months before we even got a chance to start shooting. You can find ‘Too High’ now streaming on all major digital platforms.