This morning, singer-songwriter John Mayer posted on his Instagram account, “I needed to make a video for New Light but nobody could agree on a budget, so I went to a place downtown and made this with a company that usually does birthday and Bar Mitzvah videos.”
Whether or not this place is real (“Celebrity Status Music Video Service” doesn’t seem to exist, but we’d love to be proven wrong) is besides the point. Dressed in pajama pants, a purple sweatshirt (that’s actually a rare Japanese piece of clothing), and grandpa shoes, he comes off as dweeby and lovable with his awkward dance moves and facial expressions.
With this video, Mayer embraces the low-budget gimmick of the green screen. And we are here for it.
So, of course, we ranked all the 25 green screens, from worst to best:
25. Weird sunset: We’re gonna disqualify this one because it appears frequently throughout the video, it’s kind of the base they keep going back to. It’s just boring!
24. Office: Don’t love the green screens that have real people. Kinda creepy. And John gives off a bit of a stalker vibe here.
23. Driving next to a blonde woman in a bikini: Again, anti-real people in green screens. Leave them out of it!
22. Drinking wine: This is the last frame, why did the blonde woman have to be there?!
21. New York City: Just your basic NYC skyline with the Empire State Building, nothing too exciting.
20. Stage: Love the multiple Johns, love the weird awkward John on the right, but not into the stage because it’s not placing him out of his element.
19. Disco Ball: I do like that the disco ball is bigger than both John Mayers in this one.
18. Audience: First John Mayer seems a little bored playing the guitar, second John Mayer seems like he’s having a TIME. They balance each other out.
17. Farmland: This is towards the very start of the video, and just him dancing. Very fun.
16. Baseball: The dance moves, and fake baseball moves, are enviable.
15. Suburbs: Love a good “fake flying over a place” green screen.
14. Grand Canyon: It was at this point in the video I realized John Mayer is extremely attractive. Unsure why this green screen/weird dancing combo did it for me.
13. Ski Mountain: It’s funny how awkward he can look. In another world, John Mayer could be a great comedian.
12. Kitchen: He’s kinda like “WTF am I doing here?” which feels like the entire point of this music video.
11. Highway: Two John Mayers interacting = hilarious. Not related at all to the background = even better.
10. Pyramids: The sole green screen that still has a tag on the top (faintly, you can see “LANDMARKS — EGYPT PYRAMIDS”) which adds to the kitschy feel of the whole video.
9. Palm Trees: This will become a meme.
8. Beach: I know above I was anti-real people in green screens, but maybe I was really against objectifying women on green screens, because this is funny and cheesy and strikes the right tone.
7. Zebra: Johns waving to each other! Next to a Zebra! What’s not to like?
6. Mountain: Maybe his go-to move is a wave? But the smaller John in the background dancing on a mountainside is really just fantastic.
5. Swimming: This is a classic green screen trope. Also love his look of wonder at the green screen fishies.
4. Times Square: Just yes. Also will become a meme.
3. Capitol: The fake walk appeared in the pyramids, but it looks so funny here. Lookout for sinkholes!
2. Paris: Three John Mayers! Two doing the classic back-to-back crossed arms pose found at any bat mitzvah photo-booth!
1. Fireworks: Awkward facial expression, good stock graphics of fireworks, and funny pose: this takes the #1 slot for best green screen.
Bonus! Spin transition: This doesn’t totally count as a green screen, but it legitimately made me laugh out loud.
The entire thing is really worth a watch:
