Light up the Void  

Circus Maximus features several directors alongside the artist behind "SICKO MODE," including Gaspar Noé, Kahlil Joseph, and Harmony Korine. According to its synopsis, the viewer is immersed in "a surreal and psychedelic journey, bringing together a collective of visionary filmmakers from around the world in a kaleidoscopic exploration of the human experience and the power of soundscapes." It's an adventure in itself, following the American rapper through his "UTOPIA" project.

With "Modern Jam," one of the most electro-infused tracks on Utopia (2023), Travis Scott entrusted the visuals to Gaspar Noé. The result, included in the experimental film  Circus Maximus, is less a traditional music video and more a hypnotic plunge into a hallucinatory nightclub.

Noé casts Travis Scott as a masked DJ, an almost anonymous figure, absorbed by a monumental lighting installation: a stage covered in LED screens, walls vibrating to the rhythm of the bass, strobe lights that shatter perception. In this saturated atmosphere, bodies disappear, the music dominates, and the viewer is drawn into a visual spiral that evokes both the rave scene and the technological reveries of the 80s.

The director's signature style is omnipresent: syncopated editing, aggressive colors, almost sensory intensity, and a penchant for disorientation. The raw energy of  Climax or  Enter the Void is present, but channeled into a short format where every second serves to heighten the song's adrenaline rush. The video thus plays on repetition, trance, and disorientation, while amplifying the futuristic and dystopian aspects of the album.

By merging his sensory cinematic approach with Travis Scott's universe, Gaspar Noé has created a work that is both pop and radical, extending the visual territory of "Utopia" while reminding us that music videos can still be a space for pure experimentation. An unexpected collaboration, executed with total intensity.