Pop star and actor Jesse McCartney performs as four different characters – a stylish playboy, a tough-guy biker, a distinguished butler and a boozing older woman – in his soap opera parody video for “Wasted.”
Director Jason Lester clip models the clip after vintage daytime serials, offering melodramatic close-ups, intentionally cheesy dialogue, campy bumper IDs and outlandish plot twists (including a love triangle and an “incurable disease”). The action takes place at a lavish mansion, where rivals Ricky Moonstruck and Brock Donahue fight over a romantic interest. The butler, Chamberlain, interrupts the action with a crossbow, and the story detours when McCartney’s Aunt Marge shows up, drunk and stumbling around the kitchen.
In a statement about the visual, McCartney emphasized that he “wanted to do something unexpected and off-topic from the lyrics,” adding, “This video seemed like a good opportunity to stretch my comedy legs and show some personality.”
The tropical-tinged “Wasted” was one of two McCartney singles from 2018, along with “Better With You,” marking his first new material since his fourth LP, 2014’s In Technicolor. The singer’s “The Resolution Tour” launches January 12th in Austin, Texas and concludes February 13th in Seattle, Washington.