Synopsis
Avi Buffalo and his young bandmates perform outdoors in a bright, pastoral landscape while the world around them gradually turns surreal. Colorful CGI flowers and sea-anemone-like plants sprout from the ground and sway to the music, transforming the setting into a psychedelic garden. As the performance continues, strange jellyfish-like creatures drift through the air, adding a dreamlike and slightly eerie touch. The video's playful visuals match the song's buoyant pop melody and offbeat lyrics, creating an atmosphere that feels part nature fantasy, part psychedelic daydream.
Factoids & Trivia
- "What's In It For?" was the first single from Avi Buffalo's self-titled debut album, released by Sub Pop in 2010.
- The song was among the first tracks Avi Zahner-Isenberg and his band recorded with producer Aaron Embry. The recording began as a project made largely for fun before attracting Sub Pop's attention.
- "What's In It For?" was also one of the first Avi Buffalo songs posted to MySpace. Its early online reception helped bring the band to the label's attention.
- The members of Avi Buffalo were still in their teens and attending Millikan High School in Long Beach, California, when the song and album began gaining momentum.
- Contemporary coverage compared the video's visual world to "Alice in Wonderland," emphasizing its oversized, blooming CGI vegetation and unusual floating creatures.
- Pitchfork premiered the video on May 3, 2010, describing its saturated colors, outdoor band performance, animated plants, and flying jellyfish as central features of the clip.
- The song's unusual lyric about someone being "tiny" and having lips like "little pieces of bacon" became one of the most frequently quoted details in contemporary writing about Avi Buffalo.