Synopsis
R.E.M. move through New York City's Lower East Side, performing "Supernatural Superserious" in streets, storefronts, and other neighborhood locations. Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills appear in an informal, documentary-style presentation rather than a polished studio setup. The band carries instruments, enters businesses, plays for the camera, and shares unguarded moments between performances. The loose structure and handheld imagery give the video the feeling of a spontaneous musical walk through Manhattan, with the boundary between finished promo and behind-the-scenes footage deliberately blurred.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was filmed in late January 2008 during several days R.E.M. spent in New York promoting the album *Accelerate*.
- Much of the shoot took place on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side. The band and crew searched for suitable locations instead of working from a rigidly planned production.
- Several performances happened spontaneously. The group reportedly walked into two or three businesses and asked if they could play there, helping create the video's unforced, street-level atmosphere.
- The official promotional project offered ten separate high-definition takes of the video for download. Viewers could edit their own versions and upload them through an accompanying YouTube page.
- The project reflected the collaborative, participatory spirit of early online video culture, treating the music video as source material that fans could rework rather than as a fixed, single version.
- An official behind-the-scenes mini-documentary documented the New York shoot, extending the video's deliberately self-aware mixture of performance footage and production footage.
- The song was the first single from *Accelerate*, released in 2008 as part of R.E.M.'s return to a more direct, guitar-driven sound.