British pop-rock band Coldplay released their Singapore-centred music video for their new song Man In The Moon on Feb 7. The video featured the city’s landscapes and people.
Coldplay, made up of band mates Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland and Will Champion, filmed the music video during their stop in Singapore for their Music of the Spheres World Tour in January 2024, where they performed six sold-out shows at the National Stadium.
Among the characters featured in the music video, shot by director Ben Mor, are two cosplayers who get to know each other and then fall in love.
CNA Lifestyle spoke with the two actors who played the cosplayers: Singaporean-Filipino student and cosplayer, Ysabella Banta, 21, whose cosplay name is Venus; and Singaporean-British model Akihiko Turner, 26.
In the video, they were dressed as action role-playing game Genshin Impact characters Yae Miko and Zhongli, respectively.
Banta and Turner shared with CNA Lifestyle how they secured their gigs and also let us in on some behind-the-scenes details of their three action-packed days of filming.
SECURING THE ‘SECRET GIG’
It seemed like knowing the right people at the right time paid off for the co-stars.
Banta, who has been doing cosplay since 2017, was approached on Jan 16 by a friend at a video agency she had worked with before, with the opportunity to audition for a music video for a “British rock band”. The agency was looking for youth talents who were part of subcultures or had niche interests.
“I was a bit curious, because (the term) ‘British rock band’ was oddly specific,” Banta said. “And this was in January 2024. The only British rock band I knew in Singapore was Coldplay.”
Initially, Banta rejected the offer as she was swamped with school work. But eventually, after her friends convinced her that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, she agreed to audition.
“It was very paiseh (embarassing),” Banta said, laughing. “Because you reject the offer, then after that you go, ‘Hey, is it still available?’
“So I just went for the audition online, met the director, and one or two days later, I got the call back, and I was… I was just shocked,” she said.
Similarly, a friend of a friend reached out to Turner after seeing that he was a freelance model.
Turner said: “The friend told me ‘I’ve got a gig, but you can’t tell anybody about it. I want you to come down to the studio to try it out, but you’re going to have to dance.’”
The model shared that he had no idea at the time who the gig was for or what it was.
At the audition, he said that the staff got him into a room, blasted Mr Brightside by rock band The Killers and asked him to dance. He admitted that “it was the most awkward thing ever”.
Turner was originally cast as an extra in the video but director Ben Mor had other plans after seeing his appearance and wanted to meet Turner personally.
That was when Turner found out he was auditioning for Coldplay.
“I went from being an extra to being featured quite prominently in the video. That was quite a shock for me,” he said.
Both Banta and Turner said they were beyond excited about the opportunity because they’d both been listening to Coldplay since they were young.
For Turner, his father in particular was a big fan of the band, often playing Coldplay songs in the car while driving Turner to school. Turner and his family had also just seen the band live in Singapore to celebrate his father’s birthday.
Banta, too, was a fan. “I would listen to their songs on the radio. My favourite song was Paradise, and I remember hearing it since I was in primary school and dancing to it. And never would I have known that in the future, I would be doing a music video for them. It’s crazy,” she said.
