Max Siedentopf plays Sigrid in new music video he's directed for... Sigrid

It’s Nice That’s Ones to Watch shines a light on 12 emerging talents who we think will conquer the creative world in the coming year. Over the coming months, we’ll be catching up with creatives from our 2019 selection to see what they’ve been up to. Ones to Watch 2019 is supported by Uniqlo.

An unexpected contender for “most weirdly joyful news story of 2019” has emerged out of nowhere.

Firm It’s Nice That favourite, One to Watch 2017, and former Nicer Tuesdays speaker Max Siedentopf hasn’t just directed the music video for pop sensation Sigrid’s latest single “Mine Right Now”. Oh no – he’s only gone and… played her in it.

“We spent over one month planning the shoot which took place in the mountains in Bulgaria. Our crew of over 40 people arrived a few days before the shoot to build all kinds of wonderful sets, but the night before the shoot everything changed,” Max tells us. “We found out that Sigrid wasn’t going to make it to the shoot due to several delayed and cancelled flights.”

Now, it doesn’t take a Spike Jonze to realise that having 40 crew ready to shoot but no artist to, y’know, actually shoot isn’t an ideal situation to be in.

Ever the professional, the multi-talented, multidisciplinary Toto-superfan stepped up to the plate, took one for the team, and in his own mountainside Stars in their Eyes moment, became Sigrid. And you know what? He’s smashed it.

Especially when you take into account the fact that a Sigrid-shaped hole wasn’t the only thing that was a slight mid-shoot issue. “We had big weather storms, our sets collapsed, we got chased from the mountain by park rangers, there was a serial killer on the loose in the area, my dog passed away and so much more,” Max says. “The shoot quickly turned into the Fyre Festival of music videos but we decided to just keep on going and going and make a video for Sigrid.”

We’re very glad Max did, and we think you will be too.