"Retrograde" is a song by American rock band

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

. It was released as the fourth single from their eleventh studio album, '' Gigaton'', on May 14, 2020. A music video featuring Swedish activist

Greta Thunberg Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3January 2003) is a Swedish climate activist, climate and political activist initially known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action to climate change mitigation, mitigate the effec ...

was released on the same day. The song peaked at No. 9 on ''Billboard'''s Triple A chart.

Music video

The music video for "Retrograde" was released on May 14, 2020 and was directed by

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

-winning Australian filmmaker Josh Wakely and produced by the storytelling company Grace. It focuses on spreading awareness of climate change and features a cameo by Swedish environmental activist

. The music video, a mix of animation and motion capture, begins with a lone wanderer (played by cinematographer Trent Opaloch) driving through the rain and descending upon a strip mall. Visiting a psychic, the wanderer sees the destruction of the world in a crystal ball as the seas overtake the

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in Paris, the

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in London, and the

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in the band's native Seattle. Fluid animation moves like an oil painting in motion as Pearl Jam's members step out of their respect tarot cards and into a march. As the water continues to rise, Thunberg appears behind the crystal ball as a clairvoyant. Thunberg could not be on set due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, for that reason, Wakely utilized existing footage of Thunberg with her permission, which was then grafted onto the body of another actress to create the finished video. Wakely said that Thunberg sent him an email saying that she loved the video. The fortune teller's storefront is located in a strip mall that is filled with references to Pearl Jam's previous albums, such as ''

Ten Ten, TEN or 10 may refer to: * 10, an even natural number following 9 and preceding 11 * one of the years 10 BC, AD 10, 1910, 2010, 2110 * October, the tenth month of the year Places * Mount Ten, in Vietnam * Tongren Fenghuang Airport (IATA c ...

'' (1991), ''

No Code ''No Code'' is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Pearl Jam, released on August 27, 1996, through Epic Records. Following a troubled tour for its previous album, '' Vitalogy'' (1994), in which Pearl Jam engaged in a much-publici ...

'' (1996) and '' Lightning Bolt'' (2013). Around 140 tarot cards with 140 different real people were also used in the video, however, none of them met each other during the making as the animators were filming themselves. On May 29, 2020, Pearl Jam's official YouTube channel released a video showing the making of the music video.

Personnel

Pearl Jam *

Jeff Ament Jeffrey Allen Ament (born March 10, 1963) is an American musician best known as the bassist of rock band Pearl Jam, which he co-founded alongside Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder. Ament wrote or co-wrote many of Pearl Jam's hits, ...

– bass guitar, keyboard, guitar, drum loop *

Matt Cameron Matthew David Cameron (born November 28, 1962) is an American musician who is the drummer for the rock band Pearl Jam. He first gained fame as the drummer for Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he joined in 1986, appearing on each of the ...

– drums *

Stone Gossard Stone Carpenter Gossard (born July 20, 1966) is an American musician and songwriter who serves as the rhythm guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the ...

– guitar, keyboard *

Mike McCready Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician known for being a founding member and lead guitarist of Pearl Jam. McCready was also a member of the side project bands Flight to Mars, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season (band), Ma ...

– guitar, keyboard *

Eddie Vedder Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and one of three guitarists for the rock band Pearl Jam. He was previously a gues ...

– lead vocals, guitar Additional musician * Brendan O'Brien – keyboard

Charts

References

External links

* * {{Pearl Jam 2020 songs Pearl Jam songs Monkeywrench Records singles 2020 singles Songs written by Mike McCready Songs written by Eddie Vedder Songs about climate change