International music video flooding social media filmed in Belgian school

A video clip of Swedish rapper Yung Lean set in an elite British boarding school was in fact filmed at a secondary school in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant.

Newly-released “Storm” is already creating a buzz online, reports RTBF. Supposedly set in the future – it features banners stating ‘Class of 2034 – the music video was made at Cardinal Mercier College in Braine l’Alleud last December. (Walloon Brabant)

It is a collaboration between the Swedish artist (Jonatan Leandoer) and French electronic producer Surkin and director Romain Gavras who are behind the project Gener8ion.

The unsettling video features Yung Lean throwing moves in the middle of a class of boys dressed in British school uniforms. They perform a captivating choreography full of undulations like a wave exploding in the middle of a storm.  

The dynamic sequence was choreographed by the internationally renowned Franco-Belgian dancer Damien Jalet.  

“They go everywhere, where I had chemistry class, where we ate hot meals, in front of the school building,” rap fan and former student Johan told RTBF.

But the clip also sparked controversy among school staff as it includes violent scenes, as well as smoking and drug use. 

Apparently, the theme of the song was presented to the management of Cardinal Mercier College as a “youth in the midst of a storm”. 

Director Gregory De Smet commented: “The project was led by a highly-regarded choreographer, as was the music video director. This was a reassuring element for us in our initial analysis.”

He added: “Between the project presented, the staging choices, and the final edit, there’s obviously a part that’s beyond school’s control. And so, afterwards, we realised that the rapper was smoking in the video and that some scenes were violent. These are obviously not images we want to see associated with a school.”

Cardinal Mercier College regularly hosts film shoots on its premises. “The first time was about 10 years ago for the launch of Stromae’s clothing brand. The agency was looking for an old-fashioned location and they knocked on the right door since our establishment celebrated its centenary two years ago,” said De Smet. 

The revenue generated by these film shoots allows us to “carry out renovations, improve common areas, equip classrooms with educational materials and support more expensive educational projects,” he added. 

At the time of writing, the musical clip has already garnered over 4.8 million views on the YouTube social network alone.

Photo: © Gener8ion