In waves that can well be referred to as some of the best we have seen in Norway, the biggest pop group from Norway of all time has used Joacim Nyhaugen as a “surf stunt” in the new music video As If.
The content of the music video for a-ha is an extract from the cinema film True North, directed by Stian Andersen, and produced by Norwegian Aparent.
– It’s not a dream I’ve had, but it’s hard to say no when you’re asked to join. A-ha isn’t exactly a trifle, says Joacim to Fri Flyt.
The scenes are, among other things, taken from one of the biggest and best days of last year’s season at Unstad in Lofoten. See the music video for As If at the bottom of the article
Wearing a thick neoprene wetsuit with a hood, Nyhaugen longs for the sea before jumping into the water and paddling out into the waves. The pictures are simply fantastic.
WINTER SURF: The music video has a mix of images from Norway’s most famous surfing spot Unstad. Screenshot: As If / True North
– My brother has helped make it! says Joachim.
Joacim’s brother is called Lasse Nyhaugen. He is a former jibbe profile and films in Field Productions.
Now the film talent makes music videos for a-ha, and in As If he is a producer with Miriam Eeg. He is also responsible producer in Apparent, together with former cycling profile Nils Windfeldt.
– It’s actually really nice to have Bruttern on this. He lives and dies for surfing, and being able to use only a small part of it in what I do is incredibly fun, says Lasse Nyhaugen.
BELOW: Mats Birkelund is responsible for the impressive surf pictures in the water. Screenshot: As If / True North
The film’s director, Stian Andersen, wanted to show Northern Norway from a slightly different, and perhaps more realistic, perspective.
– When you want to showcase Norway to the rest of the world, through a world-renowned band, it is often easy to go the national romantic route, with fjord and mountains in perfect harmony under a cloudless sky. But Stian didn’t want that, according to Lasse.
Instead, they wanted to create something that reflects the reality of the north — weathered and exposed, and a palette to match. And the pop stars in A-ha are supposed to be proud of the result.
KLAR: – I never got to meet the guys in a-ha. But in return I met Stian Andersen, who is regarded as one of the greatest artist photographers we have in the country. and it was a lot of fun, says Joacim. Screenshot: As if / True North
– I never got to meet the guys in a-ha. But in return I met Stian Andersen, who is regarded as one of the greatest artist photographers we have in the country. and it was a lot of fun. He has also worked closely at Turboneger, says Joacim.
As If is one of the songs on the new album True North, where the album cover is a picture of a winter-clad Unstad.
– What do you think of the song?
– The song is nice. Not the biggest a-ha fan, if I may say so. In any case, it’s fun to be involved in a project that has been shown in cinemas around the world. It’s something I can show my youngest when he gets older.
Joacim Nyhaugen went to Lofoten to surf in 2016, but never returned to Oslo. He now lives in Svolvær, is married to Emilie, has a child and works as a contact teacher at Kabelvåg secondary school.
BIG: As if simply contains some of the best surf and wave days documented in Norway. There are some guest surfers, but most are with Joackim Nyhaugen. Photo: As if / True North
– Moving here has meant a lot to me. I have wanted to be able to surf a lot in my everyday life, so it was a good choice to move up here. The mountains up here aren’t too bad either.
Nyhaugen is a retrained snowboarder, who in relatively mature age has become one of the country’s very best and most stylish surfers.
That’s why he also fits into an aesthetic product, with Norway’s biggest pop stars of all time: Morten Harket. Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen. To put the greatness into perspective, the music video has to Take on me 1.5 billion views on youtube.
TRUE NORTH: A-ha has a strong relationship with Northern Norway and is strongly committed to the environment. Then a picture of Unstad is suitable as the cover of the new record True North.
It’s also a little extra cool that the music video with Joacim is made on a surfer’s terms. Surfing on Unstad is believable and real – not necessarily the way it tends to be in similar productions.
Read more and watch film from monster day at Unstad on 13 December 2021
– It was a premise that surfing had to be done in the right way if it was to be included in the film. Although we did parts of filming on land with a traditional film crew, all of the content in water was filmed by Mats Birkelnd, who is an experienced surf photographer, and who has done projects with Joacim in the past. Incidentally, the same premise also applied in the cutting process, where we had full control over how everything came together in the end, comments Lasse Nyhaugen.
Philip Halvorsen in the Lofoten Film Collective is behind the wild drone images from Unstad.
– A bit of some wave conditions that emerge in some of these clips?
– There is a part from the 13 December swell. It was quite incredible to lie in the water when it was so good. It takes a lot for everything to click on that spot there.
Here you see the music video As If with A-ha. Unfortunately, it cannot be embedded outside of YouTube.