Thirty Seconds To Mars Blast Off With 'Up In The Air' Lyric Video

Mar 25 2013

Mars's brand-new lyric video was shot on board the International Space Station.

In the past week, Thirty Seconds To Mars have debuted their brand-new single "Up In The Air," weighed in on the sexual subtext of lyrics like "I'll wrap my hands around your neck so tight/ With love, love, love" and released a trailer for the accompanying short film.

But if you think they're going to cool their heels for a couple of days, well, you don't know them at all: In keeping with their tireless traditions, Mars have just unveiled the lyric video for "Up in the Air," which certainly ranks up there with the ... if not the most ambitious. Filled with eye-popping time-lapse photography taken from the International Space Station — where the first copy of their single currently resides — the clip skims along the surface of the earth, providing the viewer with unbelievable images of aurorae borealis, lightning storms and vast grids of twinkling city lights.

Mars have just unveiled the lyric video

And the text crackles with that same electric energy, racing across the screen in time with the song's surging synths and Leto's yelps. That "wrap my hands" line is there, of course, but it's essentially an afterthought. In many ways, this clip plays up another aspect of the track — the "passionate, really energetic" angle Leto described to MTV News last week.

"It's also about power, it's about control," Leto said. "It's about getting to a point in your life where you're ready to let go and move on and become the better version of yourself, the self-actualized version of yourself."

We can't vouch for his personal growth, but with "Up in the Air," Leto has definitely helped move the lyric video concept forward. If Thirty Seconds To Mars were going to make a text-based clip, well, you pretty much knew it was going to be one that aimed for the stars ... and then put a camera up there, too. It's basically a lyric vid in name only: this is as good as any actual music video you're likely to see any time soon.

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