There are times when a scripted, staged music video actually takes away from a song’s message. Sometimes the lyrics are so powerful that it is best to have a visual accompaniment that instead shows a band in their natural, performative element.

And the release of A R I Z O N A’s new video for the song “Still Alive” is one of those times.

“We wanted to focus on more of a cool atmosphere and cool set design and just kept it simple. It was just a cool performance video and lets the song speak for itself,” reflects the band’s lead singer Zachary Charles in an exclusive interview with V Man.

The viewer finds Charles (vocals), Nate Esquite (guitarist), and David Labuguen (keys) in what seems like an abandoned warehouse. There are random wire fences punctuated with holes, a menagerie of objects such as wood pallets or paper just dumped at random and you’ll often find Charles sitting on a metal ladder. The set backdrop is somewhat chaotic. But it representative of the song’s message: that life is full of “crazy moments in life and these weird, awkward times with bad things and good things and weird things and experiences that are very vast,” admits Charles. But the band does not seem bothered by their surroundings—they radiate a contagious upbeat energy, dancing and focusing on the music.

“The message in “Still Alive,” particularly, is that even though you go through those things you don’t have to lose your spunk or your fight,” said Charles. “We’re all fighters one way or another.”

Remaining resilient through troubled times also pertains to the band’s sophomore album ASYLUM which was released on October 11 of this year. The creative process of the second album was quite different than the first and it came at a time when Charles admits that the band was a bit “scatterbrained.” The three friends, who have known each other for a long time—ten to fifteen years—were faced with a new set of challenges besides just working on an album: being on the road touring, narrowing down several ideas to a set, and a general lack of inspiration. They had to find the inspiration within themselves by going back to the root: “finding ourselves as people and being friends again and learning how to not be so stressed out,” Charles said.

It also has to do with the fans. “It helps at the end of the day to really remember that your fans connect with your music in the same way that you connect with creating the music,” said Labuguen.

And their efforts paid off. In the first week, the new album garnered over three million streams. The band also announced that they are already in the studio working on the third album and are in the midst of planning an upcoming tour.

The music video, which was co-directed by Sarah Lacombe, for “Still Alive” is important. Not just because it happens to be a great song with meaningful lyrics, but because it’s a song for everyone. If you like to dance or even if you just like to lightly bob your head, it’s a song for the masses. The video encourages fluid movement, the formation of an unabashed dance circle with close friends and a unique attitude towards life that most people need right now.