Brandy Joins Gallant in Apocalyptic ‘Dynamite’ Video

Gallant surveys the wreckage of a relationship in “Dynamite,” a smooth piano ballad with a casually serrated chorus: “If we lost our minds, blew up like dynamite/Wouldn’t that be nice?” The track appeared in March on the R&B singer’s Neptune EP.

Neptune featured several duets — including “Third Eye Blind” with Arin Ray and “No More Tries” with VanJess — but none landed with the harsh force of “Dynamite.” Gallant is accompanied only by a piano, which pushes the listener to concentrate on the lyrics, words that capture a precise moment of romantic implosion. “I poured another shot of Bulleit after our fight/Then you took one look into my tortured eyes/And you realized that this was never what you came for,” Gallant sings. He adds to the list of grievances with the vigor of the freshly wounded: “It was volatile, money made it worse;” “you never could believe that I loved you for exactly who you were.”

Though the lyrics are full of bruised feelings, the video initially takes its cues from the uber-calm instrumental. Gallant broods on a rooftop, plays with a glass of bourbon, and taps out a few notes on the piano. Then lightning flashes to herald the arrival of Brandy, ramping up the drama, and a volcano explodes in the distance. The two singers close the track singing back-to-back on a helipad as the camera twirls around them and the city burns in the background.