Watch: Scarlett Johansson, Pete Yorn in 'Relator' music video

Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson in the "Relator" music video

Pete Yorn's collaboration with Scarlett Johansson gets its music video debut with "Relator," the first single from forthcoming set "Break Up," due Sept. 15 via Atco/Rhino.

The pair casually pose and sing to one another in sepia tones, to what is an admittedly catchy tune, though I couldn't recall a single lyric 15 minutes later, after a sandwich.

I have no idea how close Johansson and Yorn are in real life. But watching this video, I get much of the same sensation as watching the first couple episodes of a new season from "America's Next Top Model," where the gorgeous aspirants are forced to intimately pose with each other before they even learn to like/betray each other. Pretend you've got a secret to tell him! Look indifferent in bed! Laugh with restraint! Not too fierce.

There's nothing explicitly wrong with Pete Yorn; he's one of those artists that when I hear a song of his at the bar or in a waiting area, I generally like it and forget about it.

I am a little disarmed to hear he's doing a cover of Chris Bell's "I Am The Cosmos," which, when it was created and released in 1978, was perfect in every way. If he's doing an "update," cool, I'd just hate to see the "Mona Lisa" in paint-by-numbers, y'know?

Eager to hear the whole album.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.