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Just one day after Currier House released their 2024 Housing Day video, Currier video producer Chibuikem C. “Chuby” Uche ’24 and his team of Currier residents began planning for next year’s video.
“The day after we drop a video it’s like ‘oh my gosh, what is next?’” Uche said.
Currier House has had a two-year streak of having one of the most-viewed Housing Day videos, with its 2023 video accumulating more than 50,000 views. So to keep up with the hype, the team spent hours last summer planning the cast and formulating editing plans for their video titled “Currier House: TREEPEAT” — referencing their mascot and past Housing Day video popularity. The much-anticipated video, released on Tuesday, also featured a cameo appearance from former Currier resident Bill Gates.
Housing Day videos, an annual tradition spanning back to 2009, are an opportunity to showcase “House spirit” — while “dissing on the other Houses too,” Leverett Housing Day video producer Ethan C. Kelly ’25 said.
“After all, it is a competition,” he added.
However, across numerous Houses, the video producers agreed that what makes a “successful” video is one that best showcases the camaraderie within each House.
“What I think makes it successful is like having a lot of House spirit in the video, tailoring the lyrics to be unique to the House,” Kelly said.
“We were like, oh, we should go to other Houses and film, and then we’re like, you know what? Or we could showcase the really cool people that live here,” Uche said.
“What makes a great House is the people within it,” Uche added. “If you come here, you’re gonna get accepted with a warm welcome and open arms.”
While Currierites hit the ground running soon after their music video release last March, not all Houses operate on the same timeline.
Winthrop House Community Co-Chair Fatema H. Abdulla ’26 said that the new video begins after students arrive back on campus after winter break and the new House Committee is selected. Similarly, Kelly said Leverett’s production team began in January by coming up with a song list. Caroline Y. Choi ’25, Dunster House video producer, said their video production began at a Housing Committee meeting a couple of months ago.
The videos primarily overlay original lyrics onto popular rap tracks. In order to ensure originality and limit overlap in song choices, House Committees discuss their plans among each other. Still, the song “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar was featured in both Leverett House and Quincy House’s production.
“We were trying to kind of avoid too much overlap with other houses, just because we want to do something original,” Abdulla said. “We want to make sure not everyone's listening to the same track over and over again.”
Not all of the Houses’ videos were met with enthusiasm by freshmen, who will find out where they will be living for the next three years on Thursday morning.
“Quincy has the best one. Currier really was not that good. Like, Currier production was good, but the actual lyrics and everything, was not good at all,” Maher Harp ’28 said.
“I heard Lowell’s is pretty bad, so I didn’t even bother watching in the first place,” Rick Yang ’28 said.
Mizuki A. Yashiro ’28 said the videos did little to sway her housing preferences. Yashiro said she preferred Quincy House’s video over Lowell’s — but still hopes to be sorted into Lowell.
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Some freshmen also attended housing video premiers, held in dining halls and common spaces in the houses. Linden A. McCarl ’28, for instance, attended the premier for Quincy House.
“It was great energy, it was really good,” McCarl said.
Video producers across the houses said that the quality of the videos isn’t what ultimately matters, but how students feel while making and watching them.
“At the end of the day we’re not making Grammy-winning music videos,” Choi said, adding an expletive. “What truly made it a good video for me was the fact that there were so many people in it that showed up and actually wanted to be a part of it.”
“My biggest thing is — I want a freshman to watch the video and be like, ‘oh my gosh, I see myself here. Like, I can come here and just be me,’” Uche said.
—Staff writer Dionise Guerra-Carrillo can be reached at dionise.guerracarrillo@thecrimson.com.
