NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk State University band members say they're ecstatic about EDM group Justice's Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic album, as it brings an even bigger spotlight to the Spartan Legion.
NSU Director of Bands William Beathea said music video director Filip Nilsson emailed him in 2018 with interest of using the Spartan Legion to film a music video for Justice's song Heavy Metal.
The Spartan Legion recorded the video last fall and it was released in December 2018. The video surpassed one million views after Justice won the Grammy Award on Sunday night.
"The popularity that we're getting from the video and the exposure that we're getting, recruiting is through the roof," Beathea said. "We have more interested students at this time of year than we've ever had."
Beathea said Nilsson was inspired to feature his band after seeing a different Youtube video. The director also released a behind the scenes video from the shoot at Norfolk State University.
NSU senior John Hill said the grueling process of filming the video was an unforgettable experience.
"We'll take that with us for the rest of our lives, and tell our kids one day," Hill said.
Other band members described the experience as incredible and said they were stunned by how great the video turned out. NSU junior Joshua Latham said it's creating a buzz around the Spartan Legion.
"I believe this video is going to put Norfolk State University on the map next year," Latham said. "Our band is going to be unbelievable."
The Spartan Legion has more than 200 band members, and Beathea said he's expecting that number to rise next year with renewed interest from prospective students.
"When [Justice won the Grammy Award] the whole band went crazy, we just went berserk," Beathea said.
Band leaders said they're already hoping for another musical group to contact the Spartan Legion in the interest of making another music video.
"The students are actually becoming role models and inspiration for things to come in the future," Stephanie K. Sanders, Associate Band Director, said.