A couple of days ago a new video for 'Troubled Times' surfaced when, seemingly out of nowhere, a member shared a link to our forum, GDC. This was BillnTed's first post, accompanied by the caption:

[quote]OMG Has anyone else seen this before?  I can't believe it, is this is real?[/quote]

At first glance, the video seemed to have a fan-made feel, which isn't unusual - in addition to the official lyric video, there are many videos with the title 'Green Day - Troubled Times' available on the internet. Some have translations of the lyrics, while others show a fan's own visual interpretation of the song.

This is the first video, however, to feature Billie Joe Armstrong lip-syncing along to the entire song.

This footage of Billie, despite having a similar feel to his recent Instagram live videos, hasn't been seen before, which makes it very unlikely that the images were lifted by a fan for use in their own project. It appears to have been recorded using a mobile phone camera, with images of very up-to-date current events placed in the four corners of the screen. You can watch the full video below:



While the content of the video suggests it has been produced by the band or, at the very least, by Armstrong himself, the way in which it surfaced has created some uncertainty about just how 'official' the video is. The link shared to our forum is for a Vimeo upload by a user named 'Rev Rad', who joined the video sharing site almost immediately before the video surfaced. It is, unsurprisingly, the user's only video, giving us no further insight into who exactly they are, with that particular username being a potential choice for anyone from a casual Green Day fan to Billie Joe himself. There was certainly no indication that the source was in any way official. With no announcement by the band, many assumed that the video was a leak.

However, the video has since been shared twice by the band's official Facebook page. Initially, a post by the 'Green Day Brasil' fan page was shared, with the band later posting the direct Vimeo link. While this provided some reassurance as to the authenticity of the video, it also served to raise further questions: If the video is official, why did it surface on our forum as an anonymous Vimeo link, and not through any of the band's official social media channels? On the other hand, if the video is unofficial or leaked, why has the band shared it on their official Facebook page, seemingly offering an endorsement?

What do you think? Is the video official, why has it surfaced in such a mysterious way and, most importantly, what do you think of it? Let us know in the comments, or head over to our forum topic to discuss it in depth with other fans.