on 2 october 2012 macdonald announced that she was filming the video saying, "early start today. filming the video for '4th of july'". on 17 october 2012 she wrote, "the video for 4th of july is nearly finished and ready to go! i am really happy with it! excited for you all to see it!". on 18 october 2012 mercury music group announced the release date of the single, "@amy__macdonald single for ‘4th of july’ is out next week! video coming soon.." the music video was uploaded to youtube on 24 october 2012 at a total length of four minutes.