More about: Music videosPressing play

Music Videos are a dying art form. With my childhood ego peaking at the moment of transition from Rorry’s Pop Party to the very grown up MTV, pretty much all my music consumption came hand in hand with an epic visual - whether that was Kelly Rowland texting on an excel spreadsheet on ‘Dilemma’ or Katy Perry squirting whipped cream from her tits on ‘California Gurls’. Either way, I really do miss cranking that Soulja Boy in my living room with my brother, both our eyes glued to that TV screen.  Now with the big boy streaming platforms commanding music consumption, music videos have been put on the back burner and are very much overdue a revival in to the way we, the mainstream, listen to music.

In the month that saw the release of the masterpiece album RENAISSANCE by Beyonce matched the crippling lack of music video pairing, August was still full of some epic (and not so epic) music videos from the likes of Joji, PinkPantheress, Greentea Peng, M.I.A., Black Honey and the returning Arctic Monkeys. So without further ado, the highlights and lowlights of August were…

Joji - YUKON (INTERLUDE)

Providing a 3 minute 28 second long psychedelic trip, the ‘YUKON’ music video is really a treat for the eyes and ears. From the outset consisting of solitary beach shots, it’s giving Castaway. Then the video continues on and it’s giving Donnie Darko at the carwash. Completely random and maybe unintentional cinematic references but pulled off excellently none the less. The directing duo BRTHR experiment heavily with shots, motion, transitions and visual effects, perfecting a pleasantly disjointed flow to the whole video, matching the ever changing pace and mood of the track. As Joji sings “I overflow like mercury", that mercury pours down from the disco ball providing a strong sense of carthasis, tying in some kind of narrative which is kindly up for the viewer’s interpretation. Say what you like about Joji, but the man really slays the music video game. - 10/10

PinkPantheress, Sam Gellaitry - Picture In My Mind

With a casting call for the coolest people going, PinkPantheress and Sam Gellaitry filled up the launderette with the anyone they could get their hands on: nuns, newly weds, mailman, someone occupied by shaving their head - you name it, they were there. Sam took the form of the janitor, while the cherub-faced PinkPantheress thrives in front of the camera, with a mix of slow motioned and sped up people bustling around it in the background. With all that time in frame, it’s hard to believe that there was a time the singer would refuse to show her face. Although a little lacking in oomph, the whole video is cute and matches the banger well, with excellent set and costume design. Though I’ve come away from it pretty upset and confused as to how anyone actually managed to get their washing done in those conditions. - 6/10

Greentea Peng - Look To Him

The ‘Look To Him’ music video spotlights an action movie-type fight on top of a moving car. As the scene goes on the fight appears more as a lover’s dance and the car below is driver-less. Director Felix Brady said the two dancers/fighters “represent our two sides, anxious and daring” and the car is symbolic of the relentlessness of life. Like most art, given some context, it’s a lot more enjoyable. The aesthetics of the music video are also brilliant, with the fight sequence being circled, warped and blurred to the edges and with gorgeous returning shots to Greentea Peng, the ethereal, preggo narrator, in a sort of reverse fish eye lens, singing the groovy hook “If you gotta force it, then you know it ain't happening”. Very happy with this one. - 8/10

M.I.A - Popular 

The terrifying M.I.A. lookalike robot dons a yellow bucket hat and affirms “I’m living my best life” in the confines of a bleak audition room, with the real deal M.I.A. occasionally making an appearance to boogie with her bot self. A+ for choreography, for sure. My favourite part is when M.I.A. terminates her bot doppelgänger with one spritz from a water gun, in a very ego death moment. The whole metaphor of the video, matched with the song’s lyrics, is fairly on the nose, with an overdone Black Mirror type commentary on the damaging impacts of social media and how we’re all robotic slaves to the system. The simplicity of the video, stuck in the audition room with the odd bit of B-roll footage, makes the whole thing feel fairly homemade.- 3/10 

Black Honey - Charles Bronson

Taking ‘This Girl Can’ to a whole new level, Black Honey’s ‘Charles Bronson’ video displays gritty shots of full sweaty faces of makeup and full bodies built. Following a fairly classic structure to a music video, with the scenes flitting between the band playing in the fighting ring, up close shots of the kooky lead singer, Izzy Baxter Phillips, and then to B-character macho ladies occupying that same space.  But the visuals actively seek to abrasively push the boundaries of aesthetic feminity and have a wonderful colour palette that really reminds me of the Blink 182's album cover for Enema of the State but less nurse, more bodybuilder.  The rage is unleashed throughout the video and signed off with an epic “Ouch Charlie”. Girl power! - 7/10

Arctic Monkeys - There’d Better Be A Mirrorball 

Ah, the long awaited return of the Arctic Monkeys. As the song and video carry the burden of setting the tone of their new era, Alex Turner directs with a prematurely nostalgic approach. Using all the advanced technologies offered in 2022 to create sound and image resembling 1978, even down to the way Alex holds his notes a little too long and flat does or his dad-like hand gestures as he sings. But I have to say, the vibe kind of works. It’s almost a recreation of the look and feel of archived footage documentaries displaying the moments your favourite bands greatest album came about, almost playing into how popular that type of documentary is right now.  With a blended mixture of black and white and film stained colour shots of both the band ‘making’ the track balanced with candid more natural shots, it all just flows really nicely against the cinematic strings and soothing pace of the song. Bring on the album boys. - 8/10

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More about: Music videosPressing play