More about: ParamorePressing 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.

A new year has bought a new flurry of fantastic music videos. Pressing Play’s highlights of 2023 so far are…

'Number One Candidate' - Antslive

Antslive made himself KNOWN at the dawn of 2023 with the masterpiece visuals for ‘Number One Candidate’. Shot on film in the idyllic Dolomite Alps, the video, straight out of a fashion editorial, sees the London rapper hanging off the side of a truck, flirting with a local daughter and majestically riding a horse through the land, a skill he picked up within 2 weeks prior to the shot. The victorious banger alone oozes confidence with blaring horns and Ants’ boasting cadence but the success of this video is down to the creativity and fun they clearly had in making it. With the cinematic visuals well-circulated and successful at putting Ants on the map as the “number one candidate” he claims he is, this one serves as a true testament to the power of music videos.

'Running Out of Time' - Paramore

Paramore have marked their glowing return with their much-adored sixth album This is Why. The clear standout for me in the midst of this epic comeback was the Ivanna Borin-directed music video for their track ‘Running Out of Time’. In a clear ode to Gwen Stefani’s iconic 2004 visuals to ‘What You Waiting For’, one for the die-hard music video historians to relish in, Hayley Williams follows Stefani’s footsteps and teleports her audience to Wonderland as she agonises over the perils of fleeting time, akin to the White Rabbit. The video is filled with long-limbed characters serving high-fashion looks on surrealist sets to paint a chaotic mirage, symbolic of the existentialism around the meaning of time, as the pendulum swings between the lethargy it causes and the stress of losing it. 

'Can We Do This?' - Speakers Corner Quartet and Sampha 

The ‘Can We Do This?’ visuals live up to the beauty of the song organically, as a clear joie-de-vivre ode to being a Londoner. Amidst the huss and buss of the well-loved scenes of Ridley Road and East Street Market, a mixed bag of people gawk upwards, as birds and planes alike soar above. A Buckingham Palace bouncy castle is gradually pitched up, welcoming in any willing bouncers from infants to adults. The video, directed by Akinola Davies Jr, defies its monochromatic cinematography with its colourful themes of unity and not to mention Sampha’s stunning vocals that never miss, pulsing out the existential question “Can We Do This Again… and over again?”. Lovely stuff indeed.

'I’m Not Here to Make Friends' - Sam Smith

With all the outrage and controversy this video mustered up in the news, you’d think Smith had committed several crimes in the making of ‘I’m Not Here to Make Friends’. Quite the contrary, the singer just donned some nipple tassels and shook some toosh. As the haters came out the wood works once again, against anyones wishes, it’s evident their main issue is a hatred for queer pride and body positivity, which is ultimately just sad for them. The visuals, directed by Tanu Muino, follow a fairly generic structure of any glossy pop star’s music video, with the necessary glitz, glamour, champagne-popping and A+ choreography there in full effect. This is a clear mark of Sam’s coming-of-age era, thriving in queer excellence and embracing the skin they’re in. We love to see it!

'SORRY NOT SORRY' / 'DOGTOOTH' / 'WHARF TALK' - Tyler the Creator 

Tyler has dipped back into the spotlight, releasing a stunning trio of self-directed visuals for the extended cut of the Grammy-winning Call Me If You Get Lost.  The self-reflective SORRY NOT SORRY features a Tyler character from every era stood in a field, reciting their relevant confessional lyrics, as his ancestors watch on in theatre stalls, ending with a brutal ego death of Tyler-on-Tyler murder. DOG TOOTH and WHARF TALK have lighter narratives, indulging in Tyler’s essential colourful, cartoony style, basking in summer light, with the aid of DoP Luis “Panch” Perez’s gorgeous cinematography. The “collection of songs that didn’t make the original album”, with their paired cinematic trips, only assert the unyielding talents of Tyler the Creator.

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More about: ParamorePressing play