Sometimes the music is only half the story. Would Michael Jackson’s immortal pop ballad “Thriller” have been the runaway success it was at the dawn of MTV if not for the extended video filled with zombies, werewolves, and Vincent Price? Probably not. Though MTV’s clout has diminished significantly in subsequent decades, artists are still releasing videos at a stunning clip, sharing them on Youtube, Vevo, and pretty much every streaming service out there.
Videos not only offer another side of the person making the music, but also of the music itself, adding in context clues and visual cues that enrich the sonic material. They can also be fun, funny, weird, and shocking. Collected below are some of the most interesting and compelling videos released over the last week.
Cardi B — “Be Careful”
Directed by Jora Frantzis, this stunning video appears to draw major inspiration from Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films, with Cardi positioned as the bride, decked out all in white with hundreds of diamonds dangling around her neck. Needless to say, the marriage doesn’t end in happily ever after, and at the end of the video, Cardi is seen showing up to his open casket funeral and later personally plants his crucifix into the desert sand.
Anderson .Paak — “Bubblin'”
There aren’t enough superlatives in the human language to fully capture how impressive Anderson .Paak is as an artist and an entertainer. In other words, his follow-up album to 2016’s stellar Malibu can’t get here fast enough. And if the song and video for “Bubblin'” is any indication, we could be in for something special from the SoCal native.
Meg Myers — “Numb”
Meg Myers’ “Numb” video is as powerful as it is unsettling, finding the singer trying to navigate a rather mundane day in the office while being constantly touched and groped by the people around her. “The song is about how I was feeling when my record company was looking for something out of me that just didn’t feel right for many reasons,” she revealed.
SZA — Garden (Say It Like Dat)”
Over the past year, SZA has emerged as perhaps the most compelling, non-Kendrick Lamar entity in the TDE universe. Many of her recent visuals have been outright stunning — especially the clip for “Love Galore” with Travis Scott — and “Garden (Say It Like Dat)” keeps that trend alive. Keep an eye open for the Donald Glover cameo.
Tyler, The Creator — “435”
Tyler, The Creator set a new benchmark for creativity and openness with his most recent album Flowerboy that dropped last year, and appears to be trending more in that direction with his new single “435.” The song is loose, and the video itself, with Tyler rapping along in a recording studio, is pretty carefree, but the bars hit hard, and his charisma pops off the screen.
