Came out three weeks into the new year and faced no competition at all for the rest of it. Chung Ha's charisma is just off the charts.
It's hard to tell what this MV is supposed to be conveying. It seems like abandoned exposition for a movie that doesn't exist, something modelled after...I, ROBOT? A cinematic vignette without surrounding context. Matters aren't helped by the song, which, despite its claims to "filth," isn't especially dark, saucy, or even coherent - sonically or lyrically. Suggestive, at the very least (Malaysia 2028!), but not unenjoyable as such.
(Special mention also to Man of the Woods, another confounding song/video combination, one so silly it almost charms its way onto this list.)
When this premiered, Sarah and I compared it to K-Pop, and I think the point of reference still holds. It's more open and pleasure-focused than most Western pop allows itself to be, and Troye Sivan's presence could be as powerful solo as in a boy band.
Where vertical composition goes now that it's been introduced is anyone's guess, but music videos are a great way of experimenting without having to commit more than a few minutes to the attempt. This is a nice song from an artist who deserves to be more famous, and hopefully still has the chance to be. It's no Superlove, but Tinashe's dancing remains incredible here.
If Michael Mann directed post-human music videos.
Hard to describe in words, yet perfectly clear as experience.
Unpopular opinion but...I prefer this song to Bodak Yellow by several orders of magnitude. No disrespect to Cardi though, who wended her way across the social media swamp and claimed the treasures lying in wait. I just happen to like this MV a lot, so it gets pride of place.
Title says it all.
One of Young Thug's best, with a strong assist from Lil Uzi. That and the MV's dark visions make this one stand out in Thugger's extensive body of work.
This one made me stand up and take notice. I haven't connected as much with their other songs, but there's no denying the grinding beat and energetic raps on DIANA.
Some unbelievable flows here. I always appreciate the ambition of MVs that push toward 10 minutes (or more).
The first few seconds of this video are so bizarrely disorienting that I hoped the whole video continue in the same vein. Nevertheless, the remainder is plenty solid, although I'm still not sure Drake belongs in this song.
Finishing up with more of the best. BRTHR's one of the best MV directors working right now, and this one, for Kali Uchis, is another great serving of rainbow-slime psychedelia. It's always hard to choose just one image from BRTHR's videos, so I went for two this time. Compositionally similar yet very different, they seem to express two halves of the MV -- even if, unfortunately, some of the wilder tangents are left uncaptured.
I know everyone's mad at Ariana now and I understand 100%. But I can't bring myself to disavow her earlier achievements, and this must be her very highest. Complemented with an all-time best MV by the great Dave Meyers, no tears left to cry breaks up its visual space post-cinematically to match Ariana's limitless emotion. The infinitude of interiority is expressed through digitally manipulated exteriority, like INCEPTION with all the fluidity that flat-footed film lacked. And what a strange, marvelous mood this song casts: crestfallen but resilient, defiant but hurt, vulnerable in all the most heartbreaking ways. Ariana's recent admission that she suffers from debilitating PTSD informs this song retroactively, adding the specificity of her experience to a song with the utilitarian, audience-focused dimensions of all great pop. It lives on unresolved dialectics, yet none of these impinge on the song itself. It's only as wounded as it needs to be, sublimely self-assured when it's not. After Roller Coaster, this was 2018's ultimate pop gem, and I'll always be grateful to Ariana for giving it to us, no matter what else the future holds.
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