When Did Music Videos Stop Being Relevant?
There was no definite turning point as to when the decline of the popular music video began. In 2016, Beyoncé took music videos to the next level with the release of Lemonade, the game-changing album that was dropped along with a 65-minute HBO film. Lemonade brought about the return of the visual album, a concept pioneered in large part by the height of MTV but with roots in musical films designed around artists like the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night and Prince’s Purple Rain.
Lemonade set a new standard for videos. It was more than just promotion for an album. It was high art. Vox declared it to be one of the best films, not music videos, films, of its decade. It also became the primary way to fully digest and understand the themes of that album. You can’t fully appreciate Lemonade without watching the visual album.
The elevation Beyoncé brought to Lemonade challenged the form of the music video, but it also sparked larger questions. Was it no longer a music video because of its length and scope? Does its classification as a film imply limits on what a music video can be? Several artists, from Kacey Musgraves to Miley Cyrus, have attempted to repeat Beyonce’s success by releasing their own visual albums with mostly middling results. In the interim, fewer and fewer traditional music videos, with the exception of a couple outliers like Childish Gambino’s “This is America,” were resonating with audiences on a broad scale.
The question of whether or not a music video could have cinematic, high quality visuals continued into the 2020s. In 2022, Taylor Swift released the 10-minute version of her breakup anthem “All Too Well.” Its accompanying video was officially classified as a short film despite having all the traditional elements of a music video. During its release, Swift implied that this project had more artistic merit than a normal music video, but the messaging was unclear and contradictory. Swift tried to launch an Oscar campaign in the short film category but failed to make the cut, while simultaneously campaigning for and winning “Video of the Year” at that year’s VMAs. Calling it a short film one day and a music video the next further confounded the idea of what constitutes a music video at all.
The idea that a music video cannot also feature elements of “cinema” does a disservice to the history of the medium. After all, great filmmakers have always been involved in the creation of music videos between larger film projects. Never forget that David Fincher directed the video for Madonna’s “Vogue.” Spike Jonze has collaborated with dozens of artists on their videos from Coldplay to the Beastie Boys. Music videos may ultimately be a promotional tool for artists during an album rollout, but that’s not to say that they haven’t always been capable of also being high art. If a music video is well-conceived and well-executed, that doesn’t mean that it’s no longer a music video. It just means that it’s a really good one.
The Return of Quality Music Videos
After a draught of irrelevant and uninspired music videos, there seem to be signs of a positive change in recent months. This summer, three pop artists utilized the form with elevated concepts and strong execution to promote their new singles, and the results were successful. They also did not have to call their videos “films” in order to grab cultural attention.
Chappell Roan’s “The Subway” has a straightforward concept. Its New York City backdrop is to be expected, but Chappell finds ways to creatively draw upon elements of the city to create a sense of romantic longing while imbuing the video with her own unique look. The video features the subway, yellow cabs, and Washington Square Park while playing with her trademark long red hair and colorful aesthetic. At its core, “The Subway” is a simple music video with a few flashy and bizarre flourishes. Still, it works because of the way it captures the song’s yearning particularly in its climactic outro, which is as epic as her vocals. Folks on the internet felt the same way, expressing their adoration for how the video rises to the occasion of the song, which has become a fan favorite.
Last week, Sabrina Carpenter released her seventh studio album, Man’s Best Friend, and one of the ways her team got the album to trend all weekend was through the release of a must-watch music video. Carpenter has always employed a tongue-in-cheek approach to her songwriting, and she matches that with the video for “Tears.” The video contains direct references to The Rocky Horror Picture Show and features a standout cameo from Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo. Once again, a popular artist has used the form of the music video to better communicate her artistic sensibilities. There’s a strong cohesion to the video’s campy aesthetic, but Carpenter is not trying to frame the video for “Tears” as something greater than what it is.
Finally, one of the true mothers of high quality music videos from the late 2000s and early 2010s returned to the form this week with none other than Tim Burton as her director. Yes, it’s time to talk about Lady Gaga’s ambitious video for “D*ad Dance.” The song is a cross-promotional opportunity between the second season of Netflix’s Wednesday, a show executive produced by Burton which will feature a cameo from Gaga, and the deluxe edition of Gaga’s critically acclaimed album Mayhem. Despite the fact that the video is ultimately a marketing tool, Gaga pulled out all the stops here. She enlisted a talented filmmaker and shot on the notoriously creepy “Island of the Dolls.” I previously wrote about my hopes for this collaboration to lead to a potential film, but now that the video for “D*ad Dance” has been released, I am more than satisfied with what both artists have accomplished in just under five minutes. “D*ad Dance” manages to be so Gaga and so Burton in equal measure. More importantly, the video fulfills its marketing goals while being a well-rounded artistic achievement in and of itself.
At the end of the day, that balance between promotion and artistry is what a successful music video is all about. My hope is for artists to reinvest their effort and creativity into their videos and to embrace the form when they’re trying to make something good. Based on the recent trifecta of high quality videos from Chappell, Sabrina, and Gaga, it’s clear that if the concepts for music videos are well-executed, they will resonate with audiences. They don’t have to be considered visual albums or short films in order to gain traction. They just have to be well done.
via @PopBase