The 5 Best Videos Of The Week
Lately, the people reading this column have been helping me out by putting videos that I might’ve missed in the comments section of this column. Thank you! Please keep doing that! (Please do not, however, put your friend’s band’s shitty video in there. Or in my Twitter mentions. Thanks in advance.) The music-video world is anarchic and wide-ranging, and it’s easy to miss great stuff. This week’s #1 pick is one of the ones that I missed last week, and I’d rather include it late than not include it at all. This week’s picks are below.
5. Drake – “Nonstop” (Dir. Theo Skudra)
Most of Drake’s recent videos — including the new “In My Feelings” one, which came out too late to make this week’s cut — have been big, joyous visions full of guest stars. This one comes from a different director. (Karena Evans did all the big ones.) And it’s got different aims. It’s small and focused, built entirely around a visit to London and seemingly filmed in whatever spare moments Drake had. But it still works as a magisterial display of big-star charisma.
4. Muncie Girls – “Locked Up” (Dir. Designasaur)
Lyric videos are over. Let’s replace them with collage-style animated objects where everyday objects move around to illustrate the ideas of the lyrics instead.
3. Brockhampton – “1997 Diana” (Dir. Kevin Abstract)
One of these days, we’re going to have to talk about how Kevin Abstract, as a director, uses his videos to objectify all the dudes in his group, the same way that rap videos have historically objected women. Quick take: It’s pretty great!
2. Neko Case – “Curse Of The I-5″ (Feat. Mark Lanegan) (NSFW) (Dir. Xan Arada)
They really, really took it there. A whole lot happens in these 66 seconds.
1. Rosalía – “Pienso En Tu Mirá” (Dir. CANADA)
The young Catalan flamenco singer Rosalía has released two classic music videos this year, both full of trucks and bullfighting imagery and other things that I don’t have the cultural knowledge to properly contextualize. And they’re both visually striking enough that I don’t need that knowledge to love the videos. The final shot here is one for the ages.