Days before this year's UK Music Video Awards, celebrating all the outstanding creativity that makes it an enduring and important artform, comes a video shows exactly why its still vibrant, why it must be cherished, as Nicolás Méndez introduces the next era of Rosalía. It's a brilliant and inspiring clash of the mundane and the surreal.The video for Berghain (the lead single from her highly anticipated new album Lux) features the Spanish singer moving through her normal day. And whilst cleaning and ironing in her apartment, walking along the street, and travelling on a bus, she is always shadowed and surrounded by a full orchestra.Méndez takes us into a world that is still recognisably Rosalîa - as expressed in numerous videos, including the classics he has directed for Malamente, TKN and more. But her new musical direction, with orchestra, elements of opera, the experimentation that sees her involve Bjork and Yves Tumor, has become the path to employ this wonderful device.In a way, its simple. Crucially, its beautifully executed, with peerless attention to detail, in terms of production and with the bare traces of a narrative, involving a piece of jewellry, which leads us back to explore it again and again.Meanwhile Méndez takes it to the next level. Returning home, as Bjork starts singing, Rosalia's apartment has become a Snow White-esque interior forest, with creatures. An elevation to full-on fantasy. There's humour, and playfulness - and like all good fairytales, a frisson of horror.Shot in Warsaw, CANADA's Nicolas Méndez makes us feel we are in the centre of old Europe, full of history and where a lot of magic is also possible. It's a beautiful way to introduce Rosalia's experimentation in classical music. Méndez is a master of this artform and he makes every frame significant. He has made a classic.

Lexie Carroll gets into a fight with the Moon and the surrounding darkness in Ethan Ross's quirky and charming video for the rising indie-pop singer.The video for It's A Leap Year takes place in a theatrical dreamspace, in which Lexie encounters her Moon-headed nemesis, and turns a star into the rising Sun to destroy him.This experimental approach, with its DIY sensibility, is another intriguing showcase for the singer-songwriter who has shone in previous videos directed by Big Tent Films' Ross, including God Loves A Trier.

Lucas Murray-Reynolds directs and shoots a raw video for alt rock-leaning singer-songwriter Nieve Ella.The video for Lucky Girl blends 16mm film with digital textures, to mirror the track’s gritty emotion. Anchored in performance but elevated through textural montage and metaphor, the film weaves Nieve’s story with fragmented imagery of horses - a visual symbol of wild instinct and vulnerable strength.The result is a striking visual with plenty of standout moments, introducing a new chapter for the artist. The cross-format approach feels contemporary yet imbued with deep, yearning nostalgia."I’m particularly drawn to 16mm film and it was an immediate choice once I heard Lucky Girl," explains Murray-Reynolds."I’ve become used to wearing many hats to navigate extreme turnarounds, so with a one week turnaround this project was an opportunity to retain creative control whilst collaborating closely with Nieve and her team to shape the next phase of her visual world."I wanted to create something that felt alive - rough around the edges, tactile, instinctive - where the energy of her performance could clash with stylised montage.”

Ana Matronic, founding member of The Scissor Sisters, will be returning to host the UK Music Video Awards 2025, which takes place this Thursday, October 30th.Preparations are in the final stages for the biggest and best awards show for music video production in the UK and around the world - and the biggest party of the year for the music video-making community. The winners of the 38 categories at this year's UKMVAs with shortlists will be announced on the night - plus the Video of The Year. In addition, two special awards will be presented on the night - the Icon Award and for the first time, the Legend Award - at the ceremony that will take place for the fourth year in succession at Magazine London, in North Greenwich, London, near The O2.Ana Matronic returns to host the show for the third year running, after her triumphant turns, including her mesmerising hold over the excitable UKMVAs audience, in 2023 and 2024 - and being hailed as an "inspiration" by last year's Video Of The year winner Aidan Zamiri. Some tickets may remain for the UKMVAs 2025 ceremony and aftershow party, so check availability for tickets on the UKMVAs website.• The UK MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS 2025 - check availability here

Sergi Fiddes directs a striking satire for Multiscreen, that plays out in a feverish clash of textures, live action, animation and lyrics for the London alt pop duo's Hip To Be Dumb. The video is an assault on the senses - in the best way. The lo-fi, early internet vibe plays to the DIY sensibilities of the track, creating a visual that is engrossing throughout. Fiddes explains that the approach was dictated by the satirical nature of the lyrics, whilst also adopting a nostalgic aesthetic that suited that 80's processed sound. "[The video] explores how futile our attempts of authenticity are in this overwhelming brainrot era, and that the romantic ideals of returning to the 'past' or to 'nature' are easily corrupted into another form of clout-farming," explains Fiddes. "The principle idea was; how much does one's brain need to rot before we regress back to our Ape-like ancestor? Partly inspired by Mike Judge's Idiocracy, I wanted to play with this idea of decline and take it to the Nth degree in pure satirical fashion; inverting the ubiquitous 'March of Progress' illustration that shows the linear evolution of Ape-like ancestor to upright human, into a 'March of Regress', demonstrating the opposite."It became apparent that animation was the only route we were going to achieve this, however, having never done animation previously I was going I needed all the help I could get. Enter Misha Notley, our animator who made life extremely easy over the course of two weeks.Our principle model was based off one of the Mulitscreen duo, viral extraordinaire, Louis Ravens, with certain added accessories like the wired headphones and a matcha as a nod to the classic 'performative male' look. This became one of five animated models that got progressively more ape-like which Misha then had to seamlessly morph into one another over the course of the song whilst also animating distinct running patterns for each one."When it came to the background, I initially wanted something understated and not too distracting. But after chatting with the duo and Misha, it made sense that a more maximalist approach suited the song's vibe much better. In true brainrot style, it's visually overwhelming ultimately playing into the depressing state of affairs the internet culture is tangled up in. However, despite this, it’s still quite playful in this sort of Dystopia-lite kind of way. "A final note - it goes without mentioning this was one of the most collaborative efforts I've had going into a music video and was extremely fun and rewarding to bash heads with Multiscreen and Misha. Having the chance to spitball as many ideas as possible, everything and anything was fair game and I'm delighted with our results!"

Lewis Knaggs self-directs a tender promo for new track Fireball. The ballad meditates on the chaos of the modern world and the inevitable destruction of of us all, the video reflecting a quieter version of this idea. Across a series of naturalistic performance vignettes, we see Knaggs alone, the world a strangely empty, liminal version of the one we usually inhabit. It's a gentle, thought-provoking visual and a great accompaniment to the track.