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feature The Best Music Videos Of The Decade: 2016 - 19

And so to our final part of our look back at the decade that is about to pass into history. This takes in the final four years of the Twenty Tens, and our list shows how this period started with some of the biggest and best-loved videos of the period.Following the previous two parts of our feature on The Best Music Videos Of The Decade, covering 2010 - 12 and 2013 - 15, the years 2016 to 2019 has seen a familiar pattern of directors breaking through in music videos before cracking it in commercials and beyond. Directors have also returned to make masterpieces.As a certain band of videos started breaking through the billion views barrier, and budgets have increased, big names of the past have regularly returned, like Dave Meyers. Less expected, movie auteur Paul Thomas Anderson has become a regular maker of music videos. And this period contains the one video that can reasonably claim to have transcended the medium, and be instantly regarded as Art: Hiro Murai's video for Childish Gambino's This Is America. In creating this list, we have followed criteria of creativity that would apply when judging the UKMVAs or other creative awards. But we have also acknowledeged some gamechanging viral smash hits. in most cases, we've also added a quote from the text that was written when these videos were first featured on Promonews.We're also open to suggestions to adding more from these years - DM us on Instagram (promonews.tv), with your suggestions for 2016-19 - and the earlier years of the Twenty Tens, as covered here and here.Beyoncé - Formation (2016)Director: Melina MatsoukasReleased the day before her Black Panther-referencing performance at the Superbowl in early 2016, we wrote: "Its implicit criticism of the police, together with her wide-ranging celebration of the American black experience, is a Beyoncé-shaped addition to the Black Lives Matter cause..."The Blaze - Virile (2016)Director: Jonathan Alric & Guillaume Alric (The Blaze)A remarkable introduction to musicians who are also highly proficient filmmakers. The Chemical Brothers ft Beck - Wide Open (2016) Directors: Dom & Nic"It's a one-shot video capturing Mizuno - who starred in the 2014 movie Ex Machina – dancing in an open space, and gradually undergoing a physical metamorphosis, from organic to synthetic. Her transformation into an artificial 3D version of herself – composed of see-through mesh – is a brilliant technical feat that looks more impressive with every viewing."Coldplay - Up & Up (2016)Directors: Vania Heymann & Gal Muggia"Up is West. Down is behind you. Chris Martin is a thousand feet tall and using a mountain range as a beanbag. It'd be an almost nightmarish vision if it wasn't so brilliantly done."David Bowie - Lazarus (2016)Director: Johan RenckWe wrote, in a piece the day before the announcement of Bowie's death: "Bowie gives a tremendous performance (a very Bowie-esque one)... Capturing a fire in the eyes and a cheeky grin straight out of a Mick Rock photo, Johan Renck has coaxed something of the old cracked actor back."DJ Shadow ft Run The Jewels - Nobody Speak (2016)Director: Sam Pilling"High-level international diplomacy that very quickly turns into an hilarious if slightly scary international brawl... the execution is brilliant, with visual punchlines delivered throughout with perfect timing."Jamie XX - Gosh (2016)Director: Romain Gavras"Shot in a replica Paris in the Chinese province of Jiangsu... an opaque story of power and submission, on an epic scale, involving hundreds of identically dressed (and coiffured) extras, a striking central character, and a blue Suburu."Massive Attack, Young Fathers - Voodoo In My Blood (2016)Director: Ringan Ledwidge"The way that the sphere controls an increasingly mesmerized [Rosumund] Pike is a nailbiting study in menacing suspense, as well as a metaphor on human dependence on technology."Mikke Snow - Genghis Khan (2016)Director: Ninian DoffWe wrote: "[Ninian Doff] gleefully dismantles the classic 007 mythology - with song and dance numbers, good performances (Adam Jones is excellent as the villain), and almost sacriligious plot twists."Valentino Khan – Deep Down Low (2016)Director: Ian Pons Jewell"With peoples' dancing facial features and tentacles bursting out of the waitresses eye sockets, there's only so much the man can take..."alt-J - 3WW (2017)Director: Young Replicant"A beautiful death march frozen in time... a perfect, morbid, visually-arresting resurrection story..."The Blaze - Territory (2017)Director: Jonathan Alric & Guillaume Alric (The Blaze)"France's historic involvement in Algeria and Algiers in particular, and the images of a group of men in dominant display, add layers of meaning to the concept of territory... this video very clearly establishes itself as an intelligent and incisive work."Bonobo ft Nick Murphy - No Reason (2017)Director: Oscar Hudson"Littered with subtle easter eggs relating to Bonobo's latest record, brilliant bits of production design and some fantastic lighting effects, this clip is a real achievement - evoking the playful, surreal feeling of now classic 90s-era Jonze and Gondry videos."Dua Lipa - New Rules (2017)Director: Henry Scholfield"A beautifully designed, cast and styled production number in three acts, with on-point choreography and continually inventive camerawork. It combines the spirit and look of '50s Americana with a fresh, whipsmart attitude. And flamingos."Kendrick Lamar - Humble. (2017)Director: Dave Meyers & The Little Homies"It's a big video - perhaps the biggest this year so far – that's going to stand up to viewing, and mulling over, again and again..." Young Thug - Wyclef Jean (2017)Director: Ryan Staake"There have been meta-videos before, and they tend to be fun things. But this may well be the best ever. And as Young Thug doesn't come out of it in the best light, somewhat miraculous that it was released at all."A$AP Rocky - Sundress (2018)Director: Frank Lebon"A bravura exercise in inventive storytelling and technical virtuosity, with a certain psychological insight."Billie Eilish - when the party's over (2018)Director: Carlos Lopez Estrada"Possibly the most ghoulish and gothic video ever to be shot in a completely white space. Just in time for Halloween..." Chaka Khan - Like Sugar (2018)Director: Kim Gehrig"A simple but deceptively clever idea that’s been expertly executed... an increasingly surreal mix of manic energy, gif-like dance moves and vibrant colours."Childish Gambino - This Is America (2018)Director: Hiro Murai"With everything to Glover's 'Jim Crow' pose to the appearance of a Horseman of the Apocalypse being analysed and deconstructed all over the internet, the details are there to be debated and discussed. But the themes of violence, gun reverence, chaos and fear - and the fact that this comes from a black man's perspective - are plain as day. Draw your own conclusions."Florence + The Machine - Big God (2018)Director: Autumn De Wilde"As a piece which is both exquisite to look at, and also hugely emotional, it must rank as one of the best Florence + The Machine videos ever."Jon Hopkins - Singularity (2018)Director: Seb Edwards"Part dance piece, part superhero film, part psychological drama, Edwards takes us into a self-contained world in which everything is at the service to the music."Rosalía - Malamente (2018)Director: CANADA"A characteristically brilliant and beautiful work that reimagines classic Spanish iconography in a thrilling fashion."Sevdaliza - Shahmaran (2018)Director: Emmanuel Adjei"A cinematic experience [that] explores and questions the fascinations and desires of the human mind... highly sophisticated, complex and beautifully executed piece. More an art film than merely a music video."FKA twigs - Cellophane (2019)Director: Andrew Thomas HuangFKA Twigs: "when I wrote cellophane over a year ago a visual narrative came to me immediately, I knew I had to learn how to pole-dance to bring it to life... thank you andrew, for elevating my vision beyond words. you are a visionary."Lizzo - Juice (2019)Director: Quinn WilsonBecause you demanded it! The most suggested video on our Instagram feed since we started the Best Videos Of The Decade series of articles is Quinn Wilson's video for . This came out right at the start of 2019 and was a great intro to the effervescent singer-songwriter and flautist who has had an amazing year. Salvatore Ganacci - Horse (2019)Director: Vedran Rupic"An absolute gem of absurdity... perhaps not for you, if you don't like even comedy violence to animals, even fake ones. But pure hilarious joy for everyone else."Stormzy - Vossi Pop (2019)Director: Henry Scholfield"Transitioning from epic scene to epic scene [with] an intensity that never falters, Stormzy dominates the screen... It's a real statement of intent, from start to finish."Tove Lo - Glad He's Gone (2019)Director: Vania Heymann & Gal Muggia"The video is spectacular and sweeping, and another tour de force of concept and VFX by [Heymann and Muggia}... But it's also a great showcase for Tove Lo's dry, high-concept humour." Thom Yorke - Anima (2019)Director: Paul Thomas AndersonIt's significance partly derives from the fact this was commissioned by Netflix and exclusive to the streaming service (so the only one you cannot watch here). Is that a one-off or the shape of things to come? And it was also the latest and the most beautifully achieved collaboration between Thom Yorke and Pauo Thomas Anderson, a celebrated movie director who now has a real taste for making music videos.Wiley, Stefflon Don, Sean Paul ft Idris Elba - Boasty (2019)Director: Henry Scholfield"A hugely entertaining, non-stop expression of the vibrancy of modern London, a celebration of street culture, and, perhaps above all, a statement about the musical powerhouse that is Grime..."• What have we missed? DM us your suggestions. Check out our previous Best of the Decade lists, for 2010 - 12, and 2013 - 15

David Knight - 28th Dec 2019

The Promonews Roundup

feature The Best Music Videos Of The Decade: 2013 - 15

The second part of our list of the very best music videos of the 2010s looks at the middle years of the decade, from 2013 to 2015.Some of the directors who had established themselves through music videos in the first part of the decade made their biggest statements in the medium during this period, while directors like Hiro Murai, David Wilson and Ian Pons Jewell started to make a huge impact. And as the reputation of music videos reasserted itself in the mainstream there was the big pop culture phenomenons from Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and others. In creating this list, we have followed criteria of creativity that would apply when judging the UKMVAs or other creative awards. We've included personal favourites, but have also acknowledeged some gamechanging viral smash hits. In most cases, we've also added a quote from the text that was written when these videos were first featured on Promonews.We're also open to suggestions to adding more from these years - DM us on Instagram (promonews.tv), with your suggestions for 2013-15 - and the earlier and later years of the Twenty Tens.Next: Best Music Videos of the Decade 2016 - 19Biting Elbows - Bad MotherfuckerDirector: Ilya NaishullerWe wrote: "Relentless action and ultra-violence (possibly setting a bodycount record in a music video)... and most importantly, absolutely jawdropping stunt work, from the first person perspective."Bonobo - Cirrus (2013)Director: Cyriak HarrisWe wrote: "a mind-bending masterpiece of animation, using prosaic mid-20th century stock footage as [Cyriak]'s raw material for After Effects supermanipulation."Darwin Deez - You Can't Be My Girl (2013) Director: Keith Schofield"The pleasure is going through the process of realising that Darwin has been expertly comped in top-spec recently-produced stock footage... sensing that the footage is weirdly parodying itself... Unlike the singer's never-going-to-be-his-girlfriends, Keith and Darwin were made for each other."Gesaffelstein – Pursuit (2013)Director: Fleur & Manu"Intoxicating tour de force of arresting imagery, with an enigmatic continuing thread - a golden gauntlet that turns up on the fist of a various members of a mysterious, powerful clan... hypnotic."Jon Hopkins - Open Eye Signal (2013)Director: Aoife McArdle"What appears to be the start of a narrative as the skateboarder, played by Chris Chann, jumps onto his board and heads off, turns out to be simply about the journey itself... it becomes all about the absorbing visual enjoyment of the journey – and the Zen-like demeanour of the skater."Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball (2013)Director: Terry Richardson"Miley gets naked on a said wrecking ball - quite an image, and indeed quite beautiful. But then, the real purpose is to arouse the audience, for good or bad."Naughty Boy ft Sam Smith - La La La (2013)Director: Ian Pons Jewell"A combination of the song and the little boy’s ear-covering and ‘la la la’s’ has already been a hit in Bolivia – with quite serious political implications. And it surely will not be long before it blows up over here too…"Phoenix - Trying To Be Cool (2013)Director: CANADA"When a new CANADA video comes out, we're all reminded of this medium's possibilities. Their latest addition is certainly no exception. Masters of exploring layer upon layer of beautifully pure concepts, this video takes the idea of cool and weaves it into an ever-escalating performance by Phoenix, where every shot is like an act of one-upmanship over the last."Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Sacrilege (2013)Director: Megaforce "Like a Jim Thompson novel directed by David Lynch, with a touch of Gaspar Noé's Irreversible, it strikes like a bowling ball... one of the most disturbing music videos ever..."Beyoncé - 7/11 (2014)Director: Beyoncé DJ Snake ft Lil Jon -Turn Down For What (2014)Director: DANIELS"How much fun can you have while just about keeping your clothes on?... Starring the infectious lunatic moves of DANIELS' very own Dan Kwan, the snake-like contents of his track bottoms, a brilliant cast of characters, mayhem, destruction - and dancing boobies."Flying Lotus ft Kendrick Lamar - Never Catch Me (2014)Director: Hiro Murai"Two children - presumably the innocent victims of gang violence - rise from their coffins at their joint funeral... the congregation are oblivious, but the boy and girl are not exactly ghosts. Joyful and happy, they are very real, and this is more like a brilliant blend of two realities."Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk (2014)Directors: Cameron Duddy & Bruno Mars"Cameron Duddy and Bruno Mars harness the party atmosphere perfectly in Mark Ronson and Mr Mars' tune Uptown Funk with this fun and tongue-in-cheek romp."OK Go - I Won't Let You Down (2014)Director: Kazuaki Seki and Damian Kulash, Jr.We wrote, after OK Go followed This Too Shall Pass with The Writing's On The Wall and then this: "Just when you thought OK Go must have exhausted all the possibilities of the insanely ingenious art-performance video... We're just glad that Honda got in touch, and showed the guys something they've been working on for a while... the Uni-Cub."Panda Bear - Boys LatinDirectors: Isaiah Saxon and Sean Hellfrisch of Encyclopedia Pictura"The inspiration, as with much of their work, is the wonder of nature, and then turning it into something mind-bendingly fantastical. But Isaiah and Sean have taken an entirely fresh approach to this project: it's their first fully-animated video."Paolo Nutini - Iron Sky (2014)Director: Daniel Wolfe"Wolfe manages to create a video that is as distressing as it is beautiful. Insightful. Alarming. While others take what they’ve learned in music videos to features, he’s brought it all back; an earnest cinematic poetry that’s increasingly rare in our industry."Sia - Chandelier (2014)Director: Daniel Askill & SiaWhen Sia saw 11-year old Maddie Ziegler on a TV talent show and then cast her in her video for Chandelier, which she co-directed with Daniel Askill, it changed both their lives. Having given an extraordinary performance in this - choreographed by Ryan Heffington - Ziegler followed up with the nearly-as-iconic Elastic Heart, with Shia LaBeouf, and has stood in for Sia in many more videos since.Taylor Swift - Blank Space (2014)Director: Joseph Kahn"Joseph Kahn does a typically masterful job seamlessly combining the glamour with the sarcasm and creating a 'bad Taylor' that is so over the top, so knowing, you feel she's still lovely underneath."Childish Gambino - Sober (2015)Director: Hiro MuraiThe climax of the run of videos that Hiro Murai directed for Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino is poighant and dreamy, a perfect showcase for the DG/CG persona, and a precursor for what they would do next with the TV show Atlanta.De Staat - Witch Doctor (2015)Director: Studio Smack, Torre Florim, Floris Kaayk"What appears bizarre, intriguing and threatening to start with, becomes increasingly remarkable."Florence & The Machine - DelilahDirector: Vincent HaycockArguably the outstanding piece in The Odyssey, Haycock's video-cycle for Florence Welch's album High As Hope. Kendrick Lamar - Alright (2015)Directors: Colin Tilley & The Little Homies"We are immersed into Kendrick Lamar's hyperreal world, which casts the city as a bitterly oppressive environment that leads its residents to a life of vice, hustle and the pursuit of hope. But despite that, Lamar supplies irrepressibly positive energy."Leftfield ft Sleaford Mods - Head And ShouldersDirector: Ewan Jones Morris and Casey Raymond"A video that follows an unsightly and particularly gluttonous Pacman-like creature on a consumerist rampage, reaching new outrageous extremes with each new animation style... Having said that, the stop-frame monster, with those horribly real-looking human teeth, is probably the best..."Royal Blood - Out Of The Black (2015)Director: David Wilson & Christy Karacas"After the animated TV titles intro, the live action centring around a Doofus-like clerk sets the scene, before Karacas's extravagantly gory alien-revealing animation takes over..." Tame Impala - The Less I Know The Better (2015)Director: CANADA"An absolute bobby-dazzler of a video. Sexy, funny, surreal, and very beautiful. And there's a gorilla called Trevor..."Next: Best Music Videos of the Decade 2016 - 19

David Knight - 23rd Dec 2019

feature The Best Music Videos Of The Decade: 2010 - 12

As 2019 draws to the close it's not just the end of another year, it's also the end of a decade. So what were the outstanding music videos of the past ten years, the 'Twenty Tens'?We have been mulling it over for a while. And now, here is the Best Music Videos of the Decade (the 2010s) as chosen by Promonews. And we have started our list with the first three years of the decade, from 2010 to 2012.This was a time when a new generation of talented filmmakers honed their craft in music videos before going on to other, bigger things - Romain Gavras, DANIELS, Emily Kai Bock, Fleur & Manu, Megaforce, CANADA, Daniel Wolfe, and others. Looking back, it's clear and obvious the medium was regenerating itself during this period, after what was arguably a decade in the doldrums. The arrival of YouTube gave music videos a creative impetus in the latter part of the Noughties, and at the beginning of the Tens, there was something of a mini-Renaissance. With creative licence to express themselves, the new generation created some remarkable work.In creating this list, we have followed criteria of creativity that would apply when judging the UKMVAs or other creative awards. But we have also acknowledeged some gamechanging viral smash hits. in most cases, we've also added a quote from the text that was written when these videos were first featured on Promonews.We're also open to suggestions to adding more from these years - DM us on Instagram (promonews.tv), with your suggestions for 2010-12 - and later years of the Twenty Tens.Next: Best Music Videos of the Decade 2013 - 15Adele - Rolling In The Deep (2010)Director: Sam BrownWe wrote (in Jan 2011): "this classy promo has some nice touches throughout, including some Jurassic Park-style water ripples masking the kick drum and a nice bit of slow-mo on the dancer in the white powder, all building in intensity to suit the escalating soundtrack."El Guincho - Bombay (2010)Director: CANADAThis was the first video that brought Barcelona-based collective CANADA attention outside of Spain, for the producer who a few years later would help Rosalía break out as an international star. Hold Your Horses - 70 Million (2010)Director: L'OgreWe wrote: "L'Ogre have fashioned brilliant 'live' versions of some of the best-known paintings in the history of art, by Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso and many others - featuring the members of the band... although made for the cost of a few plates of steak-frites, has been executed with a wonderful combination of painstaking accuracy and creative licence."OK Go - This Too Shall Pass, Rube Goldberg Machine Vsn (2010)Directors: James Frost, Synn Labs, OK GoWe wrote: "The band got together with art and technology collective Syyn Labs to design and build the intricate Rube Goldberg contraption that is the centrepiece of the promo. It took months to complete, in a two storey warehouse in Echo Park in LA, then a few minutes to smash it all to bits. Luckily, they filmed it - and it's the gobsmacking-est thing since... they hopped onto those treadmills. Plan B - Prayin' (2010)Director: Daniel WolfeThe third part of groundbreaking series of videos for Plan B's Strickland Banks album by Daniel Wolfe, we wrote: "Following on from the courtroom drama-musical of She Said, Prayin' finds the South London rapper slung in jail. It's brutal and frightening, grittily real - but also shifts, quite brilliantly, to moments of fantasy."Temper Trap - Love Lost (2010)Director: Dougal WilsonWe wrote: "Dougal Wilson's song-and-dance Kes, shot on Walthamstow Marsh, photography by the MVA-winning Lasse Frank... it's bloody marvellous."Battles - Ice Cream (2011)Director: CANADACANADA said: "The new Battles music video is an innerspace freeform journey to what goes on inside a melting ice cream cone, as seen through the eyes of a nineteen year old girl enjoying the clash of hot and cold in her brains and body while seated inside a bathtub licking some chocolate."Chase & Status ft. Liam Bailey - Blind Faith (2011)Director: Daniel WolfeWe wrote: "It starts with their preparations, and climaxes at an illegal rave in a warehouse somewhere in the north of England - and the aftermath. To say Daniel Wolfe is on a roll is a bit of an understatement - Caitlin Moran has called him a "fucking genius". He's certainly bringing a tear to the eye of many an old raver..."Duck Sauce - Big Bad Wolf (2011)Director: Keith SchofieldWe wrote: "Keith Schofield's brilliant, outrageous and very funny promo for Duck Sauce's single Big Bad Wolf is about to burn up the internet. Band members Armand Van Helden and A-Trak become 'crotchfaces' with increasingly hilarious results."Etienne DeCrecy - No Brain (2011)Director: Fleur & ManuWhy is this early video by Fleur and Manu in the Best Music Videos of the Decade? If you watch to the end, it's a no-brainer.Gotye ft. Kembra - Someone I Used To Know (2011)Director: Natasha PincusOne of the reasons why this song by an unheralded Australian artist became a global smash was the powerful video created by Natasha Pincus, incorporating stop frame animation and body art by Emma Hack. Is Tropical - The Greeks (2011)Directors: MegaforceWe wrote: "What seems a harmless bunch of kids playing with toy guns, but soon becomes an ultraviolent bloody nightmare, with splattering head wounds, slit throats, gang warfare, drug deals, terrorists... Controversial, glorious, hilarious, upsetting..." Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math (2011)Directors: DANIELSNothing simple about this video, which won Video of the Year at the UKMVAs in 2011. One of Dan Scheinert and Daniel Kwan's greatest achievements.Woodkid - Iron (2011)Director: Yoann LemoineWe wrote: "Yoann Lemoine is making a name for himself as a director, but he is also the recording artist known as Woodkid, and the bombastic Iron is accompanied by a stunning video featuring a cast of muscular warriors – and model Agyness Deyn – in a modern-medieval warzone beautifully captured in black and white." Alt-J - Breezeblocks (2012)Director: Ellis BahlWe wrote: "It's hard to make a backwards video that does something new. And that's why this one by Ellis Bahl for Breezeblocks by touted new band ∆ (or alt-J), is more than a bit special."Connan Mockasin – Faking Jazz Together (2012)Director: Fleur & ManuWe wrote: "Fleur and Manu revisit the levitation found in the Midnight City and Reunion vids for M83, but here they happen during the course of a one-shot where the camera happens upon an astonishing ceremony in a forest... it took two hours to shoot in three takes - followed by three months of post production to create the beautiful effects of human weightlessness."Die Antwoord - Baby's On Fire (2012)Director: Terence Neale, NinjaWe wrote: "DA's usual badass machine-gun Afrikaan hiphop this time comes with a bit more in the way of storyline and (completely believable) Ninja and Yolandi characterisation - plus an awesome car stunt that makes the 'drifting' in MIA's Bad Girls look a bit ordinary." Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes (2012)Director: Kahlil JosephWe wrote: "This film, featuring clips from three tracks from the album, is an unique and wholly poetic vision. It's beautifully photographed, on 35mm, by Matthew J. Lloyd - and features the considerable talents of dancer Storyboard P."Frank Ocean - Pyramids (2012)Director: NabilWe wrote: "the track gets re-worked with Nabil's incredibly cinematic and leftfield visuals following Frank on his woozy journey towards the Pyramid..."Grimes - Oblivion (2012)Director: Emily Kai BockWe wrote: "It's already been described somewhere as an instant classic, and we are not inclined to disagree with that assessment... it's frankly awesome."Justice - New Lands (2012)Director: CANADAWe wrote: "Its full-on, blockbuster action all the way - and a distinct change of direction from Canada's prevalent music video style of the past year."M.I.A. - Bad Girls (2012)Director: Romain GavrasWe wrote: "Bad girl M.I.A. is back with bad boy Romain Gavras for Bad Girls, and it's an awesome, beautiful, horizon-widening, spectacle. Beamers driving on end, boy racers in keffiyahs, mind-boggling stunts, skidding blow-outs, silky dancers with AK-47s - and Arab stallions in full gallop... smashes a stereotypical Western view of the 'Middle East'."Psy - Gangnam Style (2012)Director: Cho Soo-hyun For a while he was the biggest thing on the planet and it was all down to this supreme example of the K-Pop video genre; became The first video to breach a billion views on YouTube (now on nearly 3.5 billion). The Shoes - Time To Dance (2012)Director: Daniel WolfeWe wrote: "An eight-minute American Psycho-style rhapsody of mayhem... It's poetically bleak stuff as we follow [Jake] Gyllenhaal's path of destruction through the icy city - shot by Robbie Ryan, and edited by Tom Lindsay."• Next: Best Music Videos of the Decade, 2013 - 15

David Knight - 20th Dec 2019

feature Best of 2017: Promonews' Favourite Music Videos of the Year

You know it's the one you've been waiting for. David Knight and Luke Bather take you through Promonews's pick of the best music videos of 2017, in alphabetical order. And what an amazing year it's been...All We Are 'Human' Director: Eoin Glaister, Prod co: Agile Films, Commissioner: Jonny Bradshaw, Label: Domino (released: April) Eoin Glaister’s second trilogy of 2017 was a distinctly British tale told in a brilliantly deadpan way. Animal was the world builder of the three and really shone a light on the hilarious strangeness that you can only find in tiny British villages. LB alt-j '3WW' Director: Young Replicant, Prod co: Pulse Films, Commissioner: Andrew Law, Label: Infectious (released: April)Young Replicant’s cinematic, monochromatic death march does the impossible by making the best Alt-J video since this one. It’s absolutely gorgeous, brilliantly paced and steeped in religious symbolism. LBBeck 'Up All Night' Director: Canada, Prod co: Canada (released: September)A modern Joan of Arc dons her armour to undertake a daunting mission in one of the most hostile and challenging environments known to man - the teenage houseparty. Barcelona-based Canada's return to music videos was typical of them - imaginative, brilliantly art directed, a triumph. DKThe Blaze - Territory, Director: The Blaze, Prod co: Iconoclast (released: March)Territory is honestly a masterpiece. A gorgeous, unrelenting, confident and empathetic portrait of European migrant communities told from a place of pride, celebration and understanding. You won’t find any dwelling on misery or cheap pulls of the heart strings here – just powerful storytelling courtesy of scenes so effortlessly blocked and choreographed it feels like watching a ballet. LBBonobo ft Nick Murphy 'No Reason' Director: Oscar Hudson, Prod co: Pulse Films, Commissioner: John Moule, Label: Ninja Tune (released: January)An absolute mind-bender of practical effects bringing an incredible metaphor for loneliness to the screen. A huge production undertaking - as Oscar Hudson explained to us, it was achieved wholly in-camera – with a hugely rewarding end result. LBChance the Rapper 'Same Drugs' Director: Jake Schreier Prod co: Park Pictures (released: February)Jake Schreier takes something poignant and makes it funny, and then makes it poignant again, in this great fake TV-style duet between Chance The Rapper and a big puppet. DKCharli XCX 'Boys' Directors: Charli XCX & Sarah McColgan, Commissioner: Lucy Rogers, Prod co & Label: Atlantic Records (released: July)Look at all those famous sexy boys! Look at them! God, it’s all so wholesome. Just LOOK. Really though, this video manages to be a lot of fun whilst subverting the done-to- death video trope of objectifying a parade of women and that’s worth the price of admission alone. LBDRAM ft A$AP Rocky & Juicy J – Gilligan Director: Nadia Lee CohenAn extraordinary and hilarious video, channeling some classic influences (Lynch, Wareheim, etc) into a triumph of lurid pop art, by a rising star of photography and film, Nadia Lee Cohen. DKDua Lipa 'New Rules' Director: Henry Schofield, Prod co: Caviar, Commissioners: Alex Burford & Kirdis Postelle Label: Warner Bros (released: July)A beautifully designed, cast and styled production number in three acts, with on-point choreography and continually inventive camerawork - pretty much what we've come to expect from Henry Scholfield. Only this time it was for one of the hits of the summer, and showed that old rules of entertainment still apply, even for New Rules. DK Every Time I Die 'Map Change' Director: Kyle Thrash, Label: Epitaph (released: April) Kyle Thrash takes you out of your hipster bubble and drops you into real America – Buffalo, NY in the bleak mid-winter to be exact. It's a relentless piledriver to convert you to the old-fashioned notion of long haired guys playing loud heavy rock music. DK Father John Misty 'Things It Would Have Been Helpful To Know Before The Revolution' Director: Chris Hopewell, Prod co: Jacknife Label: Sub Pop (released: August)Father John Misty's merging of Tiny Dancer-era Elton John with the Apocalypse was rewarded with a marvellous stop motion-animated video by Chris Hopewell, who visualised an account from the other side of a great disaster involving one last human and his/her dead mobile phone collection, evading the clutches of beer-slugging cockroaches, with a trademark combination of exceptional craft and dry wit. DKHaim 'Want You Back' Director: Jake Schreier, Prod co: Park Pictures, Commissioners: Semera Khan Saul Levitz, Label: Polydor (released: June)If a sign of a great video is that it somehow gets better each time you watch it, then Jake Schreier's video for Haim is a great video. This one-shot in Ventura Boulevard only happened as a result of a previous shoot, involving the Haim sisters driving down the same road in a car, being abandoned due to an on-set accident. No one was hurt, but Schreier ditched the car idea. They came back the following Sunday, and nailed it. DKJay-Z – The Story of OJ Director: Mark Romanek & Jay-Z Label: Roc Nation (released: July)In some ways a divisive piece of work - with the older generation perhaps more uncomfortable with the imagery employed by Jay-Z and Mark Romanek than young people - but this beautifully crafted animation is the centrepiece of a thought-provoking set of music videos by Jay-Z focussing on the black experience in modern America. DKKaty Perry 'Bon Appetit' Director: Dent de Cuir, Prod co: Caviar (released: May)Part sexy and part horrifying, more food imaginative than Heston Blumental, and reminiscent of a Peter Greenway film from the 80s, this was a brave and bold pop video indeed by super-talented French/Canadian duo Dent de Cuir. DKKendrick Lamar 'HUMBLE.' Director: Dave Meyers & the little homies (released: March)This was an incredible year for Kendrick Lamar, and HUMBLE was the just about the standout video from DAMN, amid strong competition, particularly from ELEMENT - a tour de force of iconic set-pieces to contradict the message of the song, and burn in the memory. It was a hardly less remarkable 12 months for Dave Meyers, returning to music videos in a big way for the first time since the old MTV days, to make massive videos for Katy Perry and Camila Cabelo, as well as Kendrick. DK Kesha 'Praying' Director: Jonas Akerlund, Label: RCA (released: July)To be honest it was just an absolute joy to see Kesha reemerge after far too long. Akerlund’s trademark huge, maximalist saturated visual style comes to the fore here and marks an important change in Kesha’s career. LBThe Lemon Twigs 'I Want To Prove To You' Director: Nick Roney (released: February)One of the funniest videos of the year - a comedy documentary, as opposed to a mock-doc – that also helped put the ridiculously talented D’Addario brothers, aka The Lemon Twigs, and director Nick Roney, on the map. Roney takes the brothers to stay with his grandparents (strict Mormons as it turns out, but still quite a happening couple) but it all goes horribly wrong. DKLeningrad 'Kolshik' Director: Ilya Naishuller Prod cos: Fancy Shot/Versus/Great GunsA calamity of bloodshed and bad luck played out in reverse and pored over in forensic detail. Every single shot in this thing has so much going on that makes me feel lazy by sheer virtue of existing. It’s a hell of a lot to take in and rewards your attention with every rewatch. Plus there’s a tiger. LBRadiohead 'I Promise' Director: Michal Marczak, Prod co: Pulse Films, Commissioner: Phil Lee, Label: XL Recordings (released: June) Sometimes all it takes is looking at something through somebody else’s eyes to realise just how strange it is. Marczak’s hauntingly simple video shows the mundanity of the everyday through the eyes of a discarded android head as it gazes out of the window on a wandering city bus. Gazing out from the uncanny valley beautifully illustrates the idiosyncrasies of being human. LBResidente 'Somos Anormales' Director: Residente (released: January)Words can’t really describe this video, or how much I love it. It’s so willfully bizarre and unashamedly disgusting but somehow still manages to look great, and even features a famous face. The birth of man never looked so deliriously odd. If this is what creationism is, then sign me up. LBSt. Vincent 'New York' Director: Alex Da Corte, Prod co: All Ages Productions (released: August)Aesthetic with a capital A. Pop-art inspired visuals, an incredible colour palette and a swan(!) Alex Da Corte’s video is a great performance celebration that is artfully strange, strangely artful and completely otherworldly in its execution. LBTaylor Swift 'Look What You Made Me Do' Director: Joseph Kahn (released: August)Maybe not the best of the year, but certainly this was the music video event of the year, premiered at the MTV Video Music Awards, anaolysed shot by shot across the media, and breaking the record for the most viewed video in its first 24 hours of release on YouTube. DKYoung Thug 'Wyclef Jean' Director: Ryan Staake, Prod co: Pomp+Clout, Label: 300 (released: January)Everything that could possibly be said about this video has very much already been said. A lot of it was said in my interview with Ryan Staake, one of many he did upon this video’s release (no need to go into the reasons why, it's obvious). It's absolutely hilarious unless you’re in the business of making music videos, in which case this is the scariest horror movie of 2017. LB

Promonews - 21st Dec 2017

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