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Our review of 2025 concludes - at last - with a list of the directors who made the biggest impact in music videos last year. They are the Hot Directors.
Yes, this is all rather subjective. But having said that, we have applied some criteria to our choices.
How did we define a 'Hot' Director? In our book that is someone (or a team) that, at whatever point they are in their career, are in high demand - and also they have also been serial creators of music video content in 2025.
Everyone who appears on this list had at least three projects featured on Promonews in 2025. That, we admit, does exclude quite a lot of directors who also may have a good claim to be regarded as 'Hot', but that's the way we're doing it this time around.
So here is the Part One of the Hot Directors of 2025 list, with Part Two coming soon...
Soren Harrison and Blackksocks of Bedroom were as prolific in 2025 as they were when they broke through in music videos in 2019, and Blackksocks made his solo directing debut too. Including this hit video for Teddy Swims at the start of the year.
Cody Critcheloe blazes his own trail in an unpredictable fashion. In 2025, he directed two jawdropping, emotional melodramas for alt-rock artist Perfume Genius followed by an off-the-wall pop blockbuster for multinational girl group KATSEYE. The No Front Teeth video for PG is a hilarious camp gem with a side of weird horror - John Waters meets David Lynch, with waffles.
Florence Welch and Autumn de Wilde, plus choreography by Ryan Heffington - that's just one of those things that can pretty much rely on to deliver. And so they did for Florence's full-force, Bronte-influenced return with Everybody Scream and its sequel Sympathy Magic.
Self-shooting directing duo DON Prod are major players in British grime videos for their prized ability to ally mind-bending turnaround speed with quality of work. We featured just a portion of their output as they continued to develop, build relationships with major artists like Central Cee - and stretch themselves in other music genres - in 2025.
Working with artists across the span of an album campaign has been one of the features of Jake Erland's progress in the business. He did it again with Joy Crookes and then Olivia Dean, the latter producing an interconnected series of videos that could hardly have been more successful. Now Olivia's a cert to win big at the BRIT Awards next month - and we're keen to see what Jake does next.
Visualisers are now part of the fabric of music video production and the best example of the form, where the creative potential is explored most successfully, is by JADE working with director duo Fa & Fon. 2025 was a big year for twin sisters, they also made (proper) videos for Marina Satti. This year promises to be even bigger.
It's hardly possible to overstate the level of Jordan Hemingway's achievements last year. Not only were his videos for FKA twigs all superb, there were so many of them, particularly for her remix album of Eusexua it was quite hard to keep up. We think that Love Crimes was the last one, but we may have missed one. Jordan is what music video needs right now - in fact, always needs. He's hot and he's also the coolest man in the world.
Rodrigo Inada aims for what many would regard as impossible - a combination of the genuinely intimate, with epic visions on a grand scale. It's a very difficult trick to pull off, but last year it all came together in his videos for Jackson Wang, Celeste and finally, Jolin. He's a serious talent, and a real boon that he is working in music videos right now.
The maverick that is LAUZZA had another busy year with a series of videos in his distinctive style - where his brand is always part of the package. Everything LAUZZA makes also appears on his YouTube channel - even his video for PinkPantheress. Most importantly, the talent is always evident in the punchy, witty storytelling and use of greenscreen and VFX.
Dave Meyers never stops. 2025 would not really be considered a big year by his standards, but still - he did come to the UK to make two standout videos, for One Thing, Lola Young's follow-up to Messy, and then to transform Little Simz into an old-age punk for Young. Then there was his video for Snoop Dogg which is possibly the only video using AI last year that doesn't make us a bit sad.
Gabriel Moses makes imperishable images, and his videos are both very much of our time but will, we predict, never date. 2025 was probably his most prolific year in music videos - including this one for returning rap duo Clipse - leading to him winning Best Director at the UKMVAs - one of the great moments of the year. Really looking forward to what Gabriel comes up with next.
Next in Best of 2025: Hot Directors (Part Two)
