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In our final playlist of our review of 2025, we present the rest of our pick of the directors who made a big impact in music videos last year.
These are Hot Directors - the serial creators of music video content last year who were, and will continue to be, in high demand for their skills. Each of these directors had at least three projects featured in Promonews in 2025 - which probably knocked out a few other contenders for the Hot status, but that's the way this cookie crumbles.
So here we go with the remaining Hot Directors of 2025...
Billy King's emergence as an exciting young British director continued apace last year with his projects for Sasha Keable, regular collaborator AntsLive and then for the ever-adventurous JADE with the flamboyant video for Church. He also signed to CANADA in London last year, opening the way to the next stage of a career which began as the producer of Tom Emmerson's acclaimed videos for AntsLive.
Dora Paphides has established herself as one of the go-to directors for mainstream British pop videos, her productive 2025 including two videos each for former Little Mix's Perrie - including the enjoyable comedy If He Wanted To He Would - and the evergreen Sugababes. And in common with a few more of the up and coming generation of directors she's also a successful photographer.
Emerging as an exciting proposition among the new wave of music video directors, Relta continued where he left off in 2024 with a prolific output of work notable for the range of artists, from Jessie Reyez to Royel Otis to Kojey Radical and then rounding off the year working with exciting new R&B artist Sekou. The common denominator is a director with loads of talent and a real natural feel for the medium.
William and Ed Reid have established their credentials with their ongoing series of videos for Mura Masa and that continued last year with three more. They also took a break from Mura Masa to work with Peggy Gou and RAYE, and delivering compelling visual worlds tailored to both artists.
India Rose Harris has been an integral part in Confidence Man's rise to become arguably the most popular dance act in the UK. Her work is a perfect reflection of the Aussie duo's energy, sassiness, humour and, where necessary, sense of melodrama. Their trajectories have been intertwined for a couple of years, so where is India heading next? We're looking forward to finding out.
Charlotte Rutherford roared back in 2025 with some top quality music visual confectionery, launching album campaigns for both PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson, raising the game for both artists. Then she let her imagination run riot with Isabella Lovestory, making the wonderfully trashy Telenovela on a relative shoestring. She puts sexy and funny together pretty much better than anyone.
Mitch is in the first rank of American music video directors, a trusted collaborator of several artists at the cutting edge of pop - and simply super-cool. He has paid a crucial part in the creative evolution of Addison Rae from influencer to proper pop star, with his videos in 2025 for High Fashion and Headphones On. Then he reunited with Charli xcx to create a stunning visual for her leftfield collaboration with John Cale. Very classy stuff.
The return of Yungblud heralded a lively year for Charlie Sarsfield, who brings the best out of the Doncaster lad also known as Dom Harrison - and several other British male pop stars for that matter, including Lewis Capaldi. He did a great job with Lovesick Lullaby, YB's Britpop-inspired romp that somehow didn't show up anywhere at the UKMVAs last year. But they have gone from strength to strength, working with Florence Pugh on Zombie and YB is now about to crack America, with the help of Billy Corgan and Aerosmith.
He started the year completing a suite of videos for Olly Alexander and then came Wolf Alice. Working with choreographer Ryan Heffington for the first time since a major Christine & The Queens project in 2019, Sola Cardo masterminded a visual reset for Wolf Alice's new direction, with a perfectly pitched video for the album's first single. It transformed lead singer Ellie Rowsell into a pop star - while winning a Best Rock Video award at the UKMVAs.
Bardia Zeinali cemented his position in the top echelon of US pop video directors with promos in 2025 for some of the top global stars: Tate McCrea - including her F1 tie-in song Just Keep Watching, the LISA, Doja Cat and RAYE team-up on Born Again, and another one for Doja Cat. Then he reunited with Sabrina on the super Rocky Horror-inspired video for Tears, co-starring Colman Domingo. Like Sabrina, he is very good at giving people what they want.
Best of 2025... THAT'S ALL FOLKS!
