Lauren Dunn has created a visual for Kacy Hill that's both intimate and widescreen cinematic for the singer-songwriter's emotional song Please Don't Cry.With gorgeous cinematography by Jeremy Herron, working with a colour scheme that reflects the tension in the lyrics (and Kacy's hair), rather than the song's relaxed pace, Dunn's video focusses entirely on the singer and her performance within an idyllic vision of smalltown America streaked through with scarlet.The almost subliminal effect on the viewer is that behind Kacy's demeanour, there's something more fiery under the surface, and it's taken some things to happen for her to get to this level of stillness. "Wow this project with Kacy Hill means so much to me," says Lauren, via Instagram. "This video is a love letter to processing grief and being forced to confront your feelings. Kacy and I have been friends and collaborators for over a decade and we both have been making our way through different forms of grief... This project is a cathartic release for us both."I have forever gratitude for my incredible DP [Jeremy Herron] for being just as passionate and dedicated to the vision as we were."And I don’t have enough words to describe how insanely lucky I am to have Sebastian [Zotoff] as a trusted friend and visionary that always brings the best out of me."

An intimate, tender music video by Ruby Harris for singer-songwriter Zoe Moon's love letter to her younger self.The film for The Letter - shot in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland, New Zealand) during the summer of 2023 - unfolds as a visual conversation between Zoe and her younger self, moving through a series of moments until they meet."The Letter began during a time of personal loss that left me searching for peace," explains Zoe Moon. "The visuals are an extension of that moment: a quiet processing of memory, conflict, and hope. "Set across sand and sea, the video features myself and four others, symbolising a family. We move through soft gestures of care and rupture, lifting one another, reaching, even contending over a single letter in the sand. It’s a non-objectifying way of presenting Blackness in Aotearoa — honest and real. It’s exactly what I needed when I was growing up here."The video was created by "A small and incredible crew," adds director Ruby Harris. "The edit by Nadia Darby cuts movement and water together seamlessly. For the underwater scenes we took a DIY approach, putting a Sony A7iii in a waterproof case and jumping in."Colourist (and DP) Devan Narsai brought everything together with the grade, making the footage across different cameras combine into one beautiful, emotional and playful world."

For the first single from multi-hyphenate artist and rapper Kojey Radical after a three-year hiatus, Relta directs a compelling video capturing his performance and how it radiates through a series of connected rooms.The video for Rule One unfolds in a kinetic style, beginning as Kojey performs as he exercises vigourously on a running machine, then visually panning through adjoining rooms - a group of girls' listening to the music on headphones, his collaborators Bawo and Swindle relaxing with friends.Each flicker between different rooms exploring the power of focus and dedication in life, the viewer gets the sense they are on the journey with Kojey through his mind and lyrics and he lays out his rules for life."I’ve admired Kojey’s work for almost 10 years now - longer than I’ve been directing," says Relta. "So I suppose it makes sense that I placed a lot of importance on this project. Thankfully I had the most wonderful team around me who made my somewhat ambitious creative come to life."We built three adjoining sets, each with their own tones and emotional weight. The song felt militant and authoritative to me, and being Kojey’s first release in several years, I was keen to have his performance shots feel just as impactful, seeing him training in a surreal space & powering the surrounding rooms."I also loved the way Kojey paid homage in the song and we managed to sprinkle in a couple more nods in the video, as well as seeing the next generation taking notes themselves. The entire video was shot in an intense three hour window and looking back it’s all a bit of a blur, but I couldn’t be happier with how it came together."

Alice Fassi brings a delightful comedic sensibility - both absurd and touching - to Joy Crooke’s latest, a song that dares to tackle a thorny subject: the effect of feminine beauty on other women.The subject of the song and video is the beautiful, apparently vacuous Carmen - spied upon by an awestruck Joy, disguised as a bush. Carmen (played by Amelia Swaby) is literally heading for a fall. She’s even looking gorgeous in mid-plummet - but then comes her surprising, brilliantly delivered fate: the mannequin-like Carmen shatters into pieces.The Italian director’s cartoonish approach is a real departure from previous Joy Crookes videos but entirely welcome, primarily as the wacky invention also shares the warmth of the song. She also makes the most of Joy as a performer in the second half of the video, when friendship blossoms with Swaby - by this point playing Carmen’s disembodied head in a box."When I listened to the track, I felt I knew this 'Carmen'," says Alice Fassi. "Carmen actually is the girl we’ve all known at some point: effortlessly perfect, admired to the point of obsession, and quietly envied for having everything we ever wanted – all without lifting a finger."Sometimes it takes almost nothing: a casual comparison, a sprinkle of envy dressed up as admiration, and suddenly we’re bowing down to someone who only exists in our head. Not the real person, of course, but a high-gloss, limited-edition fantasy — prettier, cooler, simply better. And from there, it’s a slippery slope straight into obsession. "For our music video, the scene of Carmen falling down the stairs is the perfect embodiment of this feeling. Even in her most dramatic downfall, she manages to be… perfect. And though she shatters into a thousand pieces, her influence doesn’t – it simply shifts. In this case, it takes hold of Joy, the singer of the song."With this video, I wanted to explore that familiar feeling of never quite measuring up, of getting lost in the ridiculous race to become someone else entirely, until envy pushes us into surreal territory. My goal was to capture that intimate emotion with a sense of playfulness, wit, and irony, because beneath the absurdity lies something painfully real. It’s a cheeky dive into the beauty standards we’re fed daily, and the strange cult of superficial adoration."