By Erin Caine
Lifestyle Editor
It’s getting harder and harder to differentiate today’s music videos from short films.
Actually, a few musical artists this year have done exactly that: blend the two mediums together to create an audio-visual experience like no other.
Beyoncé’s 2016 album, “Lemonade,” for instance, was accompanied by a 65-minute film which premiered on HBO. It was divided into 11 chapters that took viewers through themes of “Anger,” “Reformation,” and “Hope,” among others.
Everett True of the Independent called the album “fiery, insurgent, [and] fiercely proud.” The film’s powerful visuals make frequent reference to recognizable moments of African-American civil rights history.
Janelle Monáe’s 2018 album “Dirty Computer” was set to some timely and provoking visuals, as well, and released in full on YouTube.
The 46-minute short film (an “emotion picture,” as Monáe called it) is set in the future, and blends sci-fi elements with the aesthetics and themes of Afrofuturism.
Monáe plays an android reliving her memories and trying to break free from a society that wants to erase her. Tessa Thompson and Jayson Aaron star as the character’s love interests and partners-in-crime.
The Independent‘s Roisin O’Connor called the album “the perfect celebration of queerness, female power, and self-worth.”
Tim Grierson of Rolling Stone, meanwhile, described the film as “play[ing] with the conventions and totems of dystopian sci-fi” in order to promote “a cultural shift toward a more inclusive and loving society.”
“Monáe is speaking to the present,” Grierson said, “but for her, the future is now.”
One can hardly mention powerfully resonant music videos of this year without talking about Childish Gambino’s stupefying video for “This is America,” which tackles the issue of racial violence in the U.S.
Amid scenes of gunfire, chaos, and references to recent tragedies such as the 2015 Charleston church massacre, what is most striking and unnerving is Gambino dancing in the foreground as if nothing is happening.
Few artists would dare to cut so close to the bone, and Gambino’s willingness to do so made “This is America” one of the most talked-about videos of the year.
Pop artist Ariana Grande has also had an electrifying and highly creative year. Her music videos are expansive and cinematic, and take the viewer through a number of breathtaking and memorable visual moments.
The video for her song “No Tears Left to Cry” (from her album “Sweetener”), for example, makes use of a rotating set, exploring the concept of feeling “disoriented” when apart from the ones you love.
The video’s many optical illusions and CGI cityscapes make for a mesmerizing viewing experience.
Grande’s most noteworthy (and perhaps most divisive) artistic venture of the year, however, has probably been the video for “God Is a Woman.”
The video pays homage to, among other sources of inspiration, Greek and Roman mythology, Biblical figures, famous artworks and sculptures, and Madonna.
At the climax of the video, Grande takes a giant hammer and takes a decisive swing at the literal glass ceiling above her, shattering it.
With music videos being so big and bold these days, it’s hard to imagine where the medium will go in the coming decades, but one can hardly wait to find out.