Sight Over Sound: Why are so many music videos better than the music?

 Think about your favourite music video. What made it so memorable for you? Maybe it was colourful characters, a compelling visual story, or it was just out of the ordinary. Chances are, if you hear that song again, the first thing you’ll think of is the video. Animated music videos can sometimes be more influential than the music itself. They can have some of the biggest cultural impacts and change the way we consume music.  

Animated music videos were popularised through artists such as Gorillaz and Daft Punk’s Interstella 5555 in the early 2000s. Gorillaz are known for their animated personas, especially being a virtual band. However, these videos are not just 21st Century creations. Some of the earliest instances of animation in music videos made their appearance in the late 60s with The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” (1969). It boasted vibrant and abstract artistic works and the yellow submarine itself became one of the signature icons for the band. In 1982, Pink Floyd’s album The Wall (1979), was developed into a feature-length film, including animated elements to songs such as “Goodbye Blue Sky” and “Don’t Leave Me Now”. Derek Malcolm from The Guardian commented on the work, stating “if you want to know how to cut a film to it, watch this one”.  

Contemporary 21st Century animations have now catalysed their own fandoms. Indie and fan animations are usually the ones that take over the YouTube animation community. One such example is the Mystery Skulls Animated series (2014-present). With four animations and a fifth on the way, this sequence of Scooby-Doo-inspired works have developed a fanbase who crave the intricate story, theories and predictions for the next part. Animator, MysteryBen27 and music producer Mystery Skulls combined their skills on this project igniting YouTube reaction videos, theory videos, fan-made comic dubs and even an official merchandise line-up on Mystery Skulls’ online store. To have fans anxiously waiting around two years at a time, over the period of 7 years, for the next video demonstrates how impactful visuals can be in a music video. 

However, what happens when fan-animations make a viral phenomenon even more viral? Well, if you were an avid Minecraft player in the early 2010s, you’ll most likely remember CaptainSparklez’s catchy parodies of hit songs like Usher’s “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” and Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite”. Being a Minecraft YouTuber, animator and music producer CaptainSparklez became one of Minecraft YouTube’s major idols. His most popular videos accumulated hundreds of millions of views. His “Dynamite” parody, “TNT”, was 3 million views behind Cruz’s original music video as of today. That’s not too far behind! 

You’d be surprised if you thought animated music videos are only for younger audiences. With currently 6.7 million subscribers on YouTube, indie animator Vivziepop made their name through the animated, dark-comedy musical Hazbin Hotel and spin-off series Helluva Boss. As animation inevitably gains attention from many children, Vivziepop stresses that these series are “NOT for KIDS!”. Since its pilot in 2019 and its ongoing sequence of releases, Hazbin Hotel fans express their passion for the project through cosplay, fanart, fan theories and its own merchandise. Whether you enjoy wholesome cartoon-like experiences or edgy adult humour, animated music videos can entertain across generations.  

Anime is one of the most beloved animation styles worldwide and has no doubt influenced the creation of numerous music videos. “Shelter” by Porter Robinson and Madeon received a six-minute visual accompaniment by anime studio A-1 Pictures in 2016. As of today, the animation has 70 million views compared with the official audio on Madeon’s channel with 52 million views. It tells the story of 17-year-old Rin who owns a drawing tablet that can manipulate her surroundings in a virtual reality. It was met with many YouTube reaction videos moving individuals to tears and heartfelt emotions. Being able to impact audiences this way within a matter of a few minutes emulates the significant difference animation can bring to a single song. The anime-style has since been adopted in videos like Dua Lipa’s “Levitating”, TWRP’s “Starlight Brigade” ft. Dan Avidan and VIZE’s remix of “Find Me” by Sigma ft. Birdy. It would be cruel of me not to mention the renowned anime Lo-Fi study girl who’s become a symbol of the music genre itself. Even if you don’t listen to Lo-Fi you would’ve encountered her somewhere on the Internet.  

Katy Perry’s official channel commenced a series of animations in 2020 named The Smile Video Series for her studio album Smile. It boasted a spectrum of animation styles ranging from Claymation to comics. Whilst views didn’t skyrocket quite as far as previously mentioned videos, the effort to appeal to animation enthusiasts can’t be dismissed. “Cry About It Later” was the series’ most successful video with 45 million views. It features a young witch, reminiscent of Perry herself, who yearns to escape from her troubles and find joy in romantic experiences and female empowerment in a fairy-tale inspired world. Coincidentally, Perry gave birth to her first child within the same week of the album release. Whether these events had any influence on the song or the music video or not are uncertain. Despite this, the song alone doesn’t receive as much love as the video. According to Insider’s music editor, Courteney Larocca, explains “I'm not only going to forget what I wanted to cry about later, but I'm also going to forget I listened to this song”.  

This song isn’t on Perry’s “Popular” list on Spotify, but “Harleys in Hawaii”, from the same album, is fifth on the list with currently 219 million listens, the animated video with 9.5 million views and the original official video from 2019 at 79 million. In this case, the music was more popular than the animated visuals. After watching both the animated and original music videos, there were some similarities to both. Both have a group of women, including Perry, literally riding Harleys in Hawaii. What makes the animation more visually appealing is its attempt to replicate the inkblot cartoon style.  

The animation, the visuals and the storytelling aren’t anything ground-breaking, yet I found it more entertaining than the original. I saw the original video as just a visual representation of the lyrics. Whilst the same could be said about the animation, it takes creative liberties that you can’t capture with live action. Matching movements to the rhythm in comical ways, similarly to how Mystery Skulls has characters head-bop to the beat, is something I really appreciated. A more cutesy and imaginative experience relayed in black and white is a stark contrast to its sunny counterpart. Seeing Perry partying in colourful locations is not new to anyone and feels heavily recycled at this point, giving the animation the edge in my opinion.  

Being an animation fanatic, I will always have that slight bias for animated music videos. It doesn’t necessarily mean I have less interest in the music. In fact, a lot of the music I listen to nowadays on Spotify is all thanks to animated videos. That said, music videos really can be better than the music alone if you know your audience or look beyond it. Sometimes it’s a visual retelling of the lyrics, or the creation of a whole new story. It’s exciting to see more mainstream artists feature animation in their videos and even reference subcultural interests like anime and retro cartoons. Endless ideas can be explored with animation, that’s why it’s been constantly evolving over the last century. Animated music videos have their place in the music industry and they’re here to stay.  

 

 

For the Love of Lo-Fi: Finding peace in the imperfections

Struggling to find the zen in your day? Sometimes meditation music just doesn’t cut it. It could make us fall asleep, when we have so much to get done in our day. Lo-Fi music has the right balance of mellow sound and head-bopping rhythm that you can work or just relax to. It’s particularly popular with Gen-Z listeners. According to operations manager for Netherlands-based Chillhop Music, Björn de Water, 73.4% of its audience is aged between 18-34. This demographic may be students or those just starting out in the world of work. However, let’s take it from the beginning! What is Lo-Fi music? Why is it so popular with Gen-Z? Let’s discover a new kind of zen.  

Lo-Fi stands for “low fidelity” and is described as the culmination of various technical flaws like distortion and limited frequency response to create a soothing, stereo-like aesthetic. Its “low quality” aspects are manipulated in such a way that the sounds complement each other as opposed to noticing its unconventional elements that aren’t typically favoured by industry standards. Despite it being a “Gen-Z thing”, it’s not as new as you might think. Lo-Fi sound techniques find their roots as early as the 1950s, when up-and-coming musicians had to compromise with below average recording spaces, where unusual interferences would slip their way into recordings. DJ, William Berger then revitalised and popularised the term with his radio show, named after the genre. Lo-Fi is now often used as an umbrella term, including subgenres such as Lo-Fi hip-hop and Chillhop.  

Nowadays Lo-Fi extends beyond music into photography, video, art and fandom. The Lo-Fi aesthetic is heavily associated with anime and video games with the introduction of the infamous image of the Studio Ghibli-inspired Lo-Fi anime study girl created by Juan Pablo Machado for YouTube playlists. This aesthetic is comforting for many people, creating the ideal cosy atmosphere that many of our demographic aspire to be a part of.  

In an interview with Lo-Fi hip-hop artist, Jokabi, we discussed the importance of Lo-Fi and the technicalities behind its calming aura. “I listened to a ton of Lo-Fi hip hop during my architecture studies. It was extremely comforting during night shifts and helped me get through some tough times. During my final year at university, I thought it would be nice if I could help others get through difficult times by producing my own chill music”. I relate to this personally, being a final-year university student who is flooded with assignments, commitments and the headache of job-hunting. 

“I think the most aesthetic thing about Lo-Fi is its simplicity. The combination of simple and chill melodies with slow but punchy drums is just a perfect match”. This is what makes the genre such great focus music. It’s not downbeat to the extent of boredom, and not upbeat to the extent of distraction. It’s a balance of the two, where melodies are predictable, but the percussive elements add a steady rhythm to your work. “Lo-fi always has a slow bpm somewhere between 60-90 which is the sweet spot for relaxing beats. Since there are either very few or no vocals at all there's also nothing that can distract you from concentrating”. As a member of Gen-Z, I’ve noticed that we’re a generation that thrive on staying contemporary and on trend, but we also love taking trips down memory lane quite often. Lo-Fi delivers both in one beautiful mixture as Jokabi explains that “the dreamy and often nostalgic tunes take people back in time, but the head nodding drums make it a modern genre. That's what makes it such good background music. And again, I think it's the simplicity that allows listeners to forget their troubles in life”.  

With Lo-Fi being very popular among the anime and gaming communities, it’s no wonder you see many remixes of popular names like Naruto or Metroid. Jokabi remixes from popular Nintendo series and anime such as Studio Ghibli movies. I was keen to understand his motivation behind recreating these beloved tracks. “I can remember listening to a very simple Zelda Lo-Fi beat on YouTube years ago and I thought it was a perfect combination. Lo-Fi is often about nostalgic tunes and there is nothing more nostalgic than old video games such as Pokémon, Zelda, etc”. My go-to playlists are usually Zelda and Nintendo Lo-Fi and listening to them makes me want to play those games again that I enjoyed thoroughly as a kid. However, whilst I am working away on my laptop, it provides a sense of familiarity and security, where I feel in control of my tasks.  

“With anime it’s the exact same situation. I'm personally much more of an anime fan than I am a gamer. But there are a lot of similarities between video games and anime, especially when it comes to soundtracks. My favourite games were all made in Japan, so are the majority of anime and because of that they have a very similar vibe”. One significant pioneer of Lo-Fi hip-hop was Japanese record producer Nujabes. Jokabi mentions that he “made the OST for my favourite anime Samurai Champloo”, a very significant work that fused hip-hop influences with Japanese historical drama.  

The genre’s significance on mental health and work focus reminds us of the balance we need in our busy lives. Social media trends and influencers tend to have negative connotations attached to them, where it is thought that youngsters are pressured into living up to these trends by their peers. Whilst the Lo-Fi aesthetic is what many Gen-Z people admire and aim to recreate in their own lives, it can be viewed as a positive influential trend. “I hope it allows listeners to create a space where time is a bit slower and gets them away from their daily problems”. Lo-Fi music and filters are used on TikTok and Instagram reels created by gamers and anime enthusiasts. A lot of them feature the importance of self-care, working in cosy environments and the therapeutic nature of gaming and pop culture. It reframes the idea of gaming and anime being a mind-numbing pass-time and steers it towards being a tranquil hobby. Everyone deserves to treat themselves from time to time, even stressed students and career-aspiring twenty-somethings. 

With Lo-Fi being such a broad genre, it’s difficult to know where to start. Jokabi has named some of his personal inspirations like Jinsang, Kupla, Flitz&Suppe, Joey Pecoraro “and of course my brother Mikel who inspired me a lot”. Mikel received immensely positive feedback after his release of Zelda & Chill (2018) with over 900,000 views on his YouTube channel alone. If you’re looking to delve into the world of Lo-Fi as an artist, Jokabi advises “to put their emotions into beat-making and try to take their time with tracks until they really feel the right vibe. I think a lot of new Lo-Fi artists try to jump in as fast as possible and put quantity over quality. That’s the wrong way to go if you’re trying to reach people's emotions. They should find a way to make their music recognisable. Listeners will appreciate the effort”. 

With its history and constant evolution, Lo-Fi continues to be the cherished genre built upon audio imperfections.“There's not that much like it around and since it’s such a comfort to people it could take a while until something else takes its place”. Despite this, Lo-Fi isn’t conditioned to be a 'Gen-Z thing'. “I usually choose melodies from my childhood that weren’t as hectic as a lot of the things are nowadays. These melodies created a lot of comfort and made me happy. I try to transport those emotions through my music and make them accessible to everyone”. The message hasn’t spread far enough with how zen this music can be.“I think it's still quite new to a lot of people and hasn't reached its peak yet”. 

One era’s trash is really a future era’s treasure.