In my third end of year list, I will be reviewing my personal favorite music videos from 2013. A music video can say a lot about a certain song or the artist of the song. There are a lot of artists who sadly don't take advantage the music video. They use the music video to show off their body or show off their dance moves. Some artists also simply use the music video to film themselves singing or do random things that don't make sense. However, despite all this, I really appreciate those artists who do take advantage of the music video. I love it when they do something clever, inspiring, or thoughtful. I also love it when an artists tells a story with the music video that adds meaning to the song. This following list is a list of music videos that I really enjoyed from this year.
10- "Cups (Pitch Perfect's 'When I'm Gone')" -- Anna Kendrick
Personally I wasn't a big fan of the movie Pitch Perfect. Anna Kendrick was the only good part of the movie. She was a good actress and good singer that was stuck in a really dumb movie. However, my favorite part was when she performed Cups. I was also happy when this lone shining star of the movie became really popular and was followed by a remixed radio version of the song and this music video. The reason why I love this music video is it is super fun. Anna Kendrick starts out performing her cups thing and then she walks out into the restaurant and suddenly everyone in the whole restaurant is participating. It makes me super happy. Nothing deep or thought provoking, just a lot of fun. 9- "Stay the Night" -- Zedd feat. Haley Williams
Not only do I love Zedd's music, but I also think his music videos are super genius and creative as this is the first of two Zedd music videos on this list. Haley Williams of Paramore is our singer, but in the background we see the story of a guy and a girl building a relationship. Simple song; simple idea. And then in the midst of that, all these crazy computer effects and a bunch of other stuff that I have a hard time putting words to happens. And yeah, I can't describe it. It's just super creative and artistic. 8- "Brave" -- Sara Bareilles
I really love this song as it almost made my list of top 10 favorite songs of the year. The song is an anthem telling people to not be afraid of who they are. "I want to see you be brave," she says. The thing I really love about this music video is that we see a bunch of people just dancing crazy in public places. They are being brave and having fun without caring about what others around them think. This adds to the beautiful message of the song and makes me just want to go out in the world and be myself.
7- "Clouds" -- Zach Sobiech
I love the story of this song. 17-year-old Zach Sobiech was diagnosed with some life threatening disease and was told he only has a limited time left to live. What does he do? He writes this song that is beautiful and emotional. Early this year Zach passed away. Around the time of his passing, this video was released as a tribute video to Zach. It's really touching. Having lost my brother this year as well, this song and video have become very personal to me. 6- "Demons" -- Imagine Dragons
I always brag at the fact that I went to a free Imagine Dragons concert the year before they became big. Yes, they are a band from Provo, Utah, which happens to be the city I am currently living in. My one claim to fame. I love the whole album, especially the huge hit song Radioactive. Unfortunately this is a list about the music videos of the year and Radioactive's video was a little on the weird side. Thankfully they redeemed themselves with Demons. This song is very insightful and I love how the video adds to the insightfulness of the song by diving into the lives of a few of the concert goers to an Imagine Dragons concert, showing the demons that they are dealing with.
5- "The Fox" -- Ylvis
Yes, if you know me, you knew this was coming. I am often a sucker to these huge YouTube phenomenons. I loved both Gangnam Style and The Harlem Shake that preceded The Fox. And of course I loved this as well. This comedy duo definitely did their job as far as I'm concerned because I was laughing super hard the first time I saw this. Not only does the song make me laugh (as well as get stuck in my head for days at a time), but so does the music video. I guess I just love watching adults all dressed up like animals and dancing around while acting super serious. All the random YouTubers that had fox videos before this were probably super happy as you know everyone upon seeing this went to search knowledge as to what foxes really say.
4- "Summertime Sadness" -- Lana Del Rey
Like I mentioned in my favorite songs list, this song was originally written in 2011, but became popular after Cedric Gervais did a remix of the song. It was great timing for Gervais since Lana Del Rey had been recently brought into the limelight with her hit song Young and Beautiful from the movie The Great Gatsby. After this sudden popularity of the remix version, Lana actually released this music video. As you will find out, this is a new video of the original song, not the remix version. The song by itself is already super depressing, but it is vague enough to mean a few different things. This video adds to the emotion of the song by essentially clarifying that the song is about suicide. It's a super sad video, but one that is emotional and powerful. 3- "Can't Hold Us" -- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton
This music video is one that tells a great story that goes right along with the song. Macklemore takes a flag from the cold arctic snow with the words, "The Hiest," which is the album the song comes from. Then he takes that flag and travels the world with it, ending up placing the flag on the top of the Space Needle in Seattle, which is where Macklemore is from. The song is about not having a ceiling on the things you can do in this world. Go live your dreams, and don't let anyone stop you. It makes want to go travel the world. Or get a haircut on a beach. Or set up a living room in the back of a trailer.
2- "Safe and Sound" -- Capital Cities
This music video is just boss. Capital Cities is a band that I have fallen in love with. They are super creative in all of their music, and just plain awesome in this music video. The video is an homage to the history of music and dance in the past hundred years or so. We get a huge conglomeration of decades all in one dance floor and that is just super cool to watch. Also, one of the singers from Capital Cities has one of the best beards ever. Many kudos to him.
1- "Clarity" -- Zedd feat. Foxes
As you know if you have checked out out my top 10 favorite songs of 2013, this is one of the songs I have just fallen in love with this year. However, when I first heard of the song, I did what I always do and I went to check out the music video. It wasn't the song that initially blew me away, it was this music video. Like I said before, Zedd is super creative with his music videos and I love it. There are so many things that happen in such a short span of time, most of which include various crashes and explosions. Then as we get into the video, it all reverses and unexplodes and uncrashes. Yes, I know those aren't. I just made them words. Then for a third time even later we go forward with it all. Then in the midst of all that, some crazy confusing things are happening with a guy and a girl. What does it all mean? Well, being that the song is about complicated relationships (If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy? If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?), I suppose it all fits together. But either way, I just get mesmerized every time I watch it. Definitely deserving of best music video of the year!
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