2023 IN REVIEW — The Best Music Videos of the Year
The year has all but come to a close, and as such, a music-brained perpetual shut-in such as myself gets collecting together all the opinion pieces and lists that they’re wont to curate. Songs, EPs, soundtracks and second-half-of-the-year albums I’ll save until after the New Year proper (to let me catch up with all the December releases), but impatient as I am I thought I’d jump in just before the New Year with something to whet the appetite. Thus, behold — my rogues’ gallery of the best 55 music videos (and visualisers and, in two cases, filmed lived performances) of 2023.
55 — ‘Workin’ Hard’ [Fujii Kaze; dir. MESS]
Not only is ‘Workin’ Hard’ plainly one of the grooviest songs of the year, but its music video couples with it a strong message — a suave but sincere acknowledgment of the manual laborers and essential workers of the world who so often get overlooked in society, coupled with Fujii and co’s pared-back, rhythmic choreo, perfectly synced with the beat.
54 — ‘In the Garden’ [Indigo Sparke; dir. Julia Hendrickson & Sara Melvin]
Religious symbolism abounds in the accompanying visual to Sparke’s gorgeous meditation on sin and femininity — the ritual act of washing becomes one of erasure; eating, one of contamination; burial, one of reuniting, fusing the human body with the natural world once more.
53 — ‘Bongos’ [Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion; dir. Tanu Muino]
If you’re gonna write a song about ass, you might as well lean into it wholeheartedly for the video. And yet, the Tanu Muino-helmed visual (she filmed Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’, FYI) is so much more too — outlandish costumes, wonderfully garish color schemes, and more than a handful of playful references to Beyoncé’s Black Is King, which was filmed at the same location.
52 — ‘Doolally’ [Hak Baker, dir. Hugh Mulhern]
Hak Baker burst onto the scene last year when he performed at Glastonbury, and this year saw the arrival of his debut album. To accompany, this discombobulating video, channelling all the wide-boy swagger of a Guy Ritchie film through several circle of psychedelic animation hell and back again.
51 — ‘Good & Great’ (Key, dir. Sam Son)
Sam Son is quickly proving to be one of the most important MV directors in the KPop space, and this visual (accompanying the title track for Key’s second Korean-language mini-album) is proof as good as any. The choreo, effects, colour schemes and costumes all combine into a surrealist explosion that shakes up an everyman office-worker’s daily grind.
50 — ‘Census Designated’ (Jane Remover; dir. Quadeca)
Sometimes, there doesn’t need to be flashy post-production and any intensive plotline for a music video to achieve what it needs to, and such is the case with Quadeca’s visual for Jane Remover’s ‘Census Designated’. It’s simply a set of well-curated shots of Jane and others, positioned in landscapes both urban and natural, overtaken by visual feedback that waxes in wane alongside the song’s glitch-ridden sonic palettes — and it’s all the better for it.
49 — ‘NOISE OF YOU’ (John Cale; dir. Pepi Ginsberg)
Much of John Cale’s 2023 release MERCY has a nostalgic air about it, and (aside from ‘MOONSTRUCK’, a touching tribute to underground icon Nico) nowhere is that emotion so prevalent as in ‘NOISE OF YOU’. Its accompanying music video taps into this wistfulness even further — upon a backdrop of oddly peaceful cityscapes are superimposed handwritten text, photos and film clips of both Cale’s past and his present, up to and including the creation of the album and song itself.
48 — ‘Gorilla’ (Little Simz; dir. Dave Meyers)
Dave Meyers has one of the most instantly recognisable visual languages in film today, emphasising highly organised geometric arrangements of figures and impactful use of colour and tone. While perhaps after 25 years the novelty is starting to wear off slightly, there’s no denying that the hits still HIT, and it just so happens that his visual for ‘Gorilla’, the acclaimed track off Little Simz’s 2022 release NO THANK YOU, is indeed a HIT.
47 — ‘vampire’ (Olivia Rodrigo; dir. Petra Collins)
Olivia Rodrigo is an actress, and she sure as hell wants you to remember. Hence, the stage we find her performing on in the video for GUTS lead single ‘vampire’. What starts as a simple performance video quickly devolves into chaos, however, as Olivia is blindsided by a rogue falling stage light. From there, sparks, flames, cameras, police, a chase scene and — well, who knows what really happens as the video caps off?
46 — ‘Dang’ on The Late Show (Caroline Polachek; dir. Caroline Polachek)
Hot off the back of releasing one of the most acclaimed (and yet snubbed) pop albums of 2023, Caroline Polachek took to the stage on The Late Show to debut a new single not cut from the Desire cloth — and thus the world was (officially) introduced to ‘Dang’. In a fitted leather dress and playing a professor(? business analyst? TED Talker?), Polachek presents a whirlwind slideshow of memes, art,infographics, and even at one point the waveform of the whole song, in a performance that is at once pared down and maximalist to the extreme. It fits the song perfectly, screaming at geese and all.
45 — ‘sAy sOMETHINg’ (Lil Yachty; dir. Crown & Owls)
The visual to ‘sAy sOMETHINg’, the tenth track off of Mr. Boat’s psych-soul odyssey Let’s Start Here, is a rather bizarre one at points. Released alongside the album, it offers a surreal and yet strangely relatable portrait of the nerve-wracking moment before you confess your feelings to someone, with skewed spatialisation, maniacal laughing faces and some of the best, most hilariously awkward skit acting I’ve seen in years.
44 — ‘Juggernaut’ (Autoheart; dir. Joseph Wilson)
Autoheart have always liked a good bit of camp in their music videos, but this one takes the cake. Starring Fancy Shews! (don’t forget the exclamation mark) as a grieving widow who takes her dear cremated husband on one final date, it’s a touching if unashamedly flamboyant accompaniment to the 80s-style synthpop banger about the sheer overwhelming power of love.
43 — ‘Ant Pile’ (Dominic Fike; dir. Floridaman)
There’s something eminently satisfying about this video, which sees Fike perform the song in a warehouse-like space seemingly in one take. The camera speeds up and slows down, giving the footage at points a stop-motion quality; the shots pans away to reveal a wall of lights, or a cascade of sand or a projector screen, suddenly appearing in a place they couldn’t have been a moment ago. It’s simple, subtle and playful — tick, tick, tick.
42 — ‘Boy’s a liar Pt. 2' (PinkPantheress, Ice Spice; dir. George and Frederick Buford)
What do you get when you combine two viral 20-something musicians, a squad of girlies in pastels, a big pink square and various locations around New York? One of the biggest MVs of the whole year. I honestly have no idea what makes the visual to Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2 such a success, other than the immense charisma of its two stars, but a success by God it is.
41 — ‘Paint the Town Red’ (Doja Cat; dir. Doja Cat and Nina McNeely)
Say what you want, may or must about Doja’s PR this year, but Scarlet fed us with some of the most impactful visuals to come out of popular music. ‘Attention’ comes a close second for me, but nothing could top the sheer drama and picture-perfect tableaux of death and devils that permeate the visuals for the №1 single ‘Paint the Town Red’.
40 — ‘Seven’ (Jung Kook feat. Latto; dir. Bradley & Pablo)
In some ways, this video is stupid as all get out, but that just adds to its charm. Jung Kook does whatever it takes to try and reconcile with an increasingly incredulous Han So-hee in a variety of cinematically disastrous scenarios. Featuring an equally tongue-in-cheek appearance from Latto Latto-ing all over a casket at a funeral, it’s ridiculous in so many ways and entertaining in so many more.
39 — ‘Moving Forward’ (Balming Tiger; dir. Pennacky)
There’s a genre of music video that I like where a bunch of people who don’t really dance well perform terrible choreography very earnestly to a song and somehow the whole thing works. Balming Tiger’s ‘Moving Forward’ is absolutely one of those videos, buffered by brilliant facial expressions, clean cinematography, snappy editing and a general joie de vivre that can’t be quelled.
38 — ‘Elevator Hum’ lyric video (Declan McKenna; dir. Reuben Bastienne-Lewis)
Many of the videos dropping in advance of Declan McKenna’s upcoming February 2024 album have featured a recurring motif of Declan wandering around places with a metal detector looking for *something*, and it’s at its best in the lyric video for third single ‘Elevator Hum’. Between the colour grading, the simplicity of the concept, and the pleasingly ordinary setting of Some Random Shop™, it is completely banal but utterly charming nonetheless.
37 — ‘On My Mama’ (Victoria Monét; dir. child.)
Victoria Monét understands the power of cultural memory, and the video for hit single ‘On My Mama’ is steeped in the visual and choreographic language of RnB and hip hop from the past 40 years — think Janet, think Aaliyah, think Ciara, think Missy. With choreo by Sean Bankhead and Ahsia Pettigrew and a joyous cameo from Monét’s own mother, the video is full to the brim with heart and swagger.
36 — ‘To be honest’ (Christine and the Queens; dir. Christine and the Queens)
Chris’s art is, at least in part, a visually propelled one — having the privilege of seeing him live in 2023 only convinced me of this more. The choreography is simpler, more instinctual than in many of the other videos of this list, and much of the focus of the video is held solely by Letissier’s face and physical presence — but when everything finally breaks loose in the shakycam beach routine, it is a marvellous moment.
35 — ‘Impossible’ (Teezo Touchdown; dir. Jack Begert)
There are few artists with a fashion style quite like Teezo Touchdown, and in the video for ‘Impossible’ the distinctive nails in his hair seem to have found a home in his skin. As a band of hands begin to pick them out, causing Teezo to bleed all the colours of the rainbow, we never once look away from him, carrying the emotion of the song — and the video — brilliantly upon his face.
34 — ‘dazies’ (yeule; dir. Zhang + Knight)
The lead single to yeule’s grungier follow-up to last year’s Glitch Princess outlines the first of the ‘softscars’ that inform the entire album. Porcelainesque and immobile, Nat Ćmiel lies on the ground as their fantay prince charming runs them through the chest. As we venture inwards, the claustrophobia of their internal world is fully revealed for the first time, in a video that is as nightmarish as it is dreamy.
33 — ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ (Sevdaliza with Grimes; dir. Willem Kantine)
I can’t believe it, but this isn’t the only deepfake music video that’s on the list this year. Sevdaliza, Grimes, and guest appearances from Madonna, Julia Fox and A$AP Ferg’s disembodied faces find their homes amidst bodybuilders, cars, office equipment and Zambonis in this disquieting visual that muses on themes of obsolescence, tradition, aging and technology. Bonus points for Sevdaliza’s little ‘standing-in-place punching-as-I-do-a-little-twist’ routine for being my favourite dance move of the year.
32 — ‘dance dance’ (Lexie Liu; dir. Jeremy Z. Qin)
Another one in the ‘isn’t really dancing but styles it out’ category, we find Lexie Liu bopping around alongside various otherly-costumed iterations of herself as crude animation and filters ornament the footage. Now she’s in a blank room against the wall; now she’s on a football field; now she’s on the floor doing some kind of kicking move against a mattress; now she’s singing into a laptop webcam. It’s somewhat scattershot, but wonderful all the same.
31 — ‘oral’ (björk ft. ROSALÍA; dir. Carlota Guerrero)
The second deepfake music video in the list, how fun! Released to support charity efforts combatting intensive salmon farming in Iceland, this rejected track from Björk’s late-90s recording has her joined by nuevo flamenco queen ROSALÍA. The MV finds two sparring combattants with the singers’ faces spliced on by AI, tussling hand-to-hand before uniting in an act of solidarity against the voyeuristic viewer.
30 — ‘Cool About It’ (boygenius; dir. Lauren Tsai)
Along with goofy dancing, another soft spot I have in music videos (and in film more genuinely) is some good-quality animation, and boygenius’s ‘Cool About It’, off of many people’s AOTY the record, comes packaged with a tender, if subtly unsettling, animated music video centred on the emotional baggage that complicates being vulnerable around those closest to you.
29 — ‘Cheerleader’ (Ashnikko; dir. Joanna Nordahl)
Gothic forest witchy coven aesthetics combined with the kind of group choreo that would make any KPop label blush, the video for Ashnikko’s ‘Cheerleader’ leans into its lo-fi horror aesthetic gleefully, with superb costuming and cinematography to match. Extra credit for the one bit where we just smash cut into the group grinning maniacally at the camera.
28 — ‘Everybody, Marvel’ (Deerhoof; dir. Deerhoof)
Deerhoof’s Miracle-Level is an album of many firsts for the band, including their first instructional music video. The band chose the track for its harmonies, and filmed John and Ed’s left hands as they played through the guitar parts in recognition of the fans who record their own cover videos. It’s brilliantly simple and highlights the composition of the song in an understated yet novel way.
27 — ‘Houdini’ (Dua Lipa; dir. Manu Cossu)
2023 brought a musical evolution for Dua Lipa’s disco sensibilities, and it looks like the music videos are rising to the occasion tenfold. Once memed to shit for her dancing, Dua’s back with a Charm La’Donna-devised routine that silences the naysayers once and for all. The red-wine hair is iconic, the mirror work (invisible camera and all) is flawless, and the choreo is decisively performed — an all-in-one perfect pop package.
26 — ‘Absolve’ (Jacques; dir. Paul Trillo)
Anyone who’s seen a Jacques video before will know both the artist’s individualist style and the sheer insanity that can ensue in them. ‘Absolve’ features the Musée du Louvre, which is taken over by supernatural water (?) that alights on Jacques before soaking into the artwork, modifying and morphing it beyond recognition. Is it just a statement on the emotive power of art? Probably, but you might as well enjoy the trippy visuals while you’re here.
25 — ‘I Been Young’ (George Clanton; dir. George Clanton)
Sometimes, the brilliance of a piece of art depends on the context that it’s released and/or presented in. If this was a video from the 90s, it wouldn’t be nearly as remarkable — but the fact that George Clanton’s self-directed visual for ‘I Been Young’ is a pitch-perfect pastiche of that exact style of MV, down to the sepia-toned, rain-drenched stare-to-the-camera, all of 3 decades later makes it infinitely more engaging and noteworthy.
24 — ‘Hollywood Baby’ (100 gecs; dir. 100 gecs)
For many, this visual is emblematic of the experience of listening to gecs’s intense, hyper-hyperpop brand of glitch-heavy electronica, and honestly I would be inclined to agree. Dylan and Laura set off an industrial quantity of fireworks and sparklers within a small and sparsely-furnished room as they sing along to the song and, aside from an old man coming in to stop the fun at the end, that’s it. And what a ride it is, even as Laura catches a sparking ember to the eye. Don’t try this at home, kids.
23 — ‘Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s wife’ (LE SSERAFIM; dir. Jihye Yoon)
The choreo is great, the looks are great, the expressivity from LE SSERAFIM is great — but even without all of these, the visual of Chaewon shooting an arrow from an invisible bow is iconic in its own right. Highlighting the girls’ individual personalities and leaning fully into the song’s club-banger vibe, it’s the best of a strong album cycle of video releases from one of KPop’s hottest new acts.
22 — ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ (Sparks; dir. Sparks and Richie Starzec)
The obvious next step after a career-highlight turn in Todd Field’s Tár for Cate Blanchett? Wear a godawful suit and do a self-devised silly dance for beloved alternative pop-rock duo Sparks, of course! Flanked by the band’s ever-quirky brothers in a mostly-empty room, Blanchett flings her arms around and stomps her feet without a care as to how bizarre she may look, and it’s a treat to watch and rewatch.
21 — ‘逃避行’ [‘tōhikō’] (Eve; dir. 10十10)
Japanese vocaloid producer Eve’s song ‘tōhikō’ (‘Escape’) is a musically upbeat but lyrically-despondent musing on the intrusive thoughts that arrive late at night — but the accompanying animated music video is an altogether more heartening affair (literally) as our central protagonist is saved from the draining monotony of his multiple jobs by two young children under his care, who literally build him a new heart.
20 — ‘Tokyo Calling’ (ATARASHII GAKKO!; dir. Pennacky)
Japanese girl group Atarashii Gakko no Leaders recently made their US TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel with this song, and much of their brilliant performance draws from the imagery found in this video. The sērāfuku-clad group appear as titans, using their powers on various overworked and burnt-out individuals (including the task-force sent to stop them, also played by the band) — only to reveal that their ultimate destination was a dance party to help them all just let loose. It’s a creative, fun and impactful mirror to the song’s important social message against Japan’s rampant overwork culture.
19 — ‘VOID’ (Melanie Martinez; dir. Melanie Martinez)
Another artist continually courting controversy who delivers unignorable visuals — Melanie Martinez’s Cry Baby is dead and resurrected as a strange, four-eyed fae in the PORTALS-era visuals. ‘DEATH’ shows the recently-revived character clawing herself from the bowels of the earth, but it’s the spacey-yet-claustrophobic maximalism of ‘VOID’ that stayed with me longest after viewing.
18 — ‘Survivor’ (Genesis Owusu; dir. Lisa Reihana)
The third of three videos accompanying STRUGGLER directed by Auckland-born Māori artist Lisa Reihana, ‘Survivor’ is actually a companion track to the album, continuing its narrative threads of perseverence and endurance in the face of hardship and disaster. Energetic group choreography and one of the most striking costume pieces of the year can be found situated amongst vast CG halls and all-consuming infernos — confident, dramatic, awe-inspiring.
17 — ‘lily of the valley’ (jess joy; dir. jess joy)
Deerhoof label-mate jess joy delivers a carnivalesque extravagance in her music video for SOURCEHEIRESS cut ‘lily of the valley’ — but behind the beaded masks and colourful costumes is a touching, if decidedly idiosyncratic, allegory about both the captivating and the freeing powers of love, intimacy, and interpersonal bonds.
16 — ‘God Turn Me Into a Flower’ (Weyes Blood; dir. Adam Curtis)
Adam Curtis is a one-of-a-kind voice in documentary filmmaking, with an immediately recognisable montage/collage style that explores often radical perspectives in social, political and philosophical thought. He lends his craft to the accompanying visual for this Weyes Blood single, intercutting shots of the singer with a plethora of vintage source footage of various women in history to create a sense of timeless unity between them.
15 — ‘Night Shift’ (Lucy Dacus; dir. Jane Schoenbrun)
It’s taken us over five years to get the music video for Lucy Dacus’ modern break-up classic, and when it finally arrived we were greeted with… a Wizard of Oz convention at some gawdy hotel. It works though, and the joyous queer conclusion of the video makes an uplifting addendum to the heartbreak in the song. Bonus points for cameos from Phoebe Birdgers, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Snail Mail and (of all people) Fred Durst.
14 — ‘Super Shy’ (NewJeans; dir. Heewon Shin)
‘Super Shy’ was undoubtedly one of KPop’s biggest tracks this year, and to accompany it NewJeans brought us an endlessly charismatic video to match. Bright colours and almost non-stop choreo courtesy of Black.Q and Eunju Kim abound, as the girls make their way through Lisbon bringing seemingly the whole city dancing with them.
13 — ‘Running Out Of Time’ (Paramore; dir. Ivanna Borin)
Alice in Wonderland may be a tried and true thematic cliché, but when it’s done as well as this it’s hard to complain. Paramore’s third full music video from the ‘This Is Why’ cycle sees Hayley (donning several classic Vivienne Westwood pieces no less) ending up in a fantasy land where, amidst her and the boys’ bodies being skewed and morphed, she is forced to confront the song’s lyrical anxieties directly in front of her. Stylish and incisive.
12 — ‘The Trench Coat Museum’ (Yard Act; dir. James Slater)
Talking of videos that take the song’s lyrics and run with it, British post-punkers Yard Act bring a dose of silly self-reference in their first single after their acclaimed 2022 debut The Overload. Featuring a somewhat feckless woman following an audio tour through the titular museum, made all too real with unsettlingly interactive exhibits that join in some surprisingly slick group dancing.
11 — ‘Candy Necklace’ (Lana Del Rey ft. Jon Batiste; dir. Rich Lee)
In the 10-minute short film to accompany Lana and Jon Batiste’s dreamy ‘Candy Necklace’, Lana takes on the mantle of several 20th Century women, notably Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Short (a.k.a. the Black Dahlia), as she depicts both their grace and their tragedy. But that alone would be too simple for Lana — so we also get a glimpse behind the scenes at the creation of the video. It shows that a lot of fame and glamour is carefully curated on a screen, but that the effects it can wreak are real and often devastating.
10 — ‘Eat Your Young’ (Hozier; dir. Jason Lester)
Hozier, dutifully accompanied by Ivanna Sakhno as his suffering wife, tell a Brechtian story on stage of a veteran’s return from war, his long-suffering wife’s slow descent into apathy, and the endless cycle of machismo and violence that he entrenches into his son. Countered with an increasingly absurdist (and ultimately horrifying) puppet show for the kids in the audience, and the whole package doubles down on the song’s message in a way that’s both elegant and haunting.
9 — ‘SORRY NOT SORRY’ (Tyler, The Creator; dir. Tyler, The Creator)
Long-time Tyler, the Creator fans (or anyone who’s scrolled his Spotify page) will recognise the assembled Okonmas on screen as the personas and figures that have adorned his various album cycles over the years. In front of a teary-eyed crowd of concerned onlookers, Tyler himself picks off each of his alter egos one by one, until we’re left watching him beat his most recent persona to death. How fun, how unhinged, how Tyler.
8 — ‘Bye Storm’/’Double Trio’ (Injury Reserve/By Storm; dir. Parker Corey)
In 2020, the world lost Injury Reserve’s Jordan Groggs — now, groupmates RiTchie and Parker Corey return under a new name. This music video unites Injury Reserve’s final track with By Storm’s first, in a sprawling and tenderly filmic double video that serves both to pay homage to Groggs and the band he helped create, and also mark the new beginnings of a new project just as creative, if fundamentally changed.
7 — ‘For Granted’ (Yaeji; dir. Yaeji)
House’s resident quirkygirl superstar Yaeji self-directs in this kitschy visual for the first single off of With a Hammer. An examination of straining against the strictures of order and conformity, Chekhov’s sledgehammer in the corner of the room proves to be a gleeful portent of the ultimate destruction that Yaeji rages against her meticulously-organised room, sticky gems, breakbeats, oranges and all.
6 — ‘My Love Mine All Mine’ (Mitski; dir. A.G. Rojas)
The fact that this wasn’t even a lead single for The Land Is Inhospitable is mad when you consider its meteoric rise to be one of social media’s most pervasive soundtracks this year — but perhaps Mitski understood the song’s saliency when she released this music video alongside the album. In it, Mitski builds a tower of chairs resting upon a single egg, with elegant aerial work that explores the poignancy of the emotions she sings about.
5 — ‘What Was I Made For?’ (Billie Eilish; dir. Billie Eilish)
Aside from being the undisputed breakout song from the Barbie soundtrack, Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For?’ revealed the singer’s directorial chops via this tender visual. Eilish unpacks Barbie-sized iterations of many of her most iconic outfits, with the aim of displaying and reminiscing upon them — but the environment has other ideas, wind and rain lashing at her until she is forced to give up and retreat. What truly sells the concept is Billie’s pent-up frustration at the whole thing, expertly acted through her face and the most measured of physical gestures.
4 — ‘Eat the Acid’ Visualiser (Kesha; dir. Vincent Haycock)
2023 brought the end of Kesha’s long legal battle against her record label and its head, and alongside it her most experimental, emotive and vitriolic record to date. The first hint of just how left-of-field Kesha was going to be came in ‘Eat The Acid’, with its dark-wave synths and vocoded harmonies, and this harrowing visual. Kesha never once breaks eye contact with the viewer as a plethora of hands force themselves over her face and neck, at times forcing themselves into her mouth and inhibiting her from singing. As a metaphor for the invasive nature of both abuse and the media that has surrounded her, it’s uncomfortable but infinitely arresting.
3 — ‘VOLCANO’ (JUNGLE; dir. J Lloyd)
Jungle have long been providing some of the most engaging MV choreography, and in 2023 they provided us with a nearly 50-minute long visual album to accompany their record VOLCANO. The routine from ‘Back on 74’ has broken out to be one of the most iconic dance moments of the year, but the whole motion picture (heavy emphasis on ‘motion’) is full of stunning and engaging choreography (thanks to Shay Latukolan, aided by Lars Bohte and Oriane Serveille), sweeping camera movement and more than a few stylish fits thrown in the mix.
2 — ‘Incendio’ performed at Mutant;Destrudo, Park Avenue Armory (Arca; dir. Arca)
Filmed at Arca’s residency/festival/five-day collaborative project at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC, the visual accompanying this 2021 single utilises specially-developed technology devised by Daito Manabe that electronically stimulates Arca’s facial muscles in time to the music. Through the involuntary twitches and convulsions, Arca pushes through and performs the track powerfully, both fighting and leaning into the overstimulation as it grows in both frequency and intensity through the track.
1 — ‘Rush’, ‘Got Me Started’ and ‘One of Your Girls’ (Troye Sivan; dir. Gordon von Steiner)
Any one of these three Gordon von Steiner-directed videos would have comfortably made it into the list here on their own, but taken as a trio they’ve been nigh on inescapable this year. From the bare-arsed smack that opens the sweaty debauchery of ‘Rush’, through to the joyous diversity and incredible bathroom athleticism of ‘Got Me Started’ and Troye’s genderbending seduction of a perfectly-cast Ross Lynch in ‘One of Your Girls’, the three videos (with choreography by Sergio Reis and Mauro van de Kerkhof of CDK Company) have inspired dance covers, triggered wildfire online discussions, waved the flag for queer euphoria and are, in my opinion, the most iconic music videos of the year.
So, there we are — the start of the 2023 Year in Review, and some iconic visuals by which to remember the year. More lists coming in January, beginning with the top EPs of the year — until then, Happy New Year!
A.C.
