Over the past weekend, there were three music videos that came out from some of my favorite artists: Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift. All of these videos were spectacular and unique. Since these all came out so close together you might not have seen all of them, so here is a close look at all of the videos to come out over the weekend and what’s so great about them.
- Stupid Love
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Gaga is back! (though she was never really gone and even won an Oscar in 2019 for her song “Shallow” from the A Star is Born Soundtrack). On Friday, February 27, she released the first single off her 6th album “Stupid Love”. The music video takes place on a different planet, the title card says “The world rots in conflict. Many tribes battle for dominance. While the Spiritual ones pray and sleep for peace, the Kindness punks fight for Chromatica”. Chromatica is the title of her next album. The music video has Gaga and her band of pink-colored kindness punks dance it out with the tribes of various colors (blue, green, yellow, black, red). The bold eclectic costumes in the video are reminiscent of the quirky style that Lady Gaga has come to be known for. This album looks to be fun, colorful, and entertaining, and I can’t wait! Chromatica comes out on April 10.
- Falling
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Harry Style’s latest album Fine Line is clearly his best work and walks the fine line (pun intended) between sad emotional songs (“Falling”, “Fine Line”, “To Be So Lonely”, etc.) and 80s-like upbeat pop (“Treat People With Kindness”, “Adore You”, “Watermelon Sugar”, etc.). His video for “Falling” which came out on the 28th of February, takes a more somber tone than his previous music videos from the album, “Lights Up” & “Adore You”. In the music video, he is wearing flowy chiffon and singing while playing a piano that is slowly leaking water and, over the course of the music video, the water slowly fills the room drowning Styles. I hadn’t really appreciated this song as much as the others on his album until I saw this video. Whether you’ve listened to Fine Line or not, this video is worth a watch.
- The Man
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On February 27th, Taylor Swift put out a music video for her song “The Man” from her latest album Lover. The man shows a man going through life while Swift sings about wondering if she’d be more successful in life if she was a man. The video makes a lot of interesting comments about sexism. In the video “the man” is able to party with models on a yacht, go to strip clubs, manspread, and smoke on a crowded subway, and is still treated like a hero at work. It also shows the man showing a little affection to his daughter and immediately being crowned “World’s Best Dad,” mocking how dads can get away with the bare minimum whereas moms often have to do everything. The video even shows “the man” throwing tennis balls at the referee and “overreacting” mocking how men can “overreact” and it’s considered passionate whereas female players like Serena Williams are heavily criticized for being angry at the referee. Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the video, but “the man” is played by Swift herself! It was truly an astonishing transformation, and even after learning it was her I still couldn’t recognize her in the character. It took 6 people using various prosthetics, a muscle suit, and some movement coaches to transform her into “Tyler Swift”. Swift also directed the video and it is the first music video of hers that she directed. This video is definitely worth a watch even just to see how Taylor Swift transforms herself into “the man.”
Be sure to listen to Lover and Fine Line if you liked those songs, and watch out for Chromatica coming out later this month. These videos reminded me of what I loved about these artists and I am excited for everything they do next!