Why Music Videos Are The Worst
Friday, 06 May 2022
arrow_back_ios
arrow_forward_ios
This one is probably the hardest to write on because honestly saying we went from easiest to talk about to I probably have to show you thumbnails of YouTube videos (not doing so by the way) to prove my point and even then it makes no sense, welcome back to another post where I talk about my very biased opinions about music that is music videos in Klassic Note. Let's begin.
WHY ARE MUSIC VIDEOS THE WORST
They are the worst. When is the last time, might I ask you, you "listened" to a song? Like, I don't even with accompanying video content. Is your mind too lazy that you have to watch a video in order to listen to a song? Not for me I don't. And that's where this is bad. Music videos initially dictate focus, it used to indicate importance as in the topic song of an album or single, it used to showcase a unique view to represent a release itself if you have been behind the scenes videos of how some of them like to relate a music video's theme to the actual song's theme. But, and that is where we draw the line, they are bad today. Apart from the varying levels of music video production from literally just dumping the band there and taking from many angles throughout a song, to full on emotional drama scenes with popular actors even, they also help you forget your own imagination in interpretation of a song itself, and remove bias for songs to like since every other song will have a video. And with the modern trends of the Internet with online video platforms like YouTube, I can see why this is only getting worse.
THE EMERGING TRENDS
Thanks to YouTube being such a popular online video platform, we don't have to go too far to look for examples that will try to leverage the idea of releasing videos to consistently capture their intended audience to listen to the new songs, buy new releases etc. It is then no wonder that Dance Videos exist out of the normal music video just because idolism because seriously who cares about that if the song is not great, Lyric Videos which are basically the lazy version of releasing music videos since if you have a better understanding of lyrics you will ignore the other aspects of the song for example rhythm and melody though in recent years besides showing lyrics in shifting background videos we have animations or drawings from professionals nowadays so I guess it's kind of justified but even so it's not full fledged music video production, and Short Versions just so they can screw with you the idea of releasing music videos on YouTube to protect the song copyright and to also allow you to only have a peek on the optional video footage to otherwise buying the associated music release with the video content in one package, namely Limited Edition releases. If you have been baited by any of these methods, I'm sure you'll only remember that idol wink or cool guitar riff, all in the motive of music video production releasing music to the audience, since it makes all of them meaningful now. Or so they make you believe.
THE MUSIC LISTENING EXPERIENCE
I also think they ruin the imaginative impression of you listening to a song because it has been done for you in the form of a video. I love to imagine things when I listen to music; A scene, a mood, an emotion... The facts don't change whether your listen the songs with or without the accompanying video; Your impression does. More like, if you don't use your own imagination to leave memories for the song you listen to, then some music video director will do it for you. Would you care about that? If you do, then maybe stop "watching" songs from here on. Every time I listen to the song first, I noticed my experience for that song before I saw the music video sometimes months or years later, becomes totally different, and that is fine. We already know the purpose of music videos, we will still watch it just so it gets a little more popular than the other songs in the album. But it really depends on whether you started with that blank canvas to fit the song into the mood and imagination you have for when you listen to it.
MUSIC VIDEOS AS PART OF "THE MUSIC LISTENING EXPERIENCE"
Which is why my sis does agree with me on this too, to listen to songs before watching their music videos. Music videos might be great in directing your mood into listening to the song itself for example when you are happy but a sad scene can get you into a sad song, but you will realize when it relates to your life even more is when it is stronger than a music video. And that comes from just purely listening to the songs first. That does not mean you don't watch those music videos when they release online in a pitch to get you all to listen on music streaming or download the songs or buy the physical copy (if any); You don't watch music videos and believe that is what is the intended impression they want to give to you. You understand the lyrics, you understand the melody, you know what songs you will like over time, not that music video.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MUSIC VIDEOS IN KLASSIC NOTE
In Klassic Note, music video do not have their own segment of in the Song Awards, and are placed in lower class Commendations just because. The music videos do not leave a heavy impression on me, and I only commend the videos based on their overall production quality, so examples from the above are better if they have made more effort to not just place the music artist singing inside the video for 90% of the time. Cool music videos can focus on a theme with the band playing that is fine, emotional music videos should have a vivid story even if it doesn't cast the music artist, and happy music videos should convey a different message. That is what I prefer to see, in a vision to see better music videos over time, and talk about those that really left an impression. It is especially better if they can still leave an impression after you listen to the song beforehand; That will make this honour much more sweeter. On the other hand, and that's why it can be a hit or miss for me for music videos, so I normally just listen to albums based on their style and if they are Collection Artists, and not just because they have a terrible music video. Trust me, I've done that for years.
I will not bore anyone reading this too much, so I shall stop here. As my week of break ends literally today because the weekend is my anxiety period before I go back to work lol, I had some time to think of Klassic Note and what it really meant today, where I've already exhausted listening to more songs of different melodies and styles, and trying to settle in to more artists without having them leave me after a couple of years. Even so, I still think this journey is still bright and ongoing, so I will not stop anytime soon. See you all for the weekly weekend post then.