Tyler, The Creator “Fucking Young”
Tyler, The Creator’s video for “Fucking Young” is a bit all over the place. It tells the story of the song, falling for a girl who’s too young to be dating and doing other unmentionable things with. The video has two worlds. One is the world in which Tyler meets the girl, falls for her, decides he must stay away from her, tries to push her away, and sees her light his car on fire as revenge. The other is Tyler sitting in a movie theater watching all this unfold on a screen. At the end of the video, a group of ushers forcibly remove Tyler. This is where he gets angry, and the video starts to resemble something out of Mad Max.
Sick Individuals featuring Kaelyn Behr “Never Fade”
The young man in the video for “Never Fade” by Sick Individuals featuring Kaelyn Behr is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Whatever he has gotten himself into, or is trying to avoid getting himself into, in terms of what’s happening on the streets of his neighborhood is resulting in him being threatened. When he goes home, his father also has a threatening tone. The young man decides he’s going to run away, and packs a bag. The result is that as he makes his way to wherever his destination is, the two men who confront him in the beginning of the video give chase. His father soon discovers him gone and goes off in search on foot. It becomes a race to see who catches the boy first. Luckily, the father is a huge individual. He’s the biggest in the video, so when the assailants look up from kicking his son the ground, they see they’re in trouble and take off running. It’s nice to see the hug in the end, as it should become clear to the father that his son is a good person having to deal with bad circumstances.
Pim Stones “We Have It All”
The Pim Stones video for “We Have It All” has a nautical theme to it. The focus of the video is a young man who is in his miniature submarine all by his lonesome. In a way, it seems a bit like a prison as he seems to spend a lot of time just lying about thinking. His other favorite thing to do is sink to the bottom of the ocean and look out a window. There’s a solitude to the video that does correspond to the song. But given the song’s downtrodden theme with lyrics about selling your soul for silver and gold, I was left wondering if this latest sinking and settling at the bottom of the ocean is meant to be an end. Air and provisions will quickly run out if you just park yourself on the ocean floor.
Aeble featuring Tom Aspaul “Better By Your Side”
The video for “Better By Your Side” by Aeble featuring Tom Aspaul touches on the theme of dance like no one is watching. I’m sure most of us have found ourselves in a situation where we feel like dancing. It could be at work, like the man in this video who is cleaning up a bar after it has closed. You put on a song, and you just instinctively groove to it. People should do this all the time, whether they be alone or among a crowd. Don’t let yourself get nervous or embarrassed, express yourself. That being said, there is something to be said about expressing yourself when you are alone. In a way it’s like prayer. It becomes that much more personal, and you are sharing something with yourself. In this day of social media, people want to share with whomever will listen. Few things remain a personal experience. Granted that this dancer in the video isn’t actually alone. There’s a camera crew about to capture his performance, but he is dancing as though no one is watching. And all the better, because I do believe that if he were in the situation of the video, this is pretty much the performance he would put on. So there you have it. Dance more often, away from the eyes of others. Live your lives in the world, but don’t forget to leave some of it to be shared only by yourself. If you give away all, you have nothing that’s yours.
Ludacris “Beast Mode”
Ludacris’s video for “Beast Mode” features Marshawn Lynch. It starts off with a bunch of reporters standing before Luda asking great questions like, “Do you still have that midget hanging from your necklace?” It has its moments of comedy though for the most part the song is very serious. After the initial questions you get Luda basically ripping off Marshawn with answers like, “you have three minutes and this is how you wanna spend it?”. Or the very popular, “I’m only here so I don’t get fined”. It’s weird to hear Luda use Tetris and Angry Birds in his song, mostly because I don’t think he would have ten years ago. There’s also a mention of Bed, Bath, and Beyond, right before Luda raises a hand with folded white towels. Considering the song is hard and called “Beast Mode” it carries a lot of references to things you wouldn’t associate with a beast.
