IS STORYTELLING IN MUSIC VIDEOS NOT A THING ANYMORE?

Give us visuals again!!

If there are two music videos I wish I could have directed in the past year are:

Victoria Monet 'Alright'

Doechii 'Denial is a River'

Here's why...

Victoria Monet has a career spanning over a decade, and since the release of 'On My Mama' in 2023, this completely changed her music career trajectory. The now 35-year-old artist from Atlanta truly understands how to capture art and storytelling within her music video visuals. Her 2020 single 'Moment', directed by Valentin Petit90, took us on a journey of destiny and romance, within intricate transition details, that seamlessly takes you to another part of the story. So why does Victoria stand out? She's a Visionary. Similar to Michael Jackson, particularly his music video Thriller, he gave us a story more than just lyrics and a beat. And if you've watched Victoria's music video to Alright, you can tell the Jackson influence has impacted her desire to tell stories in her visuals.

Now Doechii, the 26-year-old self-proclaimed Swamp Princess for Tampa, Florida and recent Grammy winner for 'Best Rap Album', which had only ever been won by Lauryn Hill and Cardi B, has got the music industry shaking in the best way possible. Denial Is A River is somewhat influenced by previous romantic relationships and deception. The Millennial and Gen'Zers have rebranded the famous River Nile in Egypt to be synonymous with dishonesty. Which worked perfectly for Doechii. The music video paid homage to classic black TV sitcoms from the early 2000s, and the transition from gritty to modern cinematic and Spike Lee's influence was truly a master piece. She gets what being a visionary truly is: a storyteller. Doechii is setting herself apart, not provided clickbait of shock culture, but embodying every essence of what it means to be an artist.

I miss the days when music videos had you glued to the screen, and that feeling inside had you thinking, "Is this really about to end?" starts to sink in.

I love it when a music video makes me feel like that.

So what's changed? Budgets, there's no real investment into music videos anymore, and I hope that 2025 changes that, with artist now making a slow comeback to visual storytelling for their songs.

Secondly... AI, the dreaded takeover of artificial intelligence, is making art lazy. People don't want to think anymore. And that's what we need more of in this generation: thinkers, and nothing beats genuine human experience and creativity for storytelling. If anything, AI is dependant on human exploration and discovery to even make creative suggestions that lead to shortcuts.

Finally, attention span. Everything we see is beckoning immediacy, and long-form is failing to be of an appeal. But retrospectively viewing the current creative landscape, all things change with trends and boredom.

Do I believe that storytelling will make a reappearance again in music? Absolutely.

Thank you to the artist who recognises that this is necessary; your impact will soon be celebrated again.

Written By Shantí