1. Re:Dialed, Last Night Good Night (Pharrell Williams Remix)
Featuring super hot Vocaloid Hatsune Miku (she’s bigger than big in Japan and only 16 in human years) and remixed by the ever happy, eternally youthful Pharrell, this track is awesome. The video is an animated mindblow in which the universe’s No.1 princess Miku shows off her sultry moves in space as Pharrell casually dances around with characters from his mate Murakami’s 2013 film Jellyfish Eyes, which appears to bea cross between Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and Pokémon.
2. MØ, Walk This Way
Directed by Emilie Rafael and produced by i-D, we went back to high school in MØ’s Danish Music Video Award-winning Walk This Way. All students were asked to kindly report to the sports hall to join the Danish songstress and her crew for dance routines, sports bras and badass hair all round.
3. Taylor Swift, Blank Space
The pop princess shows off her full range of emotions as she goes from hosting super cute dates to going all Mean Girls on her boyfriend’s shirt. Featuring stunning mansions, dog triplets, a Prince Charming who texts too much and Taylor’s actual kitten Olivia Benson… it’s pretty dreamy. That’s not to mention all the animals walking around INSIDE her stately home. Oh and she rounds things off by standing on a horse. Oh Tay-Tay, we’d never check our phones in your company. Promise.
4. Ryan Hemsworth, Snow in Newark
Kicking things off by doing a Natalie Portman/Sigourney Weaver/Rooney Mara and getting his head shaved on camera, total sweetheart and Internet producer prince Ryan Hemsworth became a monk for a week for the title track of his recent album. Travelling through Nepal, the Martin Pariseau directed video is straight out of a National Geographic documentary and full of prayer flags, monkeys and misty mountains. “It’s basically the second part of my last video, One For Me,” Ryan told i-D recently. “That was supposed to be the boring side of being a DJ, and this is like, me retired from the EDM world, just chilling on the other side of the planet and searching for something else to make me happy. I think it’s a different way for a producer to be seen.”
5. Arca, Thievery
East London’s Arca clearly knows that 2014 is the year of the butt. Created by Jesse Kanda, the visuals feature a naked green CGI woman with no features twerking in a dark room. It’ll leave you feeling kind of uncomfortable; like watching one of the creatures from The Descent clapping that ass like they were born to do it. Don’t be put off though, when paired with Arca’s production it’s actually really cool.
6. Flying Lotus, Never Catch Me ft. Kendrick Lamar
Directed by Tokyo-born Hiro Murai, two kids rise from their deathbeds to dance the lindy hop at their own funeral. Carried by a brilliant track featuring Kendrick Lamar, the musical collaboration came about thanks to a suggestion from Dr Dre and comes peppered with seriously awesome clapping. Happy and free, the departed duo dance unseen out of the church into the playground. Dance routines are dead cool right now.
7. Ariana Grande, Break Free ft. Zedd
According to the prologue (because all videos need those), “What you are about to witness is scientifically authentic… Brace yourself for something so fantastically fantastical you’ll soil yourself from intergalactic excitement.” We’re not so sure about the accuracy of either of those statements, but we know for sure that sexy space babe Miss Grande is hotter than the sun. Having rescued a bunch of alien goodies from cages, she gets captured by an evil space-age Pai Mei before breaking free from her chains under a firey sky. Look out for the light sabre lipstick and try to ignore the BEAT sponsorship.
8. Beyoncé, 7-11
Wearing not much more than a sweater proclaiming the very 2014 word KALE, Beyoncé proves that she’s just like everybody else (except she’s not) by dancing round her hotel suite like nobody’s watching, before her mates turn up wearing matching pants. If you ever wanted to see Yonce at the top of a human pyramid – and we’re not talking figuratively – hit play. Smack it, smack it, in the air! HAPPY 2015!
9. SIA, Chandelier
Ultimate singer-songwriter SIA became the coolest thing in the world this year. Currently sitting at almost 400 million views, Chandelier stars Maddie Ziegler of Dance Moms fame as what can surely only be interpreted as a feral child turned interpretive dancer. Accessorised with a now iconic blonde SIA wig, the 11 year old moves around her apartment performing the best dance routine of 2014. In all honesty, who hasn’t tried to learn it? Let choreographer Ryan Heffington talk you through the moves here and give it a go.
10. MIA & The Party Squad, Double Bubble Trouble
Well known for her brilliantly controversial music videos, MIA was hardly going to let us down with this self-directed number. Featuring the ideal amount of flashing photographs and digital glitter stickers, she created a trippy dystopia full of identical twins, colourful 3D printed guns, burqas plastered with images of smiling white girls, and fluorescent LED-lit drones taking over the skies. Complete with censored brands, faces and drugs, watching this piece of social commentary feels like getting fucked and going to the fairground. After a dispute with her label, MIA released the video herself via her personal YouTube account.
Credits
Text Francesca Dunn