Despite how we may or may not feel about Ariana Grande’s latest hit tearing through the zeitgeist there is always something about one piece of pop culture referencing another iconic piece, and her using Mean Girls as the backdrop for the official video for it is like throwing a propane tank into an already raging fire. It’s a genius move and full of enough references and “easter eggs” to keep the conversation swirling around the song going for at least another month. After cashing in on her “urban” endorsements, Miley Cyrus continues to dig back into her more country roots with the Mark Ronson “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart.” I like this lane more for her and Ronson continues to show impressive versatility, while the video (which is chock full of not so subtle societal jabs) really plays up the drama of the song. Songs about love and relationships actually working are essentially a thing of the past in modern pop music and Alessia Cara is the latest to take a jab at this post-breakup obsessed culture with “Not Today.” And much like its video, it’s all a fairly bland and inoffensive affair.
Subtlety isn’t really a specialty of anyone in the Migos and if you couldn’t tell by his name or the name of his solo debut, Takeoff is obsessed with space and he takes that to the max for his video for “Casper.” The seriousness of it all, despite how campy the visuals are, really sell it. “YOSEMITE” was one of my favorite tracks off of ASTROWORLD and Travis Scott finally gave it the video treatment, and it’s full of the usual surreal imagery and heavy use of special effects we’ve come to expect from him. It’s probably the weakest video, so far, out of everything we’ve gotten off the project though.
Check out everything I rounded up below and let me know which ones you like the most.
Ariana Grande – thank u, next
Mark Ronson – Nothing Breaks Like a Heart (ft. Miley Cyrus)
The 1975 – 102 (Acoustic)
Alessia Cara – Not Today
K. Roosevelt – Feelings Don’t Change
Apollo Brown & Joell Ortiz – Grace Of God
A$AP Rocky – Gunz N Butter (ft. Juicy J)
Young Thug – Chanel (ft. Gunna & Lil Baby)
Takeoff – Casper
Travis Scott – YOSEMITE
What’d you think about this week’s videos? Which ones were your favorites? Did I miss any that I should check out? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to subscribe to stay up with all the new content.