From Kendrick, Troye and Doja, to SZA, Björk and AntsLive, these are the best music videos that 2023 had to offer
Though we may have surpassed the peak reached the 90s and 2000s, there are still a handful of musicians working today that prove we’re living in a new golden age of music videos. True, there’s not as many artists willing to put in the hard graft of making a truly memorable music video, but the ones that do separate themselves as masters of the visual format. From Troye Sivan’s twink-filled extravaganza to SZA’s “Snooze”-fest, Björk and Rosalía’s deepfake mother-off to Doja Cat’s demon day out, here we count down the ten best music videos from 2023.
10. GENESIS OWUSU, ‘LEAVING THE LIGHT’
Along with releasing his critically acclaimed second album Struggler, Australian singer Genesis Owusu also spent 2023 constructing a striking visual world to accompany the record. The musician began a creative collaboration with the Māori visual artist Lisa Reihana, creating surreal and brooding videos for tracks like “Tied Up!” and “Survivor”. The best of the bunch, however, was “Leaving The Light”, which sees Owusu escaping from a fiery hellscape, narrowly dodging molten comets and running to his freedom.
9. VICTORIA MONET, ‘ON MY MAMA’
In a complete aesthetic one-eighty, “On My Mama” by Victoria Monet takes the number nine spot on this year’s list. Both an homage to the R&B videos of yesteryear and a love letter to Atlanta, the clip was directed by child., the mysterious filmmaker who’s helmed videso for Doja Cat, Tyla, and Janelle Monáe. In the video, Monet takes centre stage, perfectly executing choreography across a number of set-pieces that look as if they’re straight from a film set. The best thing about the video is that it never looks kitschy or pastiche like a lot of y2k-referencing art – “On My Mama” feels like we’ve actually been transported to 2004.
8. SEVDALIZA FEAT. GRIMES, ‘NOTHING LASTS FOREVER’
When billboards for Sevdaliza’s new single began appearing in early November, the ads placed the musician’s name alongside Grimes, Madonna, Julia Fox and A$AP Ferg. It was a list that instantly piqued the interest of the internet, with many speculating how they would all be included in the visual. And when the Willems Kantine-directed clip dropped a couple days later, we were in for one of the most unique music video experiences of the year. Fox, Ferg, Grimes, and the Queen of Pop had transmogrified into muscled bodybuilders alongside Sevdaliza, all with the help of some deepfake technology. In the clip, Sevdaliza fully embraces the often-controversial tech, the uncanny valley theatrics a perfect match for a song that pronounces “we are machines made for dreaming.”
Read our recent interviews with Sevdaliza here and Willems Kantine here.
7. DOJA CAT, ‘PAINT THE TOWN RED’
Just five years ago, Doja Cat’s most famous music video showed her playfully sipping a milkshake while dressed as a cow. Now, the rapper and singer begins music videos by ripping out her own eye and riding through the sky on a demon’s head – just watch “Paint The Town Red”. In the clip, Doja embraces hellish imagery while singing that “she’s the devil”, a playful wink to detractors accusing her of Satanism (an accusation that began with her Dazed winter 2022 cover). With references to mythology, insane full-body beauty looks and a dalliance with the Grim Reaper, “Paint The Town Red” is Doja Cat at her most conceptual and brilliant.
6. BJÖRK AND ROSLÍA, ‘ORAL’
When it was announced that Björk and Rosalía were teaming up to combat fish farming in Iceland, we knew it would be a duet for the ages – and the song’s surreal music video only helped to confirm. Like Sevdaliza, the two avant-pop trailblazers made use of deepfake technology, this time casting themselves as katana-wielding warriors fighting in some sort of futuristic space hangar. Towards the end of the clip, the musicians stop attacking each other and turn their attention to the viewer, beating the camera to the floor in a flurry of strikes and kicks. It’s a mesmerising and evocative clip, the otherworldly setting alluding to both singers’ status as cult-like, angelic figures.
Read our full interview with Björk here, where she discusses “Oral”, working with Rosalía, and the perils of open-pen salmon farming.
5. SLAUSON MALONE 1, ‘VOYAGER’
Often it can feel like the music industry is dominated by the same names producing the same sounds year on year – but listening to an artist like Slauson Malone 1 makes you realise we’re going to be OK after all. The moniker for Jasper Marsalis, a former member of the Brooklyn jazz collective Standing on the Corner, Slauson released his second solo record EXCELSIOR in October 2023, preceded by first single “Voyager”. Its beautiful video is a snapshot of Slauson’s subconscious, with serene koi ponds and trips to the cinema spliced alongside grayscale spheres and rapidly flashing colours. Towards the end of the Ryosuke Tanzawa-directed clip, the singer wanders around the city barefoot, chatting on the phone and taking pictures. A unique video for a singular talent.
4. SZA, ‘SNOOZE’
Not content with having one of the most successful albums of the last 12 months, SZA only went and snapped up four different men for her “Snooze” music video. Actors Woody McLain and Young Mazino, producer Benny Blanco and little-known singer/songwriter Justin Bieber all star as SZA’s love interests in the video, released at the tail end of summer. Directed by Bradley J Calder, the dreamy clip gives an insight into SZA’s lives with her different loves, from smoking a blunt with Bieber, lounging in the barn with Mazino, and Blanco eating fries off her ass. A masterpiece.
3. ANTSLIVE, ‘NUMBER ONE CANDIDATE’
Back in January, AntsLive’s music video for “Number One Candidate” lit up all four corners of the internet, and for good reason too. In the clip, the North London rapper can be seen frollicking with Bavarian milkmaids, hanging out with talking goats and galloping through the Alps on horseback (with just one week’s practice). The Tom Emmerson-directed video was a bold and declarative statement, and singled Ants out as an artist to watch for 2023. When we sat down with the rapper earlier this year, he acknowledged that music videos in general are “a bit of a dying art”, but made it clear he intended to put a stop to that. “A big part of listening is the visual element to me”, he said. “I just want to make movies, and make sure that all my songs get the visuals that they deserve.”
Read our full interview with AntsLive here.
2. KENDRICK LAMAR & BABY KEEM, ‘THE HILLBILLIES’
When Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem dropped their video for “The Hillbillies” in May, it was a breath of fresh air. Part music video, part tour diary, the grainy clip felt like catching a glimpse of the pair’s close friends story: there was private jet-hopping, goofing around on the London Eye, throwing the first pitch in an empty Dodgers Stadium – even a Tyler, the Creator cameo. Each scene Kendrick and Keem were having more fun than the last, all the more enjoyable considering the gravity of a lot of Kendrick’s recent work. But for a song that name checks Wales Bonner and Martine Rose, Kendrick knew to come correct for the music video, sporting some of the best fits we’ve seen him in yet.
1. TROYE SIVAN, ‘RUSH’
If 2023 was anything, it was the year Troye Sivan brought back the music video event. The Australian might’ve danced in his red undies for “Got Me Started”, and transformed into a baby drag queen for “One Of Your Girls”, but it was this summer’s “Rush” that really changed things for Sivan. The clip was the start of a fruitful collaboration with director Gordon von Steiner, presenting to the world Sivan’s new vision of a sexually liberated artist. From its unabashed queerness, to the goofball-coded choreo and impressive archive pulls, “Rush” was truly a visual feast, cementing Sivan’s status as a music video king.
Read our list unpacking all the visual references in the music video here.