The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

I was embarrassingly excited for it, and it took until near the end of Kanye West’s “Bound 2” video for me to contemplate the possibility that it sucks. But yes, I’m pretty sure it sucks. There’s some definite trolling involved, what with the sweeping Hallmark-card opening and the deranged mean-mugging and the beyond-obvious greenscreening. But is there some deeper love being expressed there? Is it an attempt to turn Kanye and Kim into some transcendent cultural-icon pairing? Why is her hair blowing in the wrong direction? I don’t like the video, but I’ve spent more time wondering about it than I have about the videos I actually did like this week. And speaking of those videos, they’re below.

5. Galantis – “Smile” (NSFW) (Dir. Dano Cerny)

It’s always good to see a music video with a message, especially when that message is “humping is fun.”

4. M.I.A. – “Y.A.L.A.” (Dir. Daniel Sannwald)

In which M.I.A. attacks our collective eyeballs with her face. That epilepsy warning is one to heed.

3. Bob Dylan – “Like A Rolling Stone” (Dir. Vania Heymann)

The channel-flipping thing is a parlor trick that doesn’t interact with the song in any meaningful way, but it sure is fun. I felt a rush of actual joy when I saw Danny Brown’s face onscreen, and I haven’t liked Drew Carey this much since Kane chased him out of the ring at the 2001 Royal Rumble. Bonus points for being an interactive music video that doesn’t crash my browser.

2. Action Bronson & Party Supplies – “Amadu Diablo (Unplugged)” (Dir. Rik Cordero)

I laughed. I laughed a lot. That “Free Fallin'” outro? Fucking forget about it. Too much.

1. Arcade Fire – “Afterlife” (Dir. Emily Kai Bock)

Sometimes, you just need to feel feelings. Arcade Fire have now forced me to do that with two different “Afterlife” videos, which may be an unprecedented feat.

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