The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

Tom’s out in California surrounded by floral headbands and bros with GoPros over at Coachella this weekend, so I’m helping him out with this week’s roundup. While I’m sure that Rihanna’s “American Oxygen” video made some kind of stab at a political statement and was probably really nice looking, I didn’t watch it in time and now it’s been taken down because… Tidal. Who knows? Maybe it’s the best video of the damn year, but I’m not subscribing to find out. The only other obvious omission is Will Butler’s pretentious by-way-of-goofy video for “Something’s Coming.” Will seems like a really chill guy, but his video reminds me of why I decided not to go to art school. This week’s medley is pretty diverse. Dive in.

5. Young Fathers – “SHAME” (Dir. Jeremy Cole)

Cool haircuts, ace dancing, and enough blood to keep things interesting.

4. Todd Terje – “Alfonso Muskedunder” (Dir. Bendik Kaltenborn and Espen Friberg)

Baby Mozart for adults.

3. Panda Bear – “Tropic Of Cancer” (Dir. Dave Portner)

Heavy petting! Enormous stuffed animals! Psychedelic color saturation!

2. HEEMS – “Sometimes” (Dir. Himanshu Suri)

Hannibal Buress and Eric Andre join Heems to make a wily satirical critique of aspirational whiteness. It’s funny, it’s pointed, and it’s a perfect accompaniment to “Sometimes.”

1. Tyler, The Creator – “Fucking Young” (Dir. Wolf Haley)

This is a different kind of love story than the one Tyler featured in the ominous video for the Frank Ocean collaboration “She” back in 2011. In “Fucking Young,” Tyler reverses roles with his “fucking young” love interest in a high-budget exercise in hypocrisy. He’s the young one; skateboarding off of a suburban rooftop into a shallow kiddie pool, laughing hysterically and totally alone at the movies, taking his girl on a date amidst cartoonish sunflowers, go-carting and blowing shit up with a slingshot. This is Tyler doing what he does best — stifling any growing self-reverence by playing the part of his opposite. I’m cool, but I’m not; I’m grown, but I can still rock primary colors like it’s the first day of the second grade. Remember that introductory line on “Yonkers”? “I’m a walking fucking paradox, no I’m not.” After all of this time, Tyler’s sense of self holds up, and the way he manifests it in this video is a joy to witness.

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