The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

We haven’t yet gotten a single music video from Kanye West’s series of Wyoming albums, and maybe we never will. But Pusha-T’s performance of “If You Know What You Know” on Jimmy Kimmel Live almost works as a music video, with its calling-attention-to-itself lighting and crazy camera angles and its precise editing. I don’t know whether it was Pusha’s idea to shoot the performance like that, or whether the credit goes to the Kimmel production staff, but that one left an impression. This week’s picks are below.

5. Selena Gomez – “Back To You” (Dir. Scott Cudmore)

When the ex-Disney pop kids are out here making mini-Godard movies, the indie rock bands need to step their fucking game up.

4. Everything Is Recorded – “She Said” (Feat. Obongjayar & Kamasi Washington) (Dir. Dear Mr Quistgaard)

In this video, Obonjayar gets his ass beat by Olympic judokas, and he never stops lip-syncing or looking cool. This is just an impressive music-video performance.

3. Rosalía – “Malamente” (Dir. CANADA)

I missed this last week, when it came out, so it’s going on this week’s list. What a ravishing piece of filmmaking! Those truck scenes are total mindbenders. There has to be some kind of context for the skateboarding Klansman in the purple robe, and I don’t get it, but it definitely got my attention.

2. Die Antwoord – “Alien” (feat. The Black Ghost) (Dir. Ninja)

The central joke that drove Die Antwoord into our brains got old years ago, and yet they’re still out here crafting affecting teenage sci-fi mini-dramas, setting them on a blasted and desiccated earth.

1. Juanes – “Pa Dentro” (Dir. Greg & Lio)

A series of euphoric, disconnected, beautiful optical illusions — the kind of thing that music videos can do better than any other medium in the world.

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