Are Iconic Music Videos About To Make A Comeback?

The death of the music video has been highly anticipated for a few years now, and was only further affirmed with the shutting down of the classic MTV, a channel that brought music videos to our TV screens since the 80s. Growing up I remember my mum putting on the Top 50 on MTV while she made us all clean the house, and once I was old enough to own a phone, I solely relied on YouTube and Vevo to listen to music. That meant that whenever I was listening to a song, I was also watching the video.

The video was always just as important as the song, at least in my opinion. I knew the dialogue from the opening scene of 1D’s ‘Best Song Ever’ video off by heart. I remember that creepy paper mache mask from the ‘I Took A Pill In Ibiza’ video, and I genuinely couldn’t listen to the song ‘Symphony’ without sobbing because the music video was so sad (that dolphin trend on TikTok really healed something in me). Now, I couldn’t describe the music video for any of my new favourite songs. I couldn’t even tell you if there is a music video for them. 

I don’t think I’m alone here. Music videos just don’t matter as much as they used to, and this could be for a number of reasons. Like I said before, when I was younger the most convenient way to listen to music was on a video platform, so the music video was always playing with the song, and it was highly unusual for an artist not to release a video at all. Now with streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music being the main way we listen, there’s no need for us to watch the video as well. That then obviously lowered the demand for artists to make videos for their music at all. 

It’s not like we stopped getting visuals for our music altogether, it just came in a different form. Social media, especially TikTok, has put the visual representation of music mostly into the fans’ hands rather than the artists. Think about it for a second, when you hear the song ‘Apple’, do you picture the music video in your head? Or do you think of the TikTok dance that became so popular it’s now a part of Charli’s live performances? Probably the second one. Even in the 80s, the main purpose of music videos was to market the song. Now, the most efficient method of music marketing is the artist engaging with content produced by the fans themselves. Edits, fan-made music videos, memes and dance trends have replaced the original music video. 

Throughout 2024, a handful of music videos came out that received a lot of attention on social media. Troye Sivan’s drag appearance was a trending topic on TikTok for ages after it was released, and Sabrina Carpenter, who was quickly rising to fame after the release of her album Short n’ Sweet, was continuously being praised for the memorable videos that accompanied the songs. Very slowly, it looked like there was a growing appreciation for high-budget, high quality music videos, and this appreciation is only getting deeper.

Cue 2025, where now queens of pop Sabrina and Addison Rae released even more unforgettable videos that had everyone talking, as well rapper Doechii. Although fan-made content was still the driving marketing force behind music, the music video was pushing its way back into being important. And now, we’ve been graced with the music video for PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson’s collab ‘Stateside’. This video, in my opinion, really drove home the idea that the music video is not dead.

Not only does the ‘Stateside’ video have that nostalgic flashiness and playfulness that older pop videos had, but it also perfectly captures the two unique brands of PinkPantheress and Zara. A massive part of both artists’ rise to fame was their authenticity and their ability to make their brand stand out from the rest. We could sit here all day and talk about Zara Larsson’s epic rebrand, but this video addresses it perfectly. It simultaneously embraces and contrasts the two different aesthetics – one very Londonish, grungy and inspired by early 2000s club culture, the other going for a more beachy, mermaid-like Y2K style. That’s what made it such a success, because that is what the fans want to see. 

The truth is that nobody wants to go out of their way to find a music video for their favourite song, only to discover the whole thing is just clips from a live performance or a tour. As much as social media did play into the downfall of music videos, you could easily argue that another reason is that music videos made today just aren’t unique anymore. They’re not engaging enough, and they don’t necessarily reflect the artist either. The ‘Stateside’ video reinforced the image that the two artists want to portray, their vibe, basically. 

So, what can we take from this? Well, it’s clearly been proven in the last two years that good quality music videos can still and are still being produced, and they’re often capable of standing out against the dominating fan-made content. Hopefully we’ll see more of this in the future, and other musicians and producers might be inspired by other artists to create authentic, high effort videos that get people talking. Bring back the music video!