The 25 Best Music Videos of 2015
While many music videos are merely slick, soulless promos for potential hit singles, occasionally a video comes out that transcends crass commercialism and actually stands alone as a work of visual art. Happily, quite a few such artworks hit TV screens and computer monitors for three or so minutes at a time this year, and when we here at Yahoo Music added up all those minutes together… well, we realized we spent much of 2015 enjoying some truly awesome music videos.
So here, in ascending order of awesomeness, are our picks for the top 25 videos of the year. (Some videos below contain profanity.)
25. Calvin Harris feat. HAIM - “Pray to God”
The HAIM sisters’ ethereal harmonies have earned them frequent comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, and after the release of this Calvin collaboration, they now have even more in common with Wiccan rock goddess Stevie Nicks. Wearing witchy couture straight off the American Horror Story: Coven set, and posing mysteriously against a series of new-agey, blacklight-poster backdrops straight out of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gypsy” video, Este, Danielle, and Alana work their Nicks-ish black magic in the clip for this “Edge of Seventeen”-esque track – tangoing in the night, seeing their reflections on snow-covered hills, and basically acting like women taken by the wind.
24. The Libertines - “Gunga Din”
It’s the reunion that some people thought would never happen, and one of the top comebacks of 2015. And judging from the likely lads’ wildly boozy, expletive-filled first video from the reunion album Anthems for Doomed Youth, not much has changed since the rabblerousing garage-rockers’ classic sophomore album was released 11 long years ago. Filmed in “Walking Street,” Pattaya, the sex capital of Thailand, this video showcases the Libs in their ultimate element. They carouse with ladies of the evening, bottle-feed each other exotic beer, chain-smoke, sweat through their suits, give each other piggyback rides, and generally have an excessively jolly good time. Welcome back, boys.
23. Walk the Moon - “Shut Up and Dance”
These Cincinnati kids didn’t form their band till 2010, but they’ve obviously done their ‘80s history homework. The club scenes look like outtakes from The Wedding Singer (with frontman Nicholas Petricca in the lovably dorky Adam Sandler role), the boombox scene is a sweet homage to Say Anything, and the cheap 'n’ cheerful graphics are so Saved By the Bell. Totally awesome!
22. U2 - “Song for Someone”
In case you forgot that Woody Harrelson is a terrific actor, this video – especially its final two minutes – should be a handy reminder. Can music videos win Oscars?
21. Drake - “Hotline Bling”
Full disclosure: This clip, with all its awkward dad-dancing, came thisclose to making our year-end worst videos list. But the video that launched a million memes is just so completely fascinating, it had to get an honorable mention on this list instead.
20. Muse - “Dead Inside”
Brilliant So You Think You Can Dance alums Will Wingfield and Kathryn McCormick are true all-stars in this spooky, compelling, chalk-dusted epic by the over-the-top U.K arena-rockers. The moves are by SYTYCD choreographer Tessandra Chavez, but this video definitely gives off an awesomely freaky Sonya Tayeh/Mia Michaels vibe.
19. Shamir - “Call It Off”
If there are three things we love, they are puppets, mall shopping, and Ratchet, the critically heralded and supremely funky-fresh debut album by 2015 artist to watch Shamir. Put all three together in one wonderfully bizarre video, and the result is the perfect pop-culture trifecta.
18. M.I.A. - “Borders”
Refugees were the subject of much heated political debate in 2015, and leave it to the always controversial and outspoken Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam to enter the conversation with a very provocative, self-directed video – in which refugees climb fences, travel on tiny, cramped boats, and form a giant human pyramid. Dazzling and sometimes uncomfortable stuff.
17. Mark Ronson - “Feel Right”
It’s a mini-Mystikal! Elementary school talent shows were never this fun or funky back when we were in the 4th grade. There’s a Florence Henderson cameo here, too. Mrs. Brady never came to our school, damn it.
16. FKA twigs - “M3LL155X”
Miss Twigs never disappoints with her visuals, but she really outdoes herself with this 16-minute opus, a companion film to her surprise-dropped M3LL155X EP that strings together all five tracks into one continuous, sprawling art piece. Be prepared to be dazzling, amazed, confused, and even a little bit scared – but never bored.
15. Lady Gaga - “'Til It Happens to You”
Who would have thought Gaga’s most impactful and haunting video would be one that didn’t feature her at all? In a year when sexual assault was a much-discussed subject (due to accusations against Bill Cosby, the late Kim Fowley, Dr. Luke, CeeLo Green, and others), and a year when Gaga spoke frankly about her own teenage rape, this triggering song (co-written by Diane Warren) and video (directed by Catherine Hardwicke) from the campus rape documentary The Hunting Ground really hit home. It’s not “Bad Romance” or “Poker Face” by any means, but it is perhaps Gaga’s darkest and most meaningful artistic statement to date.
14. Run the Jewels - “Close Your Eyes…”
Another hot 2015 news topic was race relations/police harassment, and few artists besides Kendrick Lamar (more on him later) addressed this as stunningly as Run the Jewels’ El-P and Killer Mike here. This black-and-white, intense video depicts a battle between a cop and an unarmed black man – who eventually stop, exhausted, realizing there is no reason for or end to their violence. Make sure you watch all the way to the video’s conclusion. The final scenes will haunt you.
13. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment, “Sunday Candy”
Even better than Mark Ronson, Florence Henderson, and mini-Mystikal’s school play is this elaborately choreographed, low-budget spectacle by the Chance the Rapper-affiliated group. “Sunday Candy” is beyond adorable. We dare you not to smile while watching.
12. Sleater-Kinney, “A New Wave”
If there are two other things we love, it’s the recently reunited Sleater-Kinney (another one of 2015’s great comebacks) and the cast of Bob’s Burgers. Put 'em together, and you get a video even Jimmy Pesto would enjoy.
11. Drake - “Energy”
“Hotline Bling” may have gotten all the attention this year, but this far superior clip proves that Drizzy is a better celebrity impersonator than dancer. In the course of three minutes, he transforms into Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Barack Obama, Miley Cyrus, LeBron James, Floyd Mayweather, and even O.J. Simpson, and he does such an amazing job, the onetime SNL host really should get his own variety show.
10. Pharrell Williams - “Freedom”
This gorgeous, cinematic video, for another socially conscious single, shows Pharrell in a sweatshop, a work camp, a run-down shopping mall, and other settings that symbolize restriction and conformity. The Tiananmen Square scene is the centerpiece of the clip, but the entire thing is just a wonder to behold.
9. David Bowie - “Blackstar”
Bowie’s Blackstar is one of 2016’s most anticipated album releases, and this 10-minute epic for the title track – directed by Breaking Bad’s Johan Renck and starring a cast of living scarecrows, children of the corn, dead astronauts, and a blinded Bowie – indicates the album is going to be a very trippy and creepy affair. We cannot wait.
8. Snoop Dogg - “So Many Pros”
Winner of this year’s MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction, and rightfully so, this dynamite retro clip superimposes Snoop onto a colorful backdrop of faux Blaxploitation movie posters. We wish all of these were real movies. We’d totally go see a double-feature of Snoop’s Deadly Angels and Russ Thunder’s Cruel Sistas.
7. David Hasselhoff - “True Survivor”
Do not attempt to adjust your dial (on your rabbit-eared, analog TV set, natch). This true survivor of the '80s is back with a video that out-'80s every actual video from the '80s. From Warriors-style gang fights and Mad Max apocalyptic cityscapes to TRON-tastic time travel, from electric-eyed “Maneater” wolves to neon keytars to upright arcade games that morph into four-limbed robots, this video (Stefon voice) has EVERYTHING. No wonder (Norm Macdonald voice) Germans love David Hasselhoff!
6. Sia - “Elastic Heart”
Sia’s second video starring the amazing Maddie Ziegler garnered controversy for pitting the Dance Moms prodigy against grown man Shia LeBeouf in a dirty cage match, with both the 13-year-old girl and somewhat skeevy 29-year-old actor wearing nude-toned leotards. Some critics issued trigger warnings; others decried the imagery as downright pedophilic. (Sia later issued an apologetic statement on Twitter, saying, “All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play these two warring 'Sia’ self states. I apologize to those who feel triggered by 'Elastic Heart.’ My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody.”) The video may be disturbing to some, but there is no doubt that it is one of the most memorable, original, and breathtaking clips of the year.
5. Missy Elliott - “WTF”
More puppets! But truly, even before Missy and Pharrell’s adorable doppelganger marionettes show up here, this triumphant comeback clip holds your attention as soon as Missy appears in her disco-ball jogging suit. Missy always brings it when it comes to her music videos, and this subway station tour de force was more than worth the seven-year wait.
4. FIDLAR - “40oz on Repeat”
All of your favorite music videos are lovingly (and endearingly inexpensively) spoofed in this brilliant lo-fi homage. Sugar Ray, Suicidal Tendencies, Weezer, Eminem, the Beastie Boys, Jamiroquai, the Hives, Oasis, the Pixies, Britney Spears, George Michael, Green Day, and even the above-mentioned Missy Elliott get the tribute treatment, and it’s a total blast. Clips like this one and “Sunday Candy” prove that you don’t have to have some six-figure budget to make a great video.
3. Justin Bieber - “Sorry”
The Biebs is totally forgiven, because he made this amazing video. (Don’t worry: If you’re not down with Justin’s Purpose-ful comeback, he’s not actually in this video at all.) “Sorry” is like every great Nappytabs SYTYCD routine rolled into one. The girls’ isolations are amazing, their colorful clothes and tomboy attitudes are adorable, and the choreography by 23-year-old New Zealander Parris Goebel (she’s the one in the black onesie and baseball cap holding up the “We Heart JB” sign at the end) is simply twerktastic. We seriously have watched his video maybe 20 times, and we’re not sorry about it.
2. Kendrick Lamar - “Alright”
From the album of the year comes one of the videos of the year. Like Run the Jewels’ above-mentioned video, it explores the subject of urban unrest and police violence against black men – ending with Lamar himself being shot from the sky, Icarus-style, by a cop. It’s not exactly the feelgood video of 2015, but it’s possibly the most important and impactful, and it perfectly captures the message of Grammy darling Lamar’s landmark To Pimp a Butterfly. Unsurprisingly, “Alright” received four nominations at the 2015 VMAs, including Video of the Year, Best Male Video, and Best Direction (it won the latter Moonman), and it’s currently nominated for Best Music Video at the Grammy Awards.
1. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - “Downtown”
This surreal and epic video deserves top honors just for casting Eric Nally, the underrated and totally gonzo frontman for rock 'n’ roll brigade Foxy Shazam. (Nally shows up about a minute and a half in, riding a motorbike chariot like some sort of golden god.) But there’s so much more to “Downtown” than that. This video features a fleet of moped riders, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee, Grandmaster Caz, Ken Griffey Jr. tossing a fish, “Thriller”-style line dancing, '70s threads that seem left over from Snoop’s “So Many Pros” video, a bike with moose-antler handlebars, West Side Story-style gang fighting, and a giant ticker-tape parade through downtown Seattle. It’s all supremely funky and totally ridiculous, and even at more than five minutes long, it feels way too short – because it’s that much fun to watch.
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