Written by Jahnavi Menon
Illustrated by Jessica Chan
It was prom night, and my best friend was flashing her Kodak Pixpro in my face. The song playing was “Beauty and a Beat” by Justin Bieber (ft. Nicki Minaj), and when that song comes on, my friends and I rapidly assemble into a circular formation, imitating the iconic music video where JB walks around a crowded pool party and films it with a handheld camera.
We grew up glued to screens showing the hottest new music videos. I have endless fond memories of watching them as a kid. My sister and I were hyperfixated on the Bang Bang music video – so much so that I have Nicki’s entire rap verse memorised to this day. I remember exactly where I was when I first watched Drake’s Hotline Bling, or when I gasped at the twist in Halsey’s Colours music video.
It’s clear that this culture died in the 2010s – long past are the days when we anxiously awaited new music video releases with their familiar VEVO watermark; now we just wait for the 15-second excerpt of the song that’ll go viral on #relatable TikTok. This difference is heard in the songwriting, too, with more and more artists overusing widely used slang or lingo instead of carving a storyline unique to their artistry with their music.
It’s no surprise, then, that the VMAs Video of the Year Nominees in 2025 were far from memorable. Not one video had a long-lasting impact on our culture – except maybe APT by Rosė and Bruno Mars, which can be heard from toddlers’ iPads all around the world.
Visual iconography dies when music videos are neglected. The one medium in which almost all demographics can connect universally is the music video – it’s digestible, fun, and replayable. Not only does it promote the music being played in it, but it promotes cinematography, storytelling, and fashion (notably Britney Spears’ snake costume in I’m a Slave 4 U).
Perhaps the demise of the music video started when MTV veered away from pushing them all the time, or when the Box, Kiss, or Magic shut down. I’d attribute its untimely passing to the rise in short-form content, which seems to be the cause of the degeneration of various art forms nowadays. This makes it harder for releases to make a mark. The masses are starving for some authenticity – albums like Brat by Charli XCX prove that, with Charli believing that the “album won’t appeal to a lot of people” and picking the off-putting chartreuse colour for the album cover to save money. A year on, Brat is easily slipped into conversation, the songs are still hits, and at least personally, that particular shade of chartreuse doesn’t remind me of vomit anymore.
We can’t blame artists for not making videos, however. Some of the biggest pop hits in the last few years, one standout example being Chappell Roan’s Good Luck Babe, don’t have videos because they blow up on TikTok, an easy way for artists to market their music without spending the extraneous effort, time and money they would have to with a music video, which also comes with loftier expectations from fans.
The culture within the music industry has changed entirely. Forging a connection with fans is as important as the quality of a single. The consequence? Storytelling is neglected. Artists become vapid husks even though we’re technically getting closer to them on social media platforms. Short-form media may be more economical, but it’s a threat to artistry. Not to be one of those people, but it is the damn phone. If we can barely sit through a 30-second TikTok without putting it on 2x speed, how can we expect ourselves to engage with a four-minute music video?
Commentary on the consequences of high-speed technology and its link to the degradation of society’s collective attention span is honestly overrated, so I’ll veer away from that. It saddens me that kids aren’t growing up with high-quality music videos anymore. Whilst my friends and I will forever reference Ariana Grande’s 7 Rings (I want it, I got it), the kids are being bombarded with constantly moving cycles of trends, catchphrases, inside jokes, and memes that lose relevancy and grow outdated in under a year. Contrastingly, music videos like Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up are immortal in terms of meme quality. What will be Gen Alpha’s Rickroll?
While I am nostalgic for the familiarity of that white VEVO emblem, what will the kids of our day be nostalgic for? No chance they’ll remember the TikTok dances that get recycled every week. Will it be their dependence on AI chatbots? Their love for Labubus? Cocomelon?
I plead that record labels move their money away from social media marketing back to the music video. It is truly unfortunate that the children don’t have a Justin Bieber Beauty and the Beat of their own. That’s a cultural loss worth mourning. No, Benson Boone is not a worthy replacement. I don’t think I’ve even watched the music video to Mystical Magical. But I suppose I got lucky with that one.
