The impact of music videos has seen a significant decline since the 1990s – mostly as a result of video apps like TikTok, as well as due to the rise of streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. However, in reality, music videos have the unique power to tell a story which might not necessarily relate to the song lyrics at all. They can be a powerful tool to exemplify and showcase a band or a singer’s talent or even simply an album concept, the outcomes of which I aim to investigate through showcasing one of my favourite singer and songwriter’s music videos – “Talk” by Beabadoobee!
Beabadoobee and I go back to when I was sixteen – I am twenty now, and her music is still just as important to me – enough for me to have a tattoo of a flower related to the promotion of her most recent album, “Beatopia.”
Her lyricism, as well as her overall album concepts, are incredible and so creative. The music video I will talk about today is a lead single from her recent hit album Beatopia, a reference to her musical nickname, describing an imaginary “make-believe land” synonymous to “Bea’s world”. The album came out at a very memorable time in my life, hence the flower tattoo referencing it – allowing me to remember this precious time forever – I feel so happy and proud to have it on me forever!
I personally enjoy streaming music videos of my favourite artists in order to show support towards them and their art. “Talk” does an excellent job at showcasing all angles and details of how it feels to be at a Beabadoobee concert and from experience, the directors of the music video do this convincingly and accurately. The guitar & bass riffs are particularly highlighted throughout, and the album artwork is also displayed consistently, giving the listener and viewer an overview of the sweet and magical concept of the album which Beabadoobee came up with herself when she was just seven years old. This particular attention to detail makes sense, considering the song was the first lead single of the album that was released.
The act of streaming music videos in itself is arguably different from fanbase to fanbase, with K-pop fans competing with each other on breaking records for the highest amount of views on a single music video within the first 24 hours upon its release, to fans of other music genres simply appreciating the aesthetics of their favourite artist’s creations.
Music videos can be a powerful tool to exemplify and showcase a band or a singer’s talent or even simply an album concept.
Whilst music videos may not see as much recent popularity as they used to, I believe they are still a strong tool for musicians to showcase their work not only to their already established fans but also to new people who are checking them out for the first time; music videos can definitely be an opportunity for potential new listeners and audiences. Their significance and legacy carry on, and with the Billboard Hot 100 charts still using music video streams along with numbers and statistics from all other streaming platforms, I believe they are definitely not heading towards extinction just yet, even if their popularity is not as high as it used to be.
