Music videos have had a bad reputation. The reorganization of priorities at MTV and the emergence of the Internet, however, have transformed what was formerly considered a promotional vehicle into a source of experimentation, a place to try what was once thought impossible. Budgets have gone down for the most part, but that only makes things more interesting. And since the videos are no longer used mainly to sell records, they tend to reflect the music more faithfully in tone and spirit. And musicians can take more chances, as evidenced by the videos on our list of the year’s 10 best, below. A decade ago none of them would — or could —have been played on television, or, indeed, even been produced. Although performers like Missy Elliott and Drake continue to make throwback music videos, referencing what came before them, others, like Oneohtrix Point Never, Arca, and Aïsha Devi, are hiring visual artists to push their work toward contemporary art. Fka Twigs and M.I.A produce their own videos, taking control of their careers’ visual narratives, while David Bowie is still being David Bowie.In putting together our 10 best list, we veered toward the obscure and incomprehensible, but mainly we looked for works unlike anything else out there, and for visual imagery that harmonized with or played against the music.
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