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Arts and Culture
Video
Music

Music Videos 2.0

YouTube's incredible playback machine. Sample the world.

Doretta Lau 7 May 2008TheTyee.ca

Doretta Lau is a YouTube addict. She's sorry if you cried emo tears because she Rickrolled you with the Death Cab for Cutie link.
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MTV killed its video stars.

One of the best things that YouTube has done for pop culture is revive the music video. When MTV shifted its programming focus from videos to reality programming, music fans, who had been willing to sit through lengthy countdowns and artist spotlights for a glimpse of a specific video, lost out. Now, when we want a fix of Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Blonde Redhead or Death Cab for Cutie we can get it immediately. Since it's possible to access nearly any music video on the Internet, recording artists and record labels are devoting budget dollars and attention to videos once again.

Taiwan's man of disguises

Outside North America, it seems that the music video never lost its role as a key element in music marketing. Taiwanese pop star, actor and director Jay Chou has been producing and directing music videos that can double as short films. Chou has cast himself in roles such as Sherlock Holmes, international spy, triad member, Italian mafioso and ping-pong competitor.

Korean pop band Epik High has mastered the art of blending music and pop culture interests in their videos. The videos for Fan and Fly evoke the darkness that directors Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, I'm a Cyborg But That's OK) and Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Memories of Murder) capture so well in their films.

In Epik High's latest video, for the single "One," the group combines great hair, good fashion and a dance tune that's a nod to the current '90s nostalgia trend with the love of popular crime procedural shows like CSI. The result is at once upbeat and creepy, and though the initial frisson upon seeing the video diminishes with each viewing, fans of the band can't help but hit the replay button. There's no doubt about it: the synergy of YouTube and music videos is pop culture magic at its very best.

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