Music videos

I don’t watch them. New song that just came out or old nostalgia trip on YouTube I don’t care, I’m not watching I’m listening. I will switch to another window/tab to avoid the video stream. What bothers me the most is that the video will become my memory attached to the song and I don’t want that, I want my own visuals, my own vibe.

It’s super interesting to me that 90s born people don’t separate music and music videos. It’s just one single thing to them (almost). “You know that song?” Yes. “You seen the video?” No. “You have to” No I don’t.

To me music videos were more like an add-on to the song, an ego trip for the artists. A fun way to spread the word out.

You simply don’t listen in the same way when watching a video, it’s a processing issue: when eyes are fully used –music videos have insanely sharp colors, fast edits, a lot of movement- ears take a backseat. The brain can’t do both at the same time.

Thus it’s no coincidence if music has gotten simpler –melodically, harmonically- while videos and “visual albums” got more popular. It’s to let the brain focus on pictures. It’s not a coincidence if trap music works so well with visuals, there’s something hypnotic with minimalist 808 beats, sub bass and some kind of ethereal melody and mumbling voices on top of a slow motion pan in Atlanta.