This blog will be investigating the 2^nd aesthetic is music videos and how this has manifested in present day music videos, particularly how music artists have started to utilize and hybridize music videos and film together in a more exaggerated manner.  

To start off, let’s look more closely at what is the 2^nd aesthetic?

The 2^nd aesthetic examines the qualities of music videos and how its changed from the earliest forms of music videos to those being produced in this current period of time.

Early music videos had a recurring or noticeable aesthetic due to limits of technology as well as censorship implemented by television companies, which were essentially the only platform such videos were viewed at. Vernallis stresses “ Directors & musicians could never predict which constraints would be enforced” (2013).

One example can be seen in the recurring themes of hypersexuality of the female body as well as acts of show of wealth in 2000s rap song videos. However, the influence of what we might consider a standard aesthetic of music videos can still be seen in some early music videos, for example Queen’s “Bohemian Rapsody”.

Change in style can be seen from the introduction of music video curated channels such as MTV, and eventually the shift of viewing digital videos to on online platforms such as YouTube.

Moving on, some music videos do already explore the idea of incorporating aspects of film, an example being the moody style of indie films, and thus essentially being a short film, whereby the actual music becomes almost secondary. However, a new style has sort of emerged, whereby this idea is pushed extremely, blurring the lines between a film and music video. To illustrate my point, I’d like to look at Melanie Martinez’s K12, which was a “film” that had incorporated all the songs of the album to become a full-fledged film.

Reading List

Vernallis, C. (2014) “Music Video’s Second Aesthetic ,” in Unruly Media: You tube, music video, and the New Digital Cinema. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.

Aseel Mohamed Waheed Deen