In 2016 and 2017 a new trend emerged on YouTube commonly referred to as ‘Dis-tracks’, in which a creator writes a rap song insulting another person which is accompanied by a music video. The trend took the community by storm with the likes of the Sidemen and the Paul brothers all creating their own collections of music. ‘It’s Every Night Sis’ is targeted towards Jake Paul and a direct response to his music video titled ‘It’s Every Day Bro’. Whilst the content of the video is expensive, such as the Lamborghini and penthouse, the budget for the video itself is relatively low and simple, with only a few locations and lack of props. YouTube allows its users to create videos on a limited budget, one of the reasons the trend became so popular and free from regulation and restrictive creative freedom (Wilson, S 2024), and contrasts to television music streaming where the size of operation is much larger.

Daniel Cookney (2017) makes a strong claim that music video today rejects the more traditional narrative structure of short film and instead consolidates images into pulses, focusing more on a synesthetic experience than a plot focused one. Ricegum’s video supports this claim, with no plot or real links from lyric to visual, the video cuts back and forth between locations at fast pace. The purpose of the song and meaning behind it is to insult Jake Paul whilst also proving he has a better standard of ling than he does. The visuals are in your face and poignantly showcase Ricegum’s wealth, allowing the audience to understand the link between the sound and visual without a required narrative. Lev Manovich makes a similar point in suggesting a database aesthetic, where images change and flick back and forth but the narrative does not progress. The clips when edited together create the tone and feel of the visuals when paired with the audio.

YouTube’s platform enables anyone with any budget to create and publish their own work, which in turn has revolutionised the music video landscape and the form itself. It has created depth and a vast catalogue of genre both visually and musically.

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Cookney, D (2017) ‘Vimeo Killed the Video Star: Burial and the User Generated Music Video’, Music/Video: Histories Aesthetics, Media, 255-267

Wilson, S (2024) ‘The Art Of Music Videos: From MTV To YouTube’. Available at: https://medium.com/@anuoluwapoajoke63/the-art-of-music-videos-from-mtv-to-youtube-d8b9e9e4f92d (Accessed 21.11.24)

Ricegum (2017) ‘Its EveryNight Sis feat. Alissa Violet’ Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zy28mVeVZw (Accessed 21.11.24)

Shaviro, S (2017). “Glitch aesthetics, Chapter 2.” in Digital Music Videos, 51–75. Rutgers university press, 2017. In reference to Lev Manovich.