Like everything else, music videos have transformed as a result of the internet. While they were once, at least theoretically, a sort of pure artistic companion piece to the music, they now serve a whole suite of other purposes, often aiming at virality as well as introducing the given musician’s new, carefully wrought personal brand. At their best—think of Kendrick Lamar’s recent “Humble,” any of Beyoncé’s recent visual albums, or those low-fi OK Go videos—they manage to do both at the same time.
So an app like Musical.ly, which lets a largely teen audience make their own music videos, makes a lot of sense: It’s a viral video manufacturing service. But that still doesn’t quite set the stage for this video from user IsaiahXaver10, which packs more manic, comic invention in its few minutes than many other music videos have in years. (The track is “Addicted To My Ex” by M-City J.r.)
While the most impressive thing is clearly the editing, there’s probably a doctoral thesis to be written on his innate understanding of selfies made in portrait view. He’s fluent in it.
Someone get this kid a contract. He might be the next Michel Gondry.
[via New York]