I may have already sent you this, forgive me if I have but I've forgotten, but before The Line comes out I need to know your Top Ten music videos from them and why. because :)
Well go down from 10 because it’s More Climactic.
10. At the Risk of Feeling Dumb
I like this music video for 4 main reasons. 1) I like the concept that the stakes are getting higher as the song goes on. That’s a reason to check on your friends—time heals nothing. As it goes on, unchecked, assume things are getting worse for people who are in a bad head space, not better, and talk to them about it. Because the heights and depths and extremes in their minds are getting greater, not smaller. So we start on a dinky little haybale, we move to a skyscraper in Ohio. Plus, Josh’s setups on the drums are super jank. It’s just like wedges of wood cobbled together on a shed-roof. I’m sure that was to get the video done in time, but Mark is also a great filmmaker, so I am equally sure that Josh being on such rickety setups works together with that theme of “this person is up high, not being careful, with less and less regard for their own wellbeing.”
2) I love that Tyler sings into the mic while it’s upside-down. That means that a) you’re trying to communicate but you’re doing it all wrong, b) there’s a high chance nothing is transmitting and “getting through” to the audience c) uh, that’s not how a mic works, so you’re communicating your heart out but you look dumb.
The song is about trying to check in on a friend and convince them you care—it’s also about calling friends out for not checking on their friends. So either way, it’s about trying to communicate something that’s hard to communicate to a friend. Something that’s not easily-received. And you might not be thanked for it, and you might feel dumb. But do it anyway.
It’s worth noting that during the more calm second verse, where Tyler starts with, “If I’m being real, man,” which sounds like a “please hear me out,” very open and transparent start to a hard conversation. And at that point, he’s not even holding the microphone. He’s just looking up at the person who’s in a dangerous place, giving the illusion that he’s trying to talk it out from a one-on-one, normal spot, not screaming it urgently through a microphone.
3) Every time he sings the lyric “nothing you can do this time” he’s lying on the ground. It cuts to him lying on the ground after jumping and falling. So it’s the thought that there’s only “nothing you can do” if you’re too late and the person has already dropped. Any time before that, and the phrase “nothing you can do” is untrue. Or, it could also be saying, “I feel like I’m already on the ground, so it’s too late for you to talk me down.” Both work, both are genius.
4) I love that neither of them hold anything back while performing in this music video. Josh could fall, doing all that cracking down on the drums, but he doesn’t look like he’s being cautious—he’s hitting the drums as hard as he would if he were perfectly safe. And I love that Tyler is actually screaming. I would bet money that he’s actually screaming the song, even though it’s a music video so he could’ve lip-synced it. But he throws his whole body into it. I love that. I love that they always work as hard as they can.
I think this one is great because of a combo of how much work that’s put into it, (like how cold that must’ve been, filming on set, and how much animation also had to be paid for and edited in, and the different costume changes, and the difference in time of day and lighting and set and props, and the amount of characters shown.) how much story it packs in, and sheer performance from Tyler and Josh.
Plus the editing is really great. The fast cuts with the knives and the Bishops when they assassinate Keons without it actually showing any gore, the blurry vision first-person perspective from Clancy as the Torchbearer walks up, and the expertly-done cuts between Tyler’s dance and Keons’ to communicate that he’s E.T.-puppetting him (seizing.)
But the performance though. I know Tyler’s not known for being an actor, but he really went for it. He drags himself out of what must be freezing cold seawater like he actually survived a shipwreck. He maintains the continuity by stumbling around behind the torchbearer as if he can’t keep himself up. And that dance? The seizing dance? There’s nothing more magnetic to watch. It doesn’t look normal. Doesn’t look like it’s borrowing from a freestyle or any other dances. It looks 100% original, like you’re watching something supernatural, a display of some superpower, happen. And it’s hard to make a dance look that cool-scary-intense-interesting, instead of just “funny.” Joaquin Pheonix wishes his little Joker dances were this indicative of a psychotic superpower.
I’m not biased and I’m not pre-disposed to think everything Tyler does is genius, what do you mean
This one’s awesome because it’s fascinating.
But first, more props for all the hard work. It’s cold. Josh is wearing no sleeves and his drums are on fire. And Tyler has to make sitting in the back of a car look interesting even though he also has to remain in glum-character and can’t get up and do all his eclectic movements with his full body.
Plus they film it in a way where it convincingly looks like the car is falling apart as Tyler sits in it, cutting quickly between the roof ripping off and Tyler looking up at it with light growing, then cutting in line with the action to the roof flying backward down the street. Great tricks, good job!
I really don’t know exactly what this video means, but it’s clear that a lot of thought was put into the meaning, and I can see that, for some reason I just don’t get it. It seems like progression is an important part of the video—it’s all framed around how long that car is going to last and whether or not Josh is going to get hit—but if progression is important, why end it where it begins, with Tyler in the backseat of an intact car, eyes shut, as if Josh in the road was all in his head?
I guess it could be that that’s the point—is progress being made, is someone from the outside breaking down the dark car he’s in, or is that all in his head?—but this isn’t a music-video-analysis post, it’s a music-video appreciation post!
I like how Josh’s drums are on fire at the same time as the car, and how they manage to sync some of the beats to the car losing it’s doors, it’s wheels, etc. Makes it feel as if the music is what’s breaking down the car—but the music is breaking down, too. Because the drums are also on fire. Anyway, I like all of that, even if I don’t understand what it means yet. I have a rough idea that “music is a great distraction, kind of like driving wildly, but both eventually break down.” You know, a “mortal rotting piece of song.”
I think this one’s on the list because of how I felt watching it, when it came out. Like, “they’re back! I thought they weren’t coming back, but they’re back—and there’s more for me to dive into than I thought any band could create, holy—“
I also just think whoever storyboarded it is awesome at their job. Because the vibe, especially of the petals falling in slow-mo, and the ramped-up tension into the last chorus, is really really well done. And if you think about it, Jumpsuit was sort of the pitch of the story to the fans. It had to be the elevator-taste of “bishops, banditos, trench, seizing, dema” when none of us had much context or idea that that was coming, yet.
So as an introduction, it’s great. You feel like you’ve been dropped into a weird world that you have to figure out just by observation—and guess what, that;s exactly what Tyler is acting like he’s doing from the moment the video opens. Waking up in a creek. Looking around all confused. Walking, looking over his shoulders, stopping to see the banditos. But there are cuts back to the Heavydirtysoul setting, too, so that we know this is all still coming from the band we love and the themes we started with.
I guess to sum it up, this is one of their best music videos because it’s so brave. They had an idea (the story of the next album), they couldn’t know for sure that anyone was going to get it or respond well to it, it was 100% original, and it had to stand or fall on it’s own merits…in a song that used the word “jumpsuit” but clearly that didn’t mean “jumpsuit.” And they did it anyway. All the risk and the ways it could’ve fallen flat, and they worked hard and did it anyway. Bold. I love them.
Lane Boy isn’t one of my favorite songs but it’s one of my favorite music videos. Because of the Fame-and-Success hazmats in a gas mask characters, and what they do with that.
I think it’s pretty obvious why that’s genius and I know I’ve said why in another post, but I’ll just add here—in this music video, music is the thing that could gain Tyler and Josh Fame & Success. But the gas mask characters representing those things wind up being controlled by the music, during a filmed live show. So that’s great. Subversive.
Plus if you look closely, you’ll see Josh Dun playing drums in the video.
This music video is so high on the list because it’s another great idea that’s hard to do—but they did the work and made it happen anyway—but that’s more impressive because of where they were as a band, at the time. Back during my first couple years knowing and loving them, when they weren’t major yet. So they were probably figuring a lot of this out and going out on a limb with much higher stakes, all on their own dime and ability, too.
I mean, he had to shave his head during filming—that’s hard, because if you think about filming it, if he shaves part of his head but then they don’t like that shot or they need to switch to a better angle or the lighting is bad, then how do you go back and re-shoot? Can’t glue the hair back on to maintain continuity. Hard to do, but they do it well. And it’s worth it, because shaving your head is symbolic for getting rid of something you’ve made a lot of visible progress on—and it’s been attached to you. Apply that to thoughts, or habits you’ve formed. Which is what the song alludes to. Thinking through who you are, what you should be versus what you are, how to get there, and what works—faith?
Then also to get the crowd involved without the crowd messing up? When you’re a band that’s not “made it big” yet? They got it done. So impressive.
Take what Jumpsuit was for Trench (introduction to a new idea, a new concept, that was going to have to maintain it’s impact and grow throughout the album) and that’s what Fairly Local was for Blurryface.
This music video introduces the idea of Blurryface with the most startling imagery. Tyler with those red eyes, opening up to you, but in a way that’s distorted and false, so it’s not really “opening up.” Which is the whole point of the character Blurryface.
Also, if you want to rate music videos just by the standard of “does it look the way it viscerally sounds?” Fairly Local is a great example of that.
It’s just cool, I don’t care. The eerie warehouse setting looks the way Tyler sounds when he’s doing that suspenseful “something-is-coming” vocalizing at the beginning. The microphone is a lightbulb, which is what literally illuminates the space, and lights up Tyler. Which is how any of us can “see” Blurryface—“the music brings him to light.”
It’s in a Chinatown setting—they’re not Chinese, they’re in the middle of a walking space, exposed, kind of out-of-place, opening the song with a language that they don’t understand. And the whole music video is about finding someone who can understand and see the real you. So, setting? A+
Tyler is in full Blurryface paint, meaning he’s really showing off the character and how insecure he is. Everything about the editing helps the paint to stand out. Makes sense, because again, this music video is about nobody getting you, something Blurryface would love for Tyler to believe.
Tyler’s acting. He looks around very nervously but very insistently the entire song. Whenever he tries to make eye contact, it freeze-frames—like in Screen “freeze-frame, let me paint a mental-picture-portrait,” and then in Screen he goes from freeze-framing to explaining himself, right? Well, in this music video, after the freeze-frame, he should be able to show part of himself to the person in the freeze-frame, that he’s making eye contact with. He’s trying to connect with someone. And every time? The person’s eyes warp and twist around. They can’t connect. That other person can’t even see Tyler. They’re all blurry—they’re not what they seem, or he’s not, and Tyler very clearly communicates that with his uncertain “I’m weirded out” face after the freeze-frames.
Jenna’s acting. I love the part when she sings the lyrics at Tyler and then when he sings them back, she stops and stares and they both have matching “oh” faces. And then she beats the tar out of him, and I love how she goes for it.
They go all in. This concept could’ve been poorly received and misunderstood by silly over sensitive people. But it was a genius concept—the person who can see the real you, no blur, has access to your weaknesses, and that can hurt—but real love really hurts, because the person who knows you and still chooses you, but also wants what’s best for you, is not going to let you sit in the clutches of the worst parts of yourself. Even if they have to beat it out of you. So she beats him up, but it ends with a kiss! They’re married and stuff. It’s wonderful.
2. UG Studios Session: Addict With a Pen
I don’t care if this doesn’t count. This one is important to me. I can feel the way he appears to feel, in this one. (And good, good for him, good for both of them, that they were vulnerable enough to make that happen in this kind of setting, where there’s no live audience, even though that is their usual weapon-of-choice. )
This one does everything I said the others do. It just does it the best out of all of them.
A) Hard Work - Makeup, editing, physical workout/discomfort, and I think in this one more than others, working with others, is all a testament to how good this music video is.
B) Performance - Look at how he says the line “and I’ll be holding onto you,” no matter what circumstance he’s in. A bunch of hand all over his face, standing in the seething mass of dancers, standing alone with the camera only focused on him, etc. Didn’t matter where. He perfectly communicated the desperation and resolve in that line, and always directed it upward. Like, at something he can’t see, but that’s why it takes so much resolve to hang onto it—and resolve is the resounding theme of the song. That’s all in his face, because that’s all in his words, that’s all him! Honest, genuine passion and intentionality.
C) Looks Like the Song Sounds - Starts with abrupt movement after apparent sleep, just like the build-to-bark sound of the beginning lines of the song. When the vibe changes on “remember the moment you know exactly where you’re going,” so does the regular camera angle—now we’re over top of Josh but whaaat, Tyler’s in a different plane? Then the pretty piano break before the bridge, and suddenly we go from crowds and fast-cuts to long, isolated shots of a lone, graceful dancer in mist. Then when the drums build and the piano joins them it’s Josh and Tyler back-to-back? The direction, production, and editing perfectly makes this music video look the way the song sounds, and that’s incredible in a song that changes shape three times.
D) The Concept - The fact that Tyler and Josh are “dormant and left in storage” in the opening, but then when he specifically starts talking about getting back in control instead of letting the flesh drive, the sheets are taken off. But guess what, just because he’s resolving to do the right thing doesn’t mean the flesh actually vanishes. Death-imagery, and flesh-imagery, in the form of those skeleton dancers, is right there all around them from the moment they “wake up.” That’s the point. Resolve in the face of the thing you’re resolving to quit, all around you, chaotic and uncontrollable and scary. And all over you. The fact that the moment he says “swat,” which should be when he’s kicking a skeleton-representing-the-flesh in the teeth? Instead, that’s when they mob him and force him to sit down. Right when you resolve to do the right thing, the temptation to do the wrong thing is all over you. You can’t do it. But he never looks at the flesh. All those hands touching him and pulling at him and he keeps his eyes fixed upward. Because THAT’S THE DANG POINT. The fact that he puts a noose around himself, and the flesh has the other end, which would be a bad thing, because it has suicidal-connotations—but it’s not a noose, remember, it’s a leash, and maybe the flesh is on one end, but he’s pulling on the other. And where’s he pulling? Upward, toward the same direction he’s been looking when he sings “holding onto you.” But he’s crawling, it’s not easy, it’s hard. The second he moves toward whoever he’s holding onto, though, they fall. The fact that during the versus he does the Gesture of Benediction, subtly, with his fingers, which represents the Holy Trinity, and uses that to mime mapping out a story, then pointing toward his own temples, while he’s singing, “and now that I write and think about it and the story unfolds, You should take my life, You should take my soul.” The fact that he and Josh die. They become skeletons, too. But it’s after the “entertain my faith” line. Which, by the way, is demonstrated by the graceful-pretty version of a skeleton-dancer, Death, getting the spotlight. And after they become skeletons, too, then they can use music to control the skeleton dancers—because the skeleton dancers start moving in time with the “lean with it, rock with it,” bridge. It’s the Christian life in a song. You try to defeat the flesh on your own, you can’t, it’s got you covered, but you have to hold on to God and remember that He defeated your flesh, and you have to move toward Him instead of focusing on the flesh and death, and die to yourself, and He’ll handle the rest.
That’s the best music video. Also, they look great. Skeleton makeup, spine-dress-shirts, suits.
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