Image via Complex Original
2015 marks another year of music videos that nearly jumped out of our screens and into our lives. Virtual reality applications, interactive websites, drone technology, and otherwise have made it so that we’re able to engage with music in a more intimate, meaningful way. Often these videos let us control or change elements of what we’re seeing, either through multiple screens or the ability to click and drag people and objects.
Though people may have dismissed these types of videos and the experiences they provide in the past, it doesn’t seem like they’re going anywhere. Here are the Most Tech-Forward Music Videos of 2015.
Björk “Stonemilker (360 Degree Virtual Reality)”
Always the innovator, Björk chose to use virtual reality technology for her “Stonemilker” video, which debuted at MoMA PS1 in New York. She sings the heartbreaking song on a black sand beach in Iceland, appearing at varying distances from the camera. She lets the expression of her face and body movements do most of the most communicating, while the tide ebbs and flows. It’s especially captivating when you move through the video to find multiple Björks dancing, one after the other.
FOALS “Mountain at My Gates (GoPro Spherical)”
Having directed for FOALS before (“Bad Habit” and “Late Night”), Nabil used GoPro’s HERO camera to create “Mountain at My Gates,” a video within nature that has multiples of the band rocking out. It comes off as an intimate, outdoor concert more than a music video, and perhaps that was the point.
Avicii “Waiting for Love (Jump VR Video)"
Avicii’s “Waiting for Love” virtual reality video has dancers coming in and out of a set of doors, and unlike other VR videos, you really have to move around for this one to catch all of the dancers. Avicii makes a sly appearance that could easily be missed if you don’t use the VR experience to its full potential.
John Carpenter “Night”
Though John Carpenter is hardly seen in front of a camera, he made an exception for his virtual reality music video, “Night,” and went all the way by sporting a VR headset himself. Carpenter drives through the city, perhaps without aim, before the viewer is introduced to an enigmatic character. The open road has never felt as simultaneously alluring and daunting as it does in the VR experience of “Night.”