The rollcall of popular music artists who’ve consistently upped their game with their videos – while simultaneously raising the bar for everyone else – is not nearly as long as it should be at this point. Michael Jackson, Madonna, Missy Elliott, and Bjork are VIPs, with Kendrick Lamar quickly earning his stripes. A handful of others (Beyonce, Rihanna, Kanye, Lady Gaga) are intermittent and wildly inconsistent with theirs. British musicians Laura Mvula and Raleigh Ritchie, however, are steadily building repertoires of music clips whose content and attention to craftsmanship underscore the fact that they’re full-service artists. Their videos aren’t just about building brands; they serve as pillars of artistic vision.
In Mvula’s new video for “Overcome” (previously reviewed here) she once again taps African influences (make-up, costumes, jewelry) for the images to illustrate her sound. In this clip, as in previous ones for “She,” “Green Garden,” “and “That’s Alright,” she celebrates dark skin, African bodies, and the collective as a fount of strength and inspiration. Artfully lit so that her smooth skin glows, with over-sized gold jewelry in her ears and at her throat accentuating her beauty (without just being about wealth,) she takes her place among an energetic group of dancers executing African-inspired choreography to the track’s thundering beat. As a bonus, Nile Rodgers’ patented guitar licks quiver on the soundtrack. And the bald head she’s back to rocking is the definition of sexy.
Over the last several weeks, Ritchie has dropped several new tracks off his forthcoming debut album You’re a Man Now Boy: “Keep It Simple,” the title track, and most recently “Never Better,” which he released a video for a few days ago. Set in a mobile jail cell that doubles as a subway, elevator, and office space, the metaphor-rich clip is about a prison of the mind, built by the protagonist (Ritchie) and overcome with the object of his obsession-slash-affections. Ritchie’s love of movies manifests in all his videos, and “Never Better” is no exception. Like its predecessors, it plays like a mini-feature disseminating the singer-songwriter-actor’s recurring themes of self-doubt, self-destruction, and skewed takes on love.
