Literal Music Videos

Back when I was a teenager MTV was really the only way to check out the latest music videos, and thankfully then it still played them on a regular basis. The kids from The Hills were still in diapers, YouTube was still a glint in someone’s eye and the World Wide Web was still catering to 28.8 modems.

The modern music video can now be found easily all over the world and shared even easier but is it still an art form or just a promotional tool? To illustrate, I’ve gathered some literal music videos here where some or all of the lyrics are yes, literally translated into the song itself. What’s the point in that?

Pink – Just Like a Pill (2002)

Sure enough, just as the song begins and P!nk tells us that she’s lying on the floor where someone left her….she’s lying on the floor.

Hilary Duff – Come Clean

Yes Hilary, the song talks about cleansing and starting over. But when you’re telling us to “Let the rain fall down”, does it really need to be raining throughout the video for us to understand what you’re trying to say?

Taylor Swift – Teardrops on My Guitar

Poor Taylor Swift, that Drew is such a loser. At about 3:14 we don’t actually see the teardrop fall on the guitar but considering she was holding it inches from her face throughout the entire video, there’s a good chance it probably did.

Billy Joel – We Didn’t Start the Fire

Such a liar that Billy Joel! Just as he starts to try and excuse himself for not starting the fire, everything just gets worse and worse by the end.

Shakira – Objection (Tango)

At about 2:00 Shakira unleashes her inner bitch and explains that her natural breasts don’t compare to the other woman’s “cheap silicone”. How do we know? They actually pop and deflate!

What are some other examples? I’d love to make this an ongoing thing.