BEST VIDEOS OF 2020

Paper, Scissors, Stone as a sports discipline. Trump, Putin and Merkel chatting. A better world created by children. And spinning.

At the beginning of 2020 it seemed the only music videos we might get this year would be those filmed at home using smartphone or computer camera (and Zoom). So you might be as surprised as we are seeing all those amazing films below.

Enjoy, share, and check out also:

• Best Albums of 2020 from around the world
• 99 great songs from 2020 – Spotify playlist across countries, styles & languages
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FVLCRVM – “Hate List” (Slovakia)

Unique music and a ludicrous championship you never knew existed. That’s basically what FVLCRVM’s Hate List offers.

The retro vibe video portrays what it’s like to be a professional athlete. Never knew Paper, Scissors, Stone was a sports discipline? Then you definitely have to watch this.

The video was directed by Michal Blaško and produced by Filmaari studio. It brings so many moments to laugh about and could also work as a manual how to dance to FVLCRVM’s music. (Viera Ráczová)

Shugo Tokumaru – “Sakiyo No Furiko” (Japan)

In his first new song in four years, “Sakiyo No Furiko” (“Pendulum of previous life”), Shugo Tokumaru’s one-man orchestra embraced all people around the world who are in solitude. He played, recorded, and mixed everything all by himself. He used acoustic guitar, melodica, accordion, glockenspiel and percussion.

He also said on Twitter: “Unexpected things continue to happen. It’s not true nothing ever changes – we can easily change the world. We only need to act. It’s dangerous, so we should always learn, think, improve and predict. At any time, be flexible and ready to take the first step. Now is never too late. We can take a step forward again and again.”

The beautiful animated music video was directed by yorocine, while Yusuke Mashiba designed typography and characters – we observe them spinning as if it represented reincarnation, a circle of life. (Toyokazu Mori)

Lido Pimienta – “Eso Que Tu Haces” (Colombia)

At first glance, and very superficially, Lido Pimienta’s video for her song “Eso que tu haces”, extracted from her celebrated album “Miss Colombia”, appears as a folkloric celebration of the many cultural traditions of San Basilio de Palenque, the place where the video was recorded. However, over the course of almost 5 minutes, a number of details and references feed into the colorful explosion of colors, dances and faces that appear on the screen.

For those who don’t speak Spanish, this song, like the entire album, is a lament, a critical look of love and hate to his native Colombia. That is why in this piece directed by Lido Pimienta and Paz Ramírez herself, with the participation of the Kumbé Dance Group, their appearances between the city and the jungle, their traditional and amorphous and wounded dances and their closing with the statue of Benkos Biohó, who commanded a rebellion of maroon slaves, and in a kind of redeemer of San Basilio de Palenque, the first free town of colonial America, is actually a document loaded with history in the social, cultural and political, without a doubt a piece

That does justice to such a visceral album. (Sebastian Narváez Núñez)

Gloria – “PTS” (Hungary)

The clip from Budapest artist Gloria was directed by Kinopravda and recorded on a 16mm film.

It addresses the difficulties of the year 2020: world peace on social media, but we can also look at the private messages of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel.

The often depressing topics of the sarcastic and depressing-sounding video are seen in Gloria’s modern interpretation. (Lelle Buzás)

KŌTIRO – “Force Field” (New Zealand)

KŌTIRO is the multimedia project of Ana Chaya Scotney, a Māori/Jewish multi-hyphenate with links to both experimental music/theatre and commercial television scenes in Aotearoa New Zealand.

To create the video clip that accompanies “Force Field”, Ana worked collaboratively with performance director Frankie Berge and camera operator/editor Sam Small, while shooting on location in White’s Beach, Anawhata.

Like a folkloric fever dream, the video sees expressive footage of Ana intercut with cosmic stock footage sourced from god knows where, perfectly complimenting the song’s spare, impressionistic style. (Martyn Pepperell)

Isla Mujeres – “Mi nombre” (Argentina)

The opening track for “Secreto”, Isla Mujeres’s second album, was accompanied by beautiful visuals with a kaleidoscopic choreography.

Directed by Julia Sbriller and Joaquín Wall, it starts with the four girls of the band stepping in yellow dots.

The dance movements generates new shapes and perspectives, and even though they never touch each other, the clip finishes with the four girls as a unity. Truly hypnotic. (Rodrigo Piedra)

Planeta Polar – “Amigo” (Lithuania)

Three fays from tropical-cumbia-electronic planet usually make colorful and danceable music and cheerfully sing in Spanish (yeah, they’re from Lithuania).

But they had this one sad song about sore yet inevitable farewell with your beloved friend – a dog.

The director Vytautas Puidokas, ex-member of the band, chose exactly this one and turned it into the saddest black and white fairy tale, full of mystical visions and hidden symbols. (Giedre Nalivaikaitė)

Kiara Jones – “And I Feel The Same” (France)

Kiara Jones firstly made her name in France, as a candidate for the TV show “The Voice”, but she kept her independence artistically, to release self-produced and very personal music ever since. Her first EP, “Black Garden”, was released at the end of 2020 and contains the airy “And I Feel The Same”, her third single.

Like the title track, the video for the song, directed by Simon Chantrait, is made of naturalist sceneries, Kiara and other models posing like golden statues of goddesses from Versailles’s fountains, among flowers and angelic imagery.

At times, the pastel colours remind us of Tyler The Creator’s classy visuals, while the delicate nu soul sounds and melody can evoke Solange’s first album, but with a more evanescent aspect. As if the song could evaporate at any time, like a fragile cloud during a sunny summer day… A beautiful and inspirational piece of art. (Gil Colinmarie)

Bade Nosa – “28” (Turkey)

Bade is not new in music but what makes her new is that in 2020 she decided to share her songs officially one by one under the name of Bade Nosa, including “28”.

With art director Anıl Çezik and animation by Koray Pezükoğlu, we can say the video is an art piece as much as the song itself.

You will see a crowd of people, cut from their original photographs, and put into a new story. It is like a collective memory flood. (Emir Aksoy)

Rubio – “Nudo” (Chile)

Rubio is a fascinating solo project of Fran Straube, but for this song she collaborated with Canadian artist Frannie Holder.

The video for her song “Nudo”, which also appears on Rubio’s latest album “Mango Negro“, was directed by Diego Viveros.

It is a poetic tale of metamorphosis, about how a person unravels her or his obstacles to free emotions without fear of change. (Marcelo Millavil M.)

5K HD – “Happy Fxxxing Life” (Austria)

“Happy Fxxxing Life” is the most pop song from the avantgarde jazz-indie-fusion band 5K HD from Vienna. It shows the contrast of the simple life and the happiness we can have by hanging out and enjoying the little things in life and depressing feeling of being lost and having no tasks in life.

Many people had these controversial feelings during the pandemic. But 5K HD are reminding us with this positive ’80-influenced disco-dance song, that feeling happy is often choice and mindset.

And it can be strengthened by such wonderful pop songs like “Happy Fxxing Life” from 5K HD. (Andreas Gstettner-Brugger, Radio FM4)

Muzzy Mum – “115 Jinsui Avenue” (China)

“115 Jinsui Avenue” (金穗大道115號) is a single from the debut album of Xinxiang post punk band Muzzu Mum (麻茲媽), called “I Hate Cold Winter, New Year and Red Light Runner“.

Razor sharp guitars and roaming bass melodies soundtrack the stories, dreams, and regrets as told through the point of view of an agitated yet unflappable teenage student.

The music video, directed by Ma Ao 马骜, was shot in the streets of the Henan city with help from the band’s family and also evokes China/Avant-Garde Exhibition – one of the most significant exhibitions in the history of Chinese contemporary art held in Beijing in 1989. (William Griffith)

Vaya Futuro – “El Abuelo” (Mexico)

Directed by Mexican director and actor Sergio Valdez, the video of “El Abuelo” is born through the memories of a grandfather and his teachings to his grandson, to reflect the intrinsic relationship of the human being with nature and draw the parallels that exist between modern life.

It’s full of chaos and destruction, and life in nature, where everything flows with harmony and without any kind of intervention. (Luis Felipe Maceda, Clímax MX)

Zinger ft. West Corner Brass Band – “Out of Time” (Belgium)

Some describe the happenings of 2020 as just another proof that man cannot keep on manipulating the earth without getting punished, which might very well be true.

At the end of the year, Belgian band Zinger released this very creative video to sum up quite a few things that have been going wrong recently, using the fake news technique to create a better world, at least in the mind of children who try to think in a positive way.

The central idea of this gem was born way before the pandemic started. It took Zinger and stop motion artist Zeno De Ridder two years to complete this story in which kids from different continents hack newspapers just with some pencils, glue and a pair of scissors.

The song is melancholic and hopeful at the same time. The video is both shocking and disarming. Fake news now, good news in a near future? Love is in the air, at least in this clip. (Brett Summers)

MRFY + Matter – “Zonzei” (Slovenia)

The MRFY and Matter collab fulfills any sort of expectations one might have for a teamup of two super popular scene “boybands”. The proper summer banger fuses dynamic rock catchiness with laid back, tongue-in-cheek trap. But let’s be honest: the video is also something else.

Both bands are no strangers to dressing up in ridiculous outfits for well-crafted clips. In Zonzei, their encounter pretends to be a picture perfect sailing vacation with the boys – but despite the wide-eyed shenanigans, something seems off. The seaside dream, bathed in hazy golden hour light, is permanently on the verge of morphing into an unsettling vision. What’s going on?

Maybe we should ask Stanovanje 38, the team who created the clip together with the “media production vessel” Gliser – and arranged it all, from the costumes to the visual effects. The young creative community operates within a blooming Slovenian media scene and has previously been involved in stylish videos for artists such as zalagasper and Futurski. Sail on! (Matej Holc)

Renata Flores – “Chanan Cori Coca (Imperio)” (Peru)

Renata Flores, an Ayacucho-born artist representing alternative R&B with Andean influences, released an epic music video for her last song “Chañan Cori Coca” inspired by the life of a female warrior that helped the Inca Emperor Pachacútec defend the territory of Cusco against the imminent invasion of the Chankas.

The video was produced by Asociaciòn Cultural Surca with the support of the Beatmakers, and it was recorded in the Inca archaeological complex of Vilcashuamán and in the stone forest of Huaraca, both located in Ayacucho. (José Luis Mercado)

Joya Mooi – “Bitter Parts” (Netherlands)

Amsterdam artist Joya Mooi has been putting out music for quite some years now, but her intriguing 2020 EP “Blossom Carefully” caught quite some attention both nationally and internationally.

For the captivating lead single Bitter Parts she worked together with producer Sim Fane (who you might know as producer of another beehype favourite S10).

The talented Michael Middelkoop directed the accompanying music video, full of mirrors reflecting Joya Mooi. Middelkop told Clash Music Magazine that the mirrors make it possible to truly see the uprising singer in all her facets – beautiful and sometimes bitter. (Jort Mokum)

Sid Hart – “Pollux” (Norway)

2020 became the year of Black Lives Matter. The anti-racist movement was massive and global, also reaching Norway, resulting in huge protests. Visonary artist Sid Hart responded with what is, in this writer’s opinion, the greatest music video to come out of Norway in 2020.

Sid Hart’s “Pollux” challenges common conceptions of what it means to be Norwegian. The concept for the video was created by the artist himself and shot and directed by fashion photographer Ignat Wiig.

The video reflects how Norway, especially Oslo, has become a melting pot for different cultures. The video was a result of a collaborative effort by a cast of 30 individuals. As mentioned in the video description, all participant were invited to express their identity and culture with complete freedom.

“Pollux” stands out as an highly artistic, eye opening and professional production. The song was written and produced by Sid Hart in collaboration with Alejandro Vega. It served as a single for Sid Hart’s debut album “Soul Design”, that dropped late 2020.

Sid Hart’s artistry and presence might remind you of the late Prince: Fearless, androgynous, and with a strong sense of aesthetic awereness. It’s all there, and still, Sid Hart is unique in his craft. (Edvard Granum Dillner)

Summer Dress – “Over Willing” (Thailand)

“Over Willing” is a fantastic opening track of the latest album from alternative Thai band Summer Dress. The LP deserved a top spot in our Best of 2020, while “Over Willing” itself ended up in beehype’s year-end playlist.

Summer Dress have managed to further boost the song by adding this great video where human shapes, lights and shades work together for a truly hypnotizing (and sometimes unsetting) effect. (Worranat Kongchankit)

Hanna Järver – Min Bästa Vän” (Sweden)

This video “Min Bästa Vän” is the first out of three with the same theme and we suggest you to watch them all on her YouTube channel.

Hanna Järver herself stands for directing and acting togheter with Simon Fored. Hannah Nyström filmed it and we love the intense feeling of love and darkness.

Something dangerous but yet beautiful. (Fabian Forslund)

Dialog Dini Hari – “Garis Depan” (Indonesia)

2020 was full of pandemic-inspired, or more properly pandemic-conditioned videos and you can see some of them earlier in this list as well as below. But for many people the most symbolic picture of the covid year was that of empty cities.

Back in May, acclaimed Indonesian group Dialog Dini Hari released a video called “Garis Depan” (“Front Line”) full of such drone shots. It’s not about empty cities though, but about medics full of dedication to save lives of others.

“Serve others, serve out of love, and bring life back to normal.”

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