November gets a bad rap. And yes—seasonally speaking, it's a real piece of shit. Summer's long gone, the sleet starts to set in, holiday anxieties are ratcheted up with the approach of Thanksgiving and Christmas, and your body starts to disintegrate like the soggy pile of Kleenex that's been collecting around your trash can.
But musically speaking, it's when things kick into high gear. Artists are making a final push for year-end lists, and the art gets elevated as a result. Which brings us to this month's best music videos. From Anderson .Paak's emergence as a multi-character actor to Travis Scott's surprisingly emotive Godzilla narrative in "90210," November was a fertile time for great music videos. Here are 10 of the best.
10. Mura Masa ft. A$AP Rocky - "Lovesick (Remix)"
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Director: Yoni Lappin
Hearing ASAP Rocky hop on this 2015 Mura Masa track was certainly a surprise, but it was an altogether pleasant one. New York's gold-toothed prince added a couple of smooth, contemplative verses to the English producer's tidy synths, and they dropped a similarly pristine video this month. We follow a bevy of youths as they mess around on bikes and in abandoned buildings. There's a definite Kids vibe here, and we're down.
9. Anderson .Paak - "Come Down"
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Director: CALMATIC
Someone put this man in movies. Anderson .Paak goes full Klump in the video for "Come Down," playing multiple characters (a gambler, a drunk, a frontman) with aplomb. .Paak knows how to have a good time, and he makes sure everyone else does in this highly-stylized CALMATIC video. "We wanted to bring the iconic artwork of Ernie Barnes' Sugar Shack and Marvin Gaye’s cover for I Want You to life," .Paak told Complex. "Sweaty-black-funk-sexy-good-time."
8. Lance Skiiiwalker ft. ScHoolboy Q - "Toaster"
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Directors: Dave Free of the little homies & Dupree McCall
TDE music videos don't often dabble in animation, but with a voice as fresh and strange as Lance Skiiiwalker's, it seems only right they're trying new things. The best part of this video is obviously ScHoolboy Q as a baby, but the whole thing has such a weird, wonderful vibe it's hard to resist. And just so I can confirm if I'm going crazy—is Lance's wife made of weed in this video? Please confirm.
7. Travis Scott - "90210"
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Director: Hype Williams
When it first dropped, Travis Scott's action figure struck us a smart marketing ploy, but we didn't imagine it starring in any music videos. The legendary Hype Williams has changed that, creating a plastic world for the plastic Scott to inhabit. The artist starts as a sympathetic, somewhat melancholy character. But he quickly turns, and ends up playing the part of a Godzilla-type monster, smashing buildings and searching out victims. It's creative on every level, and another jewel in Hype's crown.
6. Kid Cudi - "Surfin"
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Director: Scott Mescudi
This visual was allegedly filmed at the same time as Cudi's "Frequency" video, but the two vibes couldn't be more different. While "Frequency" dwelled on the moody, sexy dancers and Cudi's extra-terrestrial leanings, "Surfin" is all about fun. Cudi brought out some famous friends to dance (ASAP Rocky, Jaden and Willow Smith, Hit-Boy), and dance they do. It's good to see Cudi smiling.
5. Sevdaliza - "Human"
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Director: Emmanuel Adjei
We know what you're thinking—"Okay, P&P, WE GET IT. Sevdaliza makes incredible videos, she's at the forefront of visual innovation in music, she has the ability to make luxury look simultaneously intoxicating and grotesque, she's an incredible dancer, and has outdone herself once again with this one. WE GET IT."
All we can say in response is, you make some good points. "Human" is off Sevdaliza's debut album, due out in 2017.
4. ScHoolboy Q - "Dope Dealer"
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Director: Ryan Staake
After ScHoolboy Q dropped the video for "JoHn Muir," the world knew it was time to take him seriously as a force in the music video world. "Dope Dealer" is even better. Q is back to playing with perspectives, and this time we're seeing the world through the eyes of a weed seed. We're planted, we grow, we're clipped, harvested, dried, trimmed, packaged, sold, stolen, sold again, and eventually rolled up at Q's studio. If this all sounds confusing, just watch the video. This is masterful storytelling.
3. Lil Yachty - "Minnesota"
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Director: RJ Sanchez and Brendan Vaughan
Zambonis. The Sailing Team. Quavo. An ice sculpture of Lil Yachty's head. The video for "Minnesota" has everything a fan of Lil Boat would want, and while he doesn't replicate the virality of the "1Night" video, it's an appropriate level up—Yachty can afford a bigger video budget now, and he uses it to get cold like Minnesota. Even Coach K shows up to the rink to pay his respects. This is an icy celebration in every sense of the word, and Yachty's still winning.
2. The xx - "On Hold"
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Director: Alasdair McLellan
The xx recorded a good chunk of their new album in Marfa, Texas. They had a good time—so much so that they decided to film the album's first video there.
"On Hold" represents a sonic shift for The xx, so it makes sense that the corresponding video represents a visual shift. Gone are the shadows and abstraction that defined their early work. They've been replaced by sunshine, smiles, and shopping carts. "We have a lot of love and respect for the people of the USA, having played hundreds of shows across the country over the past years," " the band said in the video's description. "We hope this video reflects just some of the warmth and acceptance we have encountered there."
1. PUP - "Sleep In The Heat"
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Director: Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux
This month's best music video doesn't have much in the way of animation or CGI. It's a straightforward story of a boy and his dog. The boy (played by Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard) is a recurring character in PUP's video, a punk guitarist who finds a sense of purpose in a four-legged friend. But over the course of "Sleep In The Heat," love gives way to inevitability, and cuteness gives way to despair and grief.
“‘Sleep In The Heat’ is a song about my chameleon Norman, who passed away while we were writing this record," the band's Stefan Babcock said. "Jeremy was the one who thought we should make a video for this song. He has this really weird one-eyed grumpy cat that he loves a lot, and I guess the song got him thinking about what it’s going to be like when she’s gone. Losing a friend is something so many of us have had to deal with, which is why I think this video is so powerful.” Watch the video above, and cue the waterworks.
