Remember when songs based on movies would be released along with it and we’d get beautiful crossover videos that rarely made any sense? For example, we will always have Dashboard Confessional’s “Vindicated” from the movie Spider-Man 2. But, in recent years, we’ve strayed away from the music video component of this trend and stuck with songs “inspired by” and even that is dwindling.
Recently, I was reminded of all the music videos from movies past that I fell in love with and have been lost in my own proverbial rabbit hole ever since. The idea came from watching the video for Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Rey’s song for the new Charlie’s Angels, which Kaila lamented here. The video is a hot mess and so is the song but it does remind me of the late ’90s/early 2000s and how much we loved a good music video that was loosely based on the movie it was a part of.
So I started to think of my own favorite videos, which are uniquely me and I’m perfectly okay from that. When something hits you emotionally, you just have to accept it.
The music video for Ed Sheeran’s “Happier” is, apparently, tied to the movie Before We Go starring Chris Evans and Alice Eve. Maybe that’s why I don’t particularly think the video fits with what the song is saying but then again, he has musician Chris Evans being sad at Grand Central so I have to love it.
And then, there is Carly Simon. An ode to the “working girl” (get it? Because it’s from the movie Working Girl?), the video features some of the cast from the movie and has Carly Simon singing her song from Working Girl while on the Staten Island Ferry as if she was Melanie Griffith in the movie.
But then again, Melanie Griffith is also in this music video so it goes back and forth from Carly Simon on the Ferry to scenes from Working Girl. I’m completely obsessed with everything that went into making this movie/music video collaboration.
Then there is a completely different subset of music videos that we could talk about. There are also videos where the musician was just inspired by a movie and used it in their videos without having any connection to the film itself. Case in point: “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers. It had nothing to do with Moulin Rouge, and yet used the plot for fun and I have to respect that move.
Do you have a favorite movie-related music video? Let us know what music video you like best! (Honestly, hopefully this brings this trend back in full force. Let the 90s reign supreme!)
(image: screengrab)
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