Animated: With animation, music videos are a feast for the senses
As school starts up again, I have to remind everyone not to forget the best part of summer: the bops. I love summer songs as much as the next person. In fact, for the most part, music is how I define summer.
The summer after my freshman year of high school, I listened to Twenty One Pilots’ “Ride” and Drake’s “One Dance” (featuring WizKid and Kyla) on repeat while attending an exchange program in France. To this day, my memories of the Paris airport are inextricably tied to those two songs. Summer 2017 meant having pop hit “Back to You” from Louis Tomlinson (featuring Bebe Rexha and Digital Farm Animals) on repeat in the dorm room of my summer program.
This summer, I listened to a lot of Dua Lipa — more specifically, “Levitating,” the “Cold Heart” PNAU remix with Elton John and the comparatively underrated “Hallucinate.” By virtue of being on repeat almost all the time, Dua Lipa became my pop queen of the summer. Following my tendency to fall into the deep dark YouTube hole after discovering something that I even remotely like, I ended up on a Dua Lipa music video marathon.
After watching way more Dua Lipa videos than I should have, I discovered that there was one element that really exemplified her role as a musical “artist”: the use of animation to vivify her music and tell a story.
Just look at the official video for Dua Lipa’s “Physical” (arguably my favorite Dua song, but who’s asking?). Interspersed throughout the live-action footage of Dua Lipa dancing are various animation images reminiscent of old cartoons, such as an animated version of Dua Lipa playing around with superpowers to a pulsing animated heart.
“Hallucinate” is another one of these music videos where animation fits perfectly into the meaning of the music. Since the lyrics of the song are about diving headfirst into a fantasy, Dua uses animation as a medium to convey a message about the “hallucinations” of a romantic relationship.
The fully animated video follows a version of Dua Lipa journeying through various bizarre landscapes, literally driving the point home of “Hallucinate,” with the video feeling like a hallucination itself. Doors open one after another and the Dua Lipa cartoon multiplies. Backup dancers with stars for heads swirl around the dancing Dua Lipa. Dancing eggplants and grooving unicorn cartoons also make their appearance. The whole video just feels like an incredibly out-of-body experience, and it’s a thrilling adventure.
The “Levitating” animated video features Dua Lipa paying homage to her inspiration: Sailor Moon. From the art style to the galactic content, “Levitating” is Dua Lipa’s take on the iconic anime, one that’s specific to the lyrics of her music. In this case, the pop star is given the qualities of a superhero, as if the video is reminding us that pop music has its own magic. Similar to that of “Hallucinate,” Dua Lipa and Elton John’s “Cold Heart” music video is also an eclectic mix of visuals, with animated versions of the singers coupled with stop-motion dancers and solar system imagery.
While Dua Lipa’s use of animation in her music has been my go-to for the summer, she’s not the only star that’s demonstrated her appreciation for the art form. Billie Eilish’s live concert experience, “Happier than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles,” is a concert film that combines both animated sequences with live on-stage performances.
True to the title of the film being a “love letter to L.A.,” an animated version of Billie Eilish explores the city in between each performance. This integration of an animated character is an awe-inspiring way of looking at the city through the lens of its romanticization.
In the film’s trailer, Eilish states that she definitely has “fantasies about L.A.,” explaining how the film is more than a concert film, but a narrative about the “idealized version” of herself.” With animation to depict this “idealized” self, Eilish successfully crafts a story that goes along with her music. Animation is really about creating an alternative version of reality, and the “Happier than Ever” film shows that with its animated elements.
To see the real Billie meet the animated Billie at the end of the concert feels like a merging of two worlds. It’s a beautifully humane way of reckoning with the fantasies of L.A. while simultaneously dealing with the depth of Eilish’s own experiences growing up in the city. Once again, animation is able to effectively illustrate the divisions of the self, as well as their ultimate reconciliation.
Animation is a powerful tool for storytelling, and it’s obvious that musical artists are responding to that by integrating animation into their music videos. The more that artists in all disciplines start noticing animation as a way of telling their stories, the more that animation can truly take us out of this world.
Valerie Wu is a senior writing about animation and digital arts from a contemporary perspective.