Which Music Videos Were Australia’s Favorites of 2021?
- Written by Whats On Australia
A good music video can enhance an already-excellent song by showcasing the artist’s vision of what the song is meant to represent. Some videos are fantasy-inspired visions brought to life while others are clever, pop culture reference-infused depictions of the music.
Australians have become avid fans of good music paired with accompanying visuals. In the same way that 2021 saw Australians embrace the Ripper Casino, Australians embraced many of the new music videos that were released with the country’s favorites translating into millions of dollars for the artists.
Aussie music video favorites of 2021 include:
"We're Good" by Dua Lipa
English singer Dua Lipa wrote We’re Good together with Sly, Scott Harris and Emily Warren who took care of the video’s production. The song recalls the days of the bossa nova with a midtempo tropical-pop vibe and elements of trap and reggae rock. The lyrics are about the singer fantasizing about breaking up amicably with a former boyfriend.
The song was awarded gold certifications in Australia along with the US, Italy and New Zealand and a silver certification in the UK. In the video, which is set on the Titanic and filmed from the point of view of a lobster (!), Lipa performs in the ship’s restaurant while the lobster watches his friends being dropped in the pot for passengers’ dinner. The fashion comes straight from The Great Gatsby as well as the video’s aura of surreality.
Lipa updates the imagery, singing:
We're not meant to be like sleeping and cocaine
So let's at least agree to go our separate ways
Not gonna judge you when you're with somebody else
As long as you swear you won't be pissed when I do it myself
Let's end it like we should and say we're good
"Good 4 U" by Olivia Rodrigo
Good 4 U was written by Rodrigo along with Dan Nigro, Josh Farro and Hayley Williams who also produced the video. The song blends rock, pop, grunge, emo and punk and includes some alternative styles. There’s drumming, electric guitars and a staccato bassline which accompanies the song’s storyline of a former lover who found a new partner quickly after a break-up.
The style is reminiscent of the 1990s and 2000s and the video portrays Rodrigo as a cheerleader who is exacting revenge on her former lover with visual reminders of cult film classics such as he song received acclaim from music critics, who praised the instrumentation reminiscent of the 1990s-2000s and Rodrigo's crisp songwriting. The accompanying music video features Rodrigo as a cheerleader exacting revenge, visually alluding to the 1990s films such as Audition, Jennifer’s Body and Princess Diaries.
In addition to reaching the number one spot in Australia it was similarly well received in Canada, the UK, Portugal, Switzerland and New Zealand.
Listeners found that they could relate to the lyrics:
Well, good for you, I guess you're getting everything you want (ah)
You bought a new car and your career's really taking off (ah)
It's like we never even happened
Baby, what the fuck is up with that? (Ha)
And good for you, it's like you never even met me
Remember when you swore to God I was the only
Person who ever got you?
Well, screw that and screw you
You will never have to hurt the way you know that I do
"(Call Me By Your Name)" Lil Nas X
You either love Lil Nas X or you don’t and this year, Australians did love him for his new Montero music video where he moves through fantasy worlds as a prisoner, an alien and even a fallen angel who gives Satan a lap dance.
Lil Nas X wrote Montero along with producers Roy Lenzo, Take a Daytrip and Omer Fedi. Many fans enjoyed the queer themes whose campy, sexually charged scenes and lyrics mesh with biblically-inspired scenes (Satan lap dance scene). /Both the song and the album topped the charts in multiple countries including in the UK, France, Canada and Australia.
Lil Nas X reaches out to his listeners, calling:
Call me when you want, call me when you need
Call me in the morning, I'll be on the way
Call me when you want, call me when you need
Call me out by your name, I'll be on the way like
"Stay" by Justin Bieber and The Kid Laroi
Stay by Justin Bieber and The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber lays with gravity, time and rollercoaster-like shots that make you want to leap in and join them. Australians particularly like the upbeat song because, of course, The Kid took his Down Under talents to team up with Bieber on this lead single from Laroi’s reloaded mixtape Fck Love 3: Over You.
Stay peaked at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 in, in addition to Australia, Germany, India, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea and Sweden. It is Laroi’s first chart-topper (Bieber’s eighth) and the second collaboration between Laroi and Bieber who seem to have stumbled onto a good thing.
The video depicts Laroi and Bieber dancing in a city where time has stopped and everyone stands still and the singers plead with their love interests to “stay.”
I do the same thing I told you that I never would
I told you I'd change, even when I knew I never could
Know that I can't find nobody else as good as you
I need you to stay, need you to stay, hey
I do the same thing I told you that I never would
I told you I'd change even when I knew I never could
Know that I can't find nobody else as good as you
I need you to stay, need you to stay, hey
