In our minds, the music industry was simply colluding to make the beginning of the week more tolerable by unveiling a slew of new music videos to give us all the feels. In actuality, it was a gesture by way of the YouTube Music Awards, who instead of hosting a traditional show, debuted 13 new music videos simultaneously.
Artists including FKA Twigs, Charli XCX, Florence + The Machine, Ed Sheeran, and Hozier have blessed our eyes and ears with their latest offerings and no matter how many flagged e-mails you have sitting in your inbox, you must pause for some divine musical therapy from our five favorites.
1. Glass & Patron by FKA Twigs
We hope you've had your morning coffee, because the avant R&B goddess is serving up serious psychedelics in her self-directed video. "Glass & Patron," co-produced by Boots and featured in the Google Glass ad, soundtracks Twigs quite literally giving birth to her dancers, then hosting a vogue battle of epic proportions—during which the singer shows off her professional dance skills.
2. Famous by Charli XCX
The video, directed by Eric Wareheim of Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, underlines that the internet is a dark place by showing a young Charli watching herself on a smartphone. All's good and well until it starts to run out of battery (our secondhand panic is real). She tries to the plug the phone into the belly of a large man, but sadly dies a terrible digital-age death with emojis bleeding out of her heart. As one does, you know?
3. St. Jude by Florence + The Machine
The song, "St.Jude," is from the forthcoming How Big How Blue How Beautiful and is a sequel to the narrative of her first video release for the film. "It's obviously about relationships, but it's also about Florence traveling through our version of the Divine Comedy," Haycock said in a press release. It's dark, cold, and decidedly beautiful.
4. Work Song by Hozier
The Irish singer-songwriter has done it again and by that we mean brought one of his stunning songs to life with dance. The video, set ever-so-fittingly in a church, finds Hozier performing the heart-pounding number amidst a dance floor full of couples performing their own interpretive dance.
5. Bloodstream by Ed Sheeran
As his video "Thinking Out Loud," proved, it's awesome when Sheeran stars in his own music video. However, we're kind of freaking out over the fact that he tapped Goodfellas star Ray Liotta to star as a washed-up, hair-metal singer from the fictional band Black Glove. It's just the latest reminder that sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll aren't *everything* they're cracked up to be.
You should also check out:
The 30 Best Songs We Heard at SXSW
MC Playlist: The 20 Artists You Should Know This Year
The 10 Coolest Songs We Heard on the NYFW Runways
