2. Lotus Plaza - Black Buzz

Lotus Plaza, Lockett Pundt's one-man project released it's second album Spooky Action at a Distance in April of this year, and along with it came a video for the album's closing track "Black Buzz". 

The video stars Allie Teilz, portraying a distant character "piloted by drug abuse, self-destruction, wild nights, and the party scene" (taken from Allie Teilz's blog). The video starts with a scene of a seemingly distressed young woman, and takes her through a journey of transformation, during which she strips away from illusions, to reveal only for a moment, a raw truth. 

The bright lighting of the video in contrast with Teilz's gloomy and vacant expressions create a nostalgic mood, forcing the viewer to feel an overwhelming longing for something nonexistent, and intangible. The video features varying scenes of the heroine, including sitting inside an apartment, driving in a car, running across a beach, and swimming in water. The scenes are unified by the girl's dreamy and absent aura. 

Towards the end of the video, the illusion of joy and freedom comes with Teilz smiling as she elegantly glides through cloudy waters, escaping the confines of her lifestyle. However, in the closing scene, we see her again faced with the reality of a dusty and damaged life. 

The atmosphere of the video is parallel to the moody lyrics and scratchy vocals of the song. The lyrics dwell into the mind our heroine, distincting her distorted ideas from her realities. 

1. Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness

2012 has been a truly exciting year in the alternative music scene, and in celebration of it coming to a close, over the next few weeks I will be discussing 4 of the best music videos of the year.

Between the anticipated release of her album Born to Die and Born to Die Paradise Edition EP, endorsement deals with H&M and Jaguar, and release of multiple music videos, 2012 has been the year of Lana Del Rey.

In July, she released a music video for the song "Summertime Sadness", starring Jaime King in the role of Del Rey's lesbian lover, who is battling with depression. The fuzzy quality video follows snip-bits of the two's relationship, as well a features multiple solo scenes of both Del Rey and King. Although the content of the video is generally literal in its connection with the song, the dark and hazy lighting as well as the beautiful scenery featured make this video one of the best of the year. Del Rey's mesmerizing glance and mysterious personality are especially well captured in the video, showing her delicately moving though fog, as well as against various gates. The presence of many different gates and fences within the video, both natural and man-made are a clear allusion to the song's message.

The powerful yet simple lyrics of the song accompany Del Rey's soulful, deep voice against a smooth mix of orchestra and pop music. The beauty of the lyrics lies in the way that they are malleable to the audience. The abstract, generalized ideas discussed in the song allow for multiple theories and interpretations on what the words suggest.

Personally, I connect to the literal understanding of "summertime sadness", that being, sadness one has during the summer, when they have time to reflect, analyze, and understand themselves, their ideas, and things around them. This time of reflection often brings nostalgia along with melancholy, and can be termed as "summertime sadness".