Nicki Minaj comes out of the woodwork swinging at Cardi B from her new Barbie house digs, Nashville’s Erin Rae Sunday-morning strolls endlessly across a window pane on a self-reflection mission, a Pro Era collective offshoot get 8-bit on ‘pull up’ car braggadocio, more, in week 15 of the year’s Best Lyric Vids.
Nicki Minaj – ‘Barbie Tingz‘
Part of a trio of new solo singles for 2018, the Trinidad-born spitfire comes out roaring into the Spring, effectively shutting down any hype still left over from Azealia Banks‘ ‘Anna Wintour‘ last week. Backed by a classic Run-DMC-era breakbeat, Minaj essentially launches a three-minute assault on Cardi B, the two apparently still fussin’ and feudin’ over rich people problems. Of course it’s thoroughly entertaining, as well, especially within the universe of this odd animated Barbie house speckled with artwork from Minaj’s upcoming album:
Matt & Kim – ‘Glad I Tried‘
Recruiting the help of Santigold, Kevin Ray (Walk the Moon) and Travis Hawley (Night Riots), indie-pop’s most smiling-est party starters do what they do best and mainline the adrenaline of a room full of crowd-surfing fans in the spirit of having no regrets. Confetti, smoke machines, and balloons ensue. It’s like a Snapchat ad that never was:
Fizzy Blood – ‘Pink Magic‘
Brit-rawk imports opt for the karaoke theme with a little VHS tape warble for good nostalgia measure on a watered-down Muse of a song about the dark side of the human condition. It’s been done a dozen times over in Best Lyric Vids, but cast in pink pastels and shimmering ocean-sunset-scapes there’s a purity to it that clicks in all the right places:
Erin Rae – ‘Putting on Airs‘
Nashville’s Erin Rae churns out that lap-steel rose-colored country fit for those Sunday morning self-nurture sessions, the lettings-go of the worries type of soft-glow jams. Cut up with all that new-Southern charm. Reconciling with past versions of herself, a brilliant endless scroll of a cutout version of herself pans across a window while a handwritten narrative splays out like hours on a cafe:
Powers Pleasant – ‘Pull Up‘ feat. Joey Bada$$ & A$AP Ferg
A Pro Era hip-hop collective off-shoot joint helmed by Powers with a little help from A$AP Ferg, the trio go to swaggering lengths in a time-honered tradition to assert their dominance of the road, particularly upon the sighting of other cars pulling up next to them with inferior swag. This Rad Racer 8-bit meets outdoor movie theatre lyric video treatment, though, is what puts the sentiment over the top:
