Bulk of recognition goes to artists for making music that is beautiful as well as it is melodious; a lot of times, we revere these artists and fail to understand that in the totality of packaging, there are people involved in the successful rollout of music— these people majorly includes more than half the time, producers and music video directors.
It should be perceived that when it comes to music producers, without them, the beautiful beat that captures our artists vocals and infuse their lyrics into it would not be possible. They should be seen with so much respect and accorded same recognition as much as the artist behind the smashing music would be given.
A lot of times, artists are unable to create masterpiece if not for producers who already laid out the ground work of a song, only for them to flow with it. How do you think Wizkid’s Samba was created? First it started with a play out in the studio with Sarz the producer, and Wizkid feeling out the rhythm before finally creating magic through his freestyle talent.
This, and many more are indications of how producers are very much involved in the success take of an artist’s music.
It brings us now to conclude on one of the most underrated contributors to an artist’s music— music video directors. There is so much capturing a music video can do in the mind of an individual with just its visuals; many times, songs that we fall in love with are often first heard as a music video, the visuals as alluring as the song’s actual melody.
My first time discovering Olakira’s Maserati was through its constant appearance as a Bonus video on MTV Base— it’s not just in the continuous pop up of the music video on the tv screen that compelled me to enjoy the artist’s single, but the capturing of luxurious details which conveys the message in the song’s lyrics.
Music videos mostly should capture the tale of a song, and as much creativity is done by an artist to deliver the perfect lyrics and flow, same is done by music video directors whose creativity is always on the move.
I think one of the most beautiful things lovers of music look out for, is the excellence of the visuals of their favourite songs, the anticipation for a visual to their favourite jam and their criticism of the music video. It becomes a safe conclusion that music video directors take on intricate tasks with the intentionality of their production syncing with an artist’s song.
Nigeria as a country is blessed with talented music video directors and recently, their works are appreciated better and recognition of these individuals is on a rising wave; with the likes of Clarence Peter, TG Omori, Meji Alabi, Perklinks, Director Pink, Director K, amongst others, the competition of who stays the best is a most unnecessary conversation to hold.
Every of these music video directors are in their own ways, amazing. The brilliant works they have done with artists in Nigeria and telling pictorial stories in collaboration with song lyrics are a smooth description of creativity, talent and excellence.
These music video directors are what we might not know are indeed great contributors to the music scene. Long before now, these people though with lesser recognition have helped the spread of a song’s popularity across the country, with the
When a song is released and few weeks after, a follow up music video is dropped, there is a rejuvenating energy that follows with the fact that a visual has accompanied the track. See the excitement when Wizkid dropped Money & Love, months after he dropped the track, how his album began trending again and the conversation of the video started, leading to what I define as a mini battle of directors.
Music videos are generally a large part of helpful methods of music consumption, putting in twice as much energy in music making in creating a visual, you’re helping to draw attention to your artistry, in one way or the other.
There are thousand artists who have soared on to apex in the music industry not by their sheer unhidden talent but by their music videos where attentions are drawn and we explore more of their music, discovering gold with their sound.
It’s no brainer that a badly produced video can suck out the longevity of a song — where there is somewhat no correlation between an artist’s music visual and the actual song, where the audience can tell the music video was put together for ‘putting’ sake and no intentionality is behind the video, it can dampen the excitement to linger on an artist’s video, thus toning down the energy to consume the artist’s music. It happens, in thousand ways than one.
Throwing it back a little, we can recount how it was so exciting watching music videos that played on air, from the likes of Psquare’s hit singles to 2face’s wide discography— the influence of Western music infused in Psquare’s visuals a lot of times, as seen in their hit song, Do Me.
Let’s also remember the Mo Hits period; where truthfully, one can assume that their music was better enjoyed then listening as a viewer of the music video, drowning in the tale of the video and understanding all at once, the intended message in the song lyric.
With the fast relevance of video channels such as YouTube, MTV Base, Soundcity, Trace, Hip TV, amongst others, music videos are spreading tentatively, talents are discovered through this medium and the visual efforts of music directors are now more than ever, better appreciated.
Music videos when done right, are of merit to history, given the fact that they give a later nostalgic feeling in future, stamping artists’ earlier efforts in the music scene— 2 Face’s African Queen is not regarded as one of those classic throwback songs because of its undiluted beautiful melody but because of the larger work done by the music video, which is indeed timeless.
Artists have waded off through the years and some of them still crop up into conversations with their solid music videos right from time; X-Project Lori Le which rings a very nostalgic bell and reminds you of 2008 and the many club hit songs that came with the year.
Music videos in totality are a great part of the music culture, it’s a timeless stamp that brings memories as one advances into the future time and this is only made possible by the brilliancy of video directors who with visual mood boards, create the perfect visual for a perfect song.
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