Something about music media feels different lately. On Sept. 15, Drake put out an hour-long short film, ((FOMO)) — essentially an extended compilation of music videos for his recent releases. This past April, Olivia Rodrigo became the first artist ever to film a music video inside the Palace of Versailles. Troye Sivan’s recent single, an aspiring club hit titled “Party”, was released with an accompanying video portraying a historically accurate depiction of “parties” in the Medieval period, complete with a disgustingly beautiful palette reminiscent of the works of Emerald Fennell.
Are these artists merely embracing the joys of costume and fantasy, the play-pretend escapism we all ache for? Or is this output somehow representative of consumer demand, an audience pining for the kind of self-indulgent maximalism pumped out of an MTV-branded assembly line in the 90s and early 2000s?
Whatever the cause may be, it appears the music video is making an epic comeback. But where has all this come from? And why should we lean into it?
Y2K AND 2020s MAXIMALISM
It should be no surprise to you trend-defying fashionistas that the garb of the masses has been infected with an indie Y2K virus. Just look at the Hollister catalogue! Fur hooded jackets, low-rise jeans and three-quarter-length sleeves — it’s like we’re in Forks, Washington.
But what does that have to do with music?
Well, if we’re truly moving away from 2010s minimalism, that stark period where we all seemed effectively allergic to colour, wouldn’t our lust for things extend its reach into all corners of culture? The creative leaps artists have made with their visual media seem to affirm this hypothesis! Take Troye Sivan for example:
In an October 2026 interview with NPR Music promoting his new album, ((She’s The Best)), Sivan talks about the defining artistic choices of his recent music videos.
“The general conversation was like, the music video is dead. That was something I was hearing a lot, and I didn’t want to accept it,” said Sivan.
Like Drake and Rodrigo, Sivan went full throttle, calling in Ian McKellen (Gandalf himself) and Hollywood icon Nicole Kidman (also the titular actress of popstar Adela’s hit single,”Nicole Kidman”) to cameo in videos for his two new singles.
But what exactly has prompted this shift? Can we make any corresponding observations about the state of the culture at large?
RECESSION INDICATOR?
“Recession pop” was a music trend that came into popularity after the financial crisis of 2008. People became hungry for escapism; dance music thrived. Think prime David Guetta, Lady Gaga, Pitbull. Starting to sound like a tune you’ve heard recently?
While we may be nowhere near the level of economic recession experienced in 2008, I think it’s safe to say that national relations with our formerly strongest ally have led to a distinct period of cultural and economic unrest. This gets even juicier when we consider the fact that Canadian top charts closely parallel those of our southern neighbors… after all, we don’t quite have the same meccas here that they do in terms of production and publicity.
If top artists are creating beautiful, high budget long-form content, clearly there is a hunger — and one that I’d argue is just what the doctor ordered.
The Attention Span Crisis
Why is this shift so important to us “digital natives?”
Because of our increasingly shortened attention spans, the ways in which music is discovered and thrust into popularity has radically changed throughout the age of social media. In my mind, there are pros and cons to this transformation: an obvious con being that a song really only needs one delicious soundbite to make it big online. I still remember being distinctly disappointed when I heard the actual chorus of Slayyyter’s “brand new chanel$” for the first time.
Despite these glaring artistic sacrifices, social media can also put older gems back in the running for the top charts.
The common thread here is that music, new or old, really only gets a few seconds to wow us. What artists do with that limited airtime, therefore, becomes massively important in terms of their sustained success.
But what we’ve seen recently from the likes of Drake, Olivia Rodrigo, Troye Sivan and other mainstream artists across genres, suggests they are fighting back against the Gen Z attention- span crisis.
And if sitting down to watch a five minute music video instead of mindlessly scrolling through soundbites is improving the health of our brains (or our taste in music) even marginally, I am all for it.
While you’re at it, you may as well cozy up to the classic masterpiece: MJ’s 1982 “Thriller.” ‘Tis the season, after all.
