By the Zonagirante.com team @spinning zone
Cover art by Zonagirante Studio
Let's be serious: Anyone can try making a music video. These days, any band or artist grabs their phone and jumps into creating something with their songs. In 99.91% of cases, failure is practically guaranteed. That doesn't stop some from shamelessly posting the results. Nobody's saying they shouldn't try, but it's not just a matter of turning on the camera. It's not about costs, fancy equipment, ambitious locations, or gorgeous models posing for the camera either.
Perhaps it all comes down to finding that "magic moment" that captivates the audience and manages to convey the essence of the musician or, even better, the spirit of the song. And that, believe us, is quite difficult to achieve. It's a window that appears and disappears capriciously.
For this year-end special, we've chosen eleven visual pieces created on our continent that know how to unleash their magic in a thousand different ways and, in our experience, become truly memorable works. A wide variety of techniques were used: one artist skillfully incorporated technology into their work; another created intimate and breathtaking photographic details; some worked wonders with the simplest single-shot sequence; and others exploited the daring curves of their performers to elicit breathtaking sighs and admiring glances. All of them used their tools and ideas wisely, and that's why we celebrate them today, regardless of whether they garnered thousands of views or were seen only by family and a few friends. Welcome.
Sailors – What I feel
It all begins with a beautiful song, perhaps one of the best of the year. A duo of Chilean artists enjoys the wind blowing through their car window and remains motionless. The only thing that moves is the car, and with it, the landscapes change. The camera stays still; no one moves anything. They never look at the lens. They simply sing and inhabit the moment.
Without unnecessary embellishments, everything is contained in those three minutes and twenty seconds which, for many, may be nothing or simply boring, and for others, fortunately, represent the splendid union of a moving and perfect audiovisual moment.
Juana Rozas + Santiago Motorizado – Ridiculous
Except for the last eight seconds, the entire film is a single take that becomes a small theatrical performance in front of the camera, a representation of the hectic end of a nighttime party on any street in this continent. Perhaps, if the protagonist weren't Juana Rozas—that irresistible mix of new-age showgirl, femme fatale, and go-go witch—the exercise wouldn't be so fascinating.
The ballad-like atmosphere of heartbreak takes on a delightful meaning here, moving beyond cliché and gradually approaching the construction of a new myth within the Latin American music scene. An artistic surprise we deserved.
Maiah & Gabriel – Black & White
A Venezuelan couple in exile decide to tell their story and, as if guided by an inspiration from 1950s Paris, create their own universe. As they say, “without the help of any person, robot, or wandering spirit.” They set out to create their own film noir and they narrate their intimacies in black and white, with a song full of tenderness and fatality as a soundtrack.
These two rising stars, who are just starting to make their mark on the music scene, are definitely worth keeping an eye on. Don't lose sight of them: they're sure to bring good news.
Blond – Our song
Fran Straube, judging by her new music, is going through a reflective, sentimental, serene, and exciting phase. She is in love, embracing her maturity, smiling more wholeheartedly, and continuing to make wonderful music. She doesn't need flashing lights or fireworks: she settles comfortably into the heartfelt, the intimate, into that which is kept forever in the heart.
Let no one dare call her corny or sentimental. Straube enters a new stage of her career with grace, intelligence, and elegance. This clip, with its sensitive editing and delightful color palette, confirms it.
Lucille Dupin – Ice
Perhaps this is what some call a visualizer Instead of a music video. It doesn't matter. That's the least interesting thing here. What's remarkable is the intensity achieved with few photographic elements and editing determined to jolt the viewer so they don't lose track of the images' exchange to the rhythm of the song.
What we hear is beautifully naive, touchingly childlike, and yet it bleeds where it needs to bleed. There is a present here, and above all, a future in what this woman from Bogotá says and sings.
Flat Earth – Charlie
Some fans like us will say that certain spiritual landscapes of shoegaze inhabit, every night, the most bizarre circuses on the planet. And yes: carousel lights, abrupt camera movements, nervous laughter as the roller coaster rolls on, all mixed with layers of distorted guitars and almost innocent voices like that of Stephani Heuczuk, singer and bassist of this band from Curitiba.
It may seem obvious. But the result is still fascinating. Unmissable.
Industrial Plant – Teteo in The Bronx
A prophetic announcement, easy to support: two Dominicans living in New York are about to take the world by storm. Their new album is pure freedom, unbridled fusion, hip hop, punk, funk, hardcore, and Caribbean spirit to the core, unapologetically and without regard for outdated labels.
The perfect Latin devil in the heart of Trumpism. Exactly what the system needs least, and exactly what a hungry ear for unadulterated novelty appreciates most. The video? A moving tribute to his home, his bunker, his homeland.
Bodine – Teke
Yes, let those who are ready to accuse us of being hopeless masturbators, sex offenders, or mere consumers of female buttock jitters come forward. Here is a splendid video whose intention is clear: to sell music to watch, to move your body to, to celebrate the beauty of this Dominican woman of Dutch origin and her companions.
Shakespeare didn't write the lyrics, but it's an honest recording of suggestive lewdness that deserves equally compelling visuals. It's always better for a woman to invite us to shake our hips than for some misogynist to traffic bodies through a song.
Six Sex + Dillom – Touch me
Let's continue with the debauchery, the obscene, the lascivious. Let's continue watching bodies in almost pornographic tension and deranged lyrics. We'll undoubtedly be accused of hypocrisy, given what we've said about industrial reggaeton, but here everything is different.
This isn't disposable success manufactured by despots willing to sell even the skeletons of their ancestors. This is dirty, vicious, and far more intelligent discourse. Someone had to turn the machine on its head. And this was the right response.
Denver – In Pieces
One of the best recent pieces of news was the return of this Chilean duo. Milton and Mariana know how to make great pop, and that's always welcome. Delicacy, elegance, and charm in just the right measure. Music to hum along to without guilt, lyrics to whisper without embarrassment.
Her new videos resemble independent fashion catalogs: suggestive, alluring, yet always gentle. Anyone ready to dance embraced to this ballad from the southern part of the continent?
Brussels – I'm giving up
This video, unlike the previous one, stirs something unsettling in the chest. It's a desolate clip, filmed with a static camera, in a city that offers no compassion. A precise mise-en-scène, which tears at the soul and starkly narrates the fate of many bodies around us.
It's one of the closest depictions of death in recent music videos. The makeup amplifies the drama. Proof that pop music today needs to take risks to shake up the audience and force them to confront reality. Hang in there. Only close your eyes at the end.
