Are music videos still relevant? Miley Cyrus and Iggy Azalea seem to think so.
Brisbane music industry conference BIGSOUND kicked off this morning with 'Video Makes The YouTube Star', a panel dedicated to exploring the importance of music videos in a post-MTV world. The panelists didn't have to wait long for a few examples of a clip's worth, with Miley Cyrus and Iggy Azalea both dropping videos that'll have tongues wagging (or doing whatever that thing is Miley is always doing with her tongue, anyway).
Miley Cyrus' 'Wrecking Ball' starts off with a close-up of the former Disney starlet's tear-streaked face, a blatant homage to Sinead O'Connor's 'Nothing Compares 2 U' clip.
From there, Miley hurries along pop music's transformation into straight-up porn, licking a sledgehammer and destroying a studio with a literal wrecking ball before stripping off completely and climbing aboard the destructive sphere (no doubt paying tribute to segments of Sinead's video that nobody remembers).
Somewhat incredibly, there's no twerking in the NSFW clip (and certainly no Canadian Beetlejuice).
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Meanwhile, Aussie MC Iggy Azalea has dropped a raunchy clip for her new single, 'Change Your Life', in which she flashes her nipples, gets arrested, and gyrates like there's no tomorrow (if we're being honest, Azalea has been blessed with a body more conducive to twerking than Miley's, so nobody is complaining).
Much like 'Wrecking Ball', it's about as unsafe for work as a pop music video can get.
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Other clips released today include 'Reflektor', the long-awaited Arcade Fire single produced by James Murphy that we showed you earlier, which is unsafe for work only in the sense that it might make your head explode...
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... and Brisbane band Hey Geronimo's 'Lazer Gun Show', a loving, inventive tribute to the VHS tapes of our youth. It's totally safe for work unless your boss hates fun (in which case you should quit).
View Count At Time Of Writing: 157. Needs more twerking?
All in all, the BIGSOUND panel's conclusion seems fairly on the money.
"There will always be a need for music videos as long as there is music" #bigsound
— BIGSOUND (@BIGSOUNDtweets) September 10, 2013
