00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be looking at 10 upbeat songs that come with surprisingly unsettling music videos.
00:23Number 10, the prime time of your life, Daft Punk.
00:30The upbeat, stuttering house beat of this Daft Punk track sounds like a celebratory call to live in the moment,
00:37which is why no one could predict the amount of body horror that the accompanying music video contains.
00:43The video is directed by Tony Gardner, and it's about this young girl who perceives everyone around her, even her
00:49own family, as skeletons.
01:01It's no wonder then that she'd feel out of place, which leads to the most disturbing part of the video.
01:07She stares at herself in the mirror and proceeds to remove her own skin in order to match her family's
01:12look.
01:13While the message critiques body image and societal standards, the execution is intensely disturbing.
01:26Number 9, rock DJ, Robbie Williams.
01:29We got everybody.
01:31I got the gift, gonna stick it in the gold.
01:33It's time to move everybody.
01:35This 2000s pop hit is one of the best feel-good party tracks to date, with the smooth combination of
01:41hip-hop samples and playful lyrics.
01:44However, the music video, directed by Vaughn Arnell, is something else to say the least.
01:48I don't wanna rock DJ, but you're making me feel so nice.
01:57To gain the attention of a female DJ, Robbie Williams begins a strip tease that goes far beyond clothing.
02:04He proceeds to rip off his skin and muscles, tossing pieces of himself around to the surrounding dancers.
02:10By the end of it, he's become a skeleton, but that doesn't seem to stop him from still performing.
02:15Overall, it's a bizarre and unsettling video, made even more striking by its practical effects.
02:22I don't wanna rock DJ, but you're making me feel so nice.
02:30Number 8, Royals, Lorde.
02:33Joel Cefali directed this minimalist video for Royals, Lorde's 2013 global hit song.
02:39Instead of going with the glamorous tropes of the pop industry,
02:42the video depicts the mundane and often jarring realities of suburban life.
02:51It's seemingly trying to tell us something abstract about manhood.
02:55Or something.
02:56There's these teenage boys who all shave their hair and like to fight.
03:00Kind of like Fight Club, but for puberty-ridden teens.
03:02And everyone who knows us knows that we're fine with this.
03:10It's unclear what exactly any of it is supposed to mean.
03:14And there's this uncanny feeling of some type of confusion within the video.
03:19It's like the video figured out liminal spaces before the internet phenomenon.
03:28Number 7, Maps, Maroon 5.
03:31Directed by Peter Berg, this video uses a reverse chronological structure to tell its story.
03:38It appears to be about Adam Levine's girlfriend undergoing surgery after getting into an accident.
03:50It then flashes back to some other girl being at a party with Adam Levine, getting intimate with him.
03:56The music is upbeat as ever, which really doesn't fit considering Adam Levine's girlfriend walks in on him kissing the
04:02other girl.
04:05So the girlfriend runs out and gets hit by a car.
04:09There's not really any resolution to this storyline.
04:11But it does cut back to her looking really messed up in the hospital.
04:15Following, following, following.
04:16Number 6, Rocket, Herbie Hancock.
04:19This 1983 instrumental track was a landmark for hip-hop's entry into the mainstream.
04:25Featuring Scratching by grand mixer DXT.
04:28Directors Godley and Cream opted for a surreal visual approach.
04:33Showing robotic sculptors created by Jim Whitting.
04:43These jerky, mechanical figures perform domestic tasks in a virtual house.
04:48And their disjointed movements create an eerie, almost uncanny feeling.
04:58Herbie himself is sort of absent, shown only as a face or hands on a screen that gets smashed on
05:03the sidewalk.
05:04Even though it looks creepy, it won five whole MTV Video Music Awards.
05:13Number 5, Wonderland. Natalia Kills.
05:17Guillaume Dubé directed this dark interpretation of fairytale motifs.
05:21And it was censored a ton upon its release.
05:24Although an uncensored version was also available.
05:35The video opens with Natalia Kills being forcibly dragged up a staircase by soldiers.
05:40Cutting between scenes of riots and people in masks.
05:44At a dinner party best described as grotesque,
05:47she served a bleeding heart while other guests get cupcakes topped with pills.
05:51Don't believe in fairytales, but I believe in you.
05:57The final part of the video shows her being forced onto a chopping block and beheaded by an executioner with
06:02an axe.
06:03Take me to wonderland. Take me to wonderland.
06:07Number 4, Fantasy. Die.
06:11Jérémie Perrin directed and animated this video for French synth-pop artist Die.
06:16The story follows a group of teenagers who break into a public pool at night to have some fun.
06:27While the song maintains a hypnotic, melodic pace, the animation shifts abruptly from a fun-filled, campy teen romance into
06:35sudden Lovecraftian body horror.
06:37The teenagers undergo visceral transformations, growing tentacles and alien heads as their bodies morph and tear apart.
06:49The smooth electronic music hilariously continues without interruption as the music video turns to death and gore.
06:56The video ends with the survivor somehow escaping, only to be confronted by something far worse.
07:11Number 3, Turn Down For What.
07:13DJ Snake and Lil Jon.
07:15Directed by the duo known as The Daniels, the Turn Down For What music video presents a unique take on
07:21physical possession.
07:22It starts out with a man on top of an apartment building whose lower body starts moving uncontrollably to the
07:28beat,
07:28leading him to crash through the floors of the building.
07:32Turn down for what?
07:36Each time he encounters other people, the rhythmic energy spreads like a virus,
07:41causing them to engage in aggressively physical and sexually suggestive distortions.
07:46Their bodies contort in impossible ways,
07:48and household objects are destroyed by the sheer force of the dance.
07:53Turn down for what?
07:58Despite the song's status as a high-energy club all-timer,
08:02the video's imagery leans into body horror,
08:04with its characters losing all agency over their own limbs
08:07and destroying everything due to involuntary movement.
08:14Number 2, Time To Dance.
08:16The Shoes.
08:17Jake Gyllenhaal has played a wide range of characters in film,
08:21and he excels as a serial killer in this eight-minute music video directed by Daniel Wolfe.
08:26Head, roll, get up, kick the wheels.
08:30Do what I do, it's what I feel.
08:33Gyllenhaal's character stalks and murders various young hipsters across East London,
08:38using weapons ranging from a fencing rapier to a hammer.
08:41The violence is shot with a cold, cinematic detachment that really contrasts with the more happy production of the track.
08:51Scenes of Gyllenhaal eating, exercising, and getting shaved at a barber's are mixed with brutal slayings in clubs and back
09:00alleys.
09:00Often visually compared to American Psycho, the video offers no clear motive, heightening its eerie, surreal quality.
09:08When I do, it's what I feel.
09:11After the sun, it won't be long.
09:22Before we continue, check out this single from Sound Mojo's Adia, Songs from Iran,
09:27reimagining Persian melodies as modern rock, metal, and pop songs.
09:31Check out the full track and album below.
09:34The cradle of hearts where stars align
09:38Together we stand in your sacred light
09:43Against all darkness we rise and fight
09:47Number 1. Kids, MGMT
09:50Ray Tintori directed the music video for Kids by MGMT,
09:55which in part became famous for its controversial use of a toddler in distressing situations.
10:00The youngest gets terrorized throughout the video by various grotesque, live-action monsters that his mother either can't see or
10:08ignores.
10:14While the song's bright synthesizers suggest a playful, even nostalgic vibe,
10:19the child is just getting traumatized as creatures with peeling skin and sharp teeth interact with him.
10:25Make sure yourself, take only what you need from him
10:30The director used puppets and costumed actors to create these practical effect monsters.
10:36And it was intentionally done to clash with the track's theme of childhood innocence.
10:47Which of these music videos disturbed you the most?
10:50Let us know in the comments.
10:51Let us know in the comments.
10:51Let us know in the comments.
10:52Let us know in the comments.
10:54Let us know in the comments.
10:54Let us know in the comments.
10:55Let us know in the comments.
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