Thank God We’re Dancing in Music Videos Again

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Long gone are the days of Britney Spears’s “I’m a Slave 4 U,” Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and Lady Gaga’s “Judas”—music videos with dance breaks so potent, their choreography still finds its way into slumber parties and TikToks. In music, as the culture (and available technology) has evolved, special effects and feats of cinematography have increasingly supplanted choreography. But while the art of dance will never truly disappear from the industry (the likes of Beyoncé, Childish Gambino, and Sia have made sure of that), for years we’d been in something of a drought. That is, until we were hit with a wave of new dance-centric music videos, from pop stars and indie bands alike, in recent months. At long last.

Lately, singers have used dance as a plot tool. It’s no surprise that the Broadway-trained Ariana Grande is a serviceable dancer, but her Paula Abdul–saluting “Yes, And?” puts her training front and center. The singer proves that it doesn’t take complex choreography to get the groove going; her gestures help to tell a (coherent) story—about fame, pressure, judgement—with the track’s foot-tapping tune only an added bonus. 

Jennifer Lopez—another star with noteworthy dance skills—also uses the medium to create a narrative. She recently teased her forthcoming album, This Is Me…Now, with the single “Can’t Get Enough,” a dance-heavy wedding sequence featuring Dancing With the Stars’s Derek Hough to help explore the themes that (we imagine) will apply to the entire album. 

Sometimes we’re lucky enough to see dancers become pop stars. Before Tate McRae was a singer with a catchy monster hit, “Greedy,” she found niche fame in the dance competition circuit and appeared on So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation. Now, she’s coupled her truly extraordinary physical talent with a thriving music career, creating dynamic music videos laden with dance breaks reminiscent of a young Britney’s. 

And then, there are the artists using dance in their visuals without actually doing the choreo themselves. Shortly before their wedding, Jack Antonoff, leader of the band Bleachers, let Margaret Qualley take the reins of his “Tiny Moves” music video. Like McRae, Qualley grew up dancing competitively, and she produced an interpretive, balletic work of art for the song that only gives it even more heart.

Jungle is another example: The band recently ceded their spotlight to a phenomenally talented troupe of dancers for “Back on 74,” creating one of the most entertaining spectacles in recent memory. The video is both technically impressive—the whole thing was captured in a single take—and one that lets the frenetic, heartfelt movement supplement the song’s ultra-nostalgic message. In fact, it could even be argued that the success of the visual, which spurred its own dance challenge on TikTok, helped the band find a bigger audience than ever before. The same thing arguably happened with Troye Sivan’s single “Got Me Started”: When it wound up the subject of its own SNL sketch, its replicable dance moves were central to the bit, with Timothée Chalamet and the members of Boygenius offering their own takes.

Sure, dance may not be everyone’s strong suit—and it’s still far less culturally ubiquitous than music, film, or other visual arts—but in ignoring it, creatives have deprived their work of an exciting extra dimension. Here’s to seeing much more dancing in 2024. 

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