The week’s best videos: D∆WN as a golden phoenix and ‘80s teen movies

Welcome to FACT’s weekly video round-up.

As we note at the end of every year, music videos have never been better. But too often, music videos — along with documentaries, live sets and interview clips — get lost in the shuffle of news and new music.

With that in mind, FACT is doing what it does for mixes, mixtapes, vinyl and more: rounding up the internet’s best videos on a weekly basis. And to remove our bias, we won’t be including our own content — you’ll have to stay tuned to FACT TV for all your Against The Clock, FACT Freestyles and Confessions needs.

Read more: The 20 best music videos of 2015


DAWN
‘Wake Up’
Dir: Sasha Samsonva

DAWN marries style, tech and sound with a “fashion film” for the Machinedrum-produced ‘Wake Up’, taking inspiration from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and casting herself – appropriately – as a phoenix.


MNEK
‘At Night (I Think About You)’
Dir: Patrick Killingbeck

MNEK’s restless night turns a hotel into a side-scrolling video game, his lovelorn dance ballad brought to life by a team of dancers that includes Joshua Hubbard, last seen in Young Fathers’ touching ‘Shame’ video.


Shura
‘What’s It Gonna Be?’
Dir: Chloe Wallace

In line with Shura’s very ‘80s brand of synth-pop, ‘What’s It Gonna Be?’ turns teen movie stereotypes on their heads. Breakfast Club references abound (Shermer High School, anyone?) as a brain, a beauty, a jock and a rebel explore their sexual identities.


Vic Mensa
‘There’s Alot Going On’
Dir: Jake Osmun and Vic Mensa

Vic Mensa’s one-shot performance turns into a politically charged target practice, with 16 gunshots echoing the police murder of 17-year-old Chicagoan Laquan McDonald.


Iggy Pop
‘American Valhalla’
Dir: Jamie-James Medina

Model Ruth Bell is turned into a digital Magritte, her face obscured with footage from a classic boxing match and an Iggy Pop performance in a black-and-white collage – until the chilling reveal.


French Montana feat. Kodak Black
‘Lockjaw’
Dir: SpiffTV

Kodak Black doesn’t let an arm injury stop him from filming a video with French Montana in his two homes, both current and ancestral: Broward County, Florida and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The latter rarely makes it into music videos but is shot beautifully here.


Wiki
‘3 Stories’
Dir: Jayme Lemperle & Evan Borja

Wiki’s KIDS-like day in the life gets animated in a lo-fi style befitting the track’s throwback New York rap stylings.


Ariana Grande
‘Into You’
Dir: Hannah Lux Davis

This one debuted a few weeks (and 41 million views) ago, but Hannah Lux Davis is the queen of pop videos for a reason. Grande goes on a desert affair, riding motorcycles and drinking from the bottle with a security guard – not her bad boyfriend.


Adamn Killa
‘Adamn Superstar’
Dir: Will Hoopes

This magenta-haired Chicagoan explores the West Coast in a futuristic BMW i8, at a rocky beach and in a version of DTLA that’s been taken over by his own branding. Shot in pristine 4K.


Selena Gomez
‘Kill Em With Kindness’
Dir: Emil Nava

In the video for Selena Gomez’s latest anti-bullying dance track, a black-and-white photo shoot turns into a dance party.

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