The 25 Best Music Videos by Latinx Artists in 2017

12.12.17 at 09:59

In 2017, music videos were a powerful vehicle of reinvention for Latinx artists. Whether they transported us to fantastical, mystified versions of our homelands, reimagined our ancestors, or reclaimed the iconography of generations past, Latinx artists pushed the boundaries of the visual format this year. The music video continues to offer us new spaces for representation of our identities.

Here’s an inside look at the best videos of 2017. –Isabelia Herrera, Music Editor

1 Arca - "Reverie" / Directed by Jesse Kanda

A deep fascination with monstrosity and the sheer magnificence of the ugly has become central to Arca’s visual language, one developed in collaboration with close friend, artist, and director Jesse Kanda, who worked with him once again to create the visuals for the devastating “Reverie,” off his stunning self-titled album. Refusing to be pigeonholed by whitewashed and sanitized homosexuality, Arca instead commits to queer deviance, both musically and visually.

Wearing a classic matador chaquetilla and animalistic stilts that give him a beast-like quality, Arca is both the bullfighter and the bull, invoking the animalistic duality of sex. Gored by a (very phallic) horn and bleeding from the rectum, Arca stumbles across a saturated pink evocative of the upside down triangle symbol reclaimed by queers after it was used to mark sexual deviants during the Holocaust. In contrast to the we-are-the-world rainbow flag taken on by mainstream movements for gay rights, the pink triangle is associated with more radical and militant efforts like early AIDS activists ACT UP. The visual is a perfect landscape for Arca’s soaring, tonada-inspired vocals, haunting production, and diasporic longing – just one more piece of evidence that he is one of the most innovative and significant experimentalists of our time. –Verónica Bayetti Flores

2 Ibeyi - "Deathless" ft. Kamasi Washington / Directed by Ed Morris

Ibeyi’s “Deathless” video is so much more than a tale of individualistic immortality. According to pianist-vocalist Lisa-Kaindé Díaz, the song has more to do with the healing power of contextualizing one’s self in the generations of warriors that came before. “I have a huge amount of respect for people who fought for, what I think, are my rights today and if we all sing together ‘we are deathless,’ they will be living through us into a better world,” she explained when the song was released earlier this year. This message of ancestral – and more specifically, Afro-Latino – infinity comes through in its video, directed by Ed Morris. The twins are clad in voluminous, comforting scarlet garments and give birth to each other again and again before lying down to untroubled rest. Morris accurately seizes on the modern-day urgency of locating ourselves in a non-digital, non-monetized network. With the clip, we see that we are essential links in a regenerating mobius strip of fighters. –Caitlin Donohue

3 Bad Bunny - "Tu No Metes Cabra" / Directed by Fernando Lugo

After a year that saw Bad Bunny ride the wave of his smash hit “Soy Peor” to worldwide success, his days of flying under the radar seem over — the list of his 2017 collaborations reads like a who’s who in contemporary urbano. And indeed, the Wild West setting for his “Tu No Metes Cabra” video might have been the last place he hadn’t yet taken his pitch-black trap en español anthems.

In the Fernando Lugo-directed clip, Bad Bunny, his crew, a parade of models, and exotic pets invade a dude ranch decked out in their flyest club gear, a clever homage to the video for the classic Héctor “El Father” bop “Noche De Travesura.” As they brush the dirt off the shoulders of their furs and pink top coats, riding horses, popping bottles, and sipping on double cups, the country setting puts a daft spin on the standard rap video tropes, a dusty catwalk for one of music’s emerging fashion icons.

Lugo, a Mexico-born Miami resident who also shot the Ric Flair-featuring, vaporizer-hawking clip for Bad Bunny’s “Chambea,” manages to balance the tough-guy flex with some occasional levity; His star spends as much time stunting on a white G-Wagen as he does a goofy white horse with a toothy smile. Lugo’s vibrant HDR aesthetic transforms a Wild West scene that’s typically rendered in muted sepia tones, bringing Bad Bunny’s loud splash of color to the front. And if the video’s 235 million views (and counting) are any indication, we’re not the only ones who like what we see. –Matthew Ismael Ruiz

4 A.CHAL - "To the Light" / Directed by RJ Sanchez

With the single “To The Light,” April saw our first glimpse into Alejandro Chal’s project ON GAZ, a lucid sequel to the psychedelic playboy narratives of Welcome to GAZI. The RJ Sanchez-directed video presents A.CHAL at his most aesthetically polished, chronicling the Peruvian-American artist’s substance-induced trance, dazed desert revival, and ultimate quest for nirvana.

RJ Sanchez’s visuals move between barren and dynamic landscapes, secular and sacred imagery, and explorations of darkness and light. Confronted with obstacles, A.CHAL retains his signature mystique: a fluent chicness not substantiated by money or social clout, but by the self-awareness of the ephemeral nature of fame. The video includes a literal manifestation of limelight through religious iconography, presented here in the hues of a green flame raging upon a silhouette of La Virgen (an image that would be revealed as the album cover), as well as a colossal green neon cross. These symbols speak to the conflict of balancing spirituality and indulgence in young adulthood. In some ways, the “To The Light” video alludes to many of our own challenges with decolonization, as well as the search for spiritual solace. –Anthony Dominguez

5 Chicano Batman - "Freedom is Free" / Directed by Carl Zitelmann

“Freedom is Free” is a simple phrase, but it’s loaded with meaning and discourse, much like Chicano Batman‘s Carl Zitelmann-directed video. The purpose of torture is not to hurt a person, but to break them, stripping them of their humanity. Waterboarding, a heinous form of torture associated with the George W. Bush administration, is central to the clip. In the video, the members of Chicano Batman are prisoners of ominous background figures, imagined as terrorists or threats to national security, a fitting allegory for the treatment of people of color in the United States. As the video progresses, the members’ faces become bloodier and bloodier, but the band eventually resists and waterboards their captors. When the barrel of water topples and they fall to the ground, Chicano Batman doesn’t beat them mercilessly; instead, they proceed to play music, using their instruments as weapons. It’s a perfect metaphor for keeping our heads high in the face of oppression, but above all, relishing in the joy of freedom. –Marcos Hassan

6 Bomba Estéreo - "Internacionales" / Directed by Torben Kjelstrup

Don’t become so entrenched in the quotidian that you never seek out the personal renewal found in exploration — that’s what the clip for “Internacionales” reminds us. Its travel agent protagonist realizes she’s hardly journeyed herself, so she goes globetrotting via rollerskates spontaneously borrowed from Bomba Estéreo singer Li Saumet.

For a second time, the socially-conscious, party-pushing Colombian act teamed up with Danish director Torben Kjelstrup; the first was for “Soy Yo,” with its message unforgettably personified by an awesomely awkward and empowering 11-year-old whose unrelenting self-love was empowering for viewers of all ages.

“Internacionales,” however, is about unity: In our differences, there is opportunity for bonding. “Vamos a bailar en la misma fiesta,” Saumet encourages. Save for a challenging stretch alongside the Hong Kong Rollers, she’s zooming solo — but her trek represents the universal yearning for discovery.

Taken literally, of course, the trip is impossible. (At one point, she’s flying above a city and lands among camels.) But viewed symbolically, the idea is accessible: You don’t need anything but curiosity to seek out experiences, thrills, unfamiliar places, and other routes to new views of the world. The possibilities are already around you, including connecting with others on the differences we share, and the ones we don’t. –Jhoni Jackson

7 Kali Uchis - "Tyrant" / Directed by Helmi

The candy-colored world of Kali Uchis has always been mesmerizing, but this year, the Colombian singer switched things up with her video for “Tyrant,” an electric explosion of mod hues and neon flashes that struck fans like a bolt of lightning. Directed by Helmi, the video is a glowing companion to Uchis’ winding collaboration with UK singer Jorja Smith. Helmi’s radiant scenes, which include Uchis lounging in a glossy red whip and dancing in front of a Nam June Paik-style tower of televisions, bring out just how sleek and sensual the dancehall-laced track is.

More importantly, “Tyrant” offers a look into new directions Uchis might be exploring ahead of her debut album, which is out in 2018. She hasn’t abandoned her vintage sensibilities or aesthetic completely, but the video shows she has more to offer in her old-school-meets-new-school arsenal. After a year of collaborating with Juanes and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn, we’re excited to see how Uchis’ retro charm continues to evolve, and how that charisma will come alive in future visuals. –Julyssa Lopez

8 Bairoa - "Barlovento" / Directed by Juanchi González

We’ve been keeping an eye on Bairoa ever since we first spotted him shredding guitars and banging keys on stage with Buscabulla. But the Prince-like Boricua mystic is much more than his smoldering gaze and shimmering wardrobe, as he showed us this year with the exquisite and borderline psychedelic video for “Barlovento,” the lead single off his forthcoming eponymous EP.

Directed by Juanchi González of Artok Productora, “Barlovento” pays an atypical tribute to Bairoa’s native Puerto Rico. First, the video’s cinematic ambitions capture desolate dunes, beaches, plátanales, and rock formations that give the island environment an air of otherworldliness. The organic song’s shapelessness perfectly complements the video’s vastness; the sound of water and pulsating synths course throughout, like a planet of Bairoa’s own creation. Flashing shots of the musician worshipping at his beachside altar, peering from behind leaves, and emerging from the sea in a skintight silver bodysuit highlight Bairoa’s clever eye for art direction as well his almost farcical take on sensuality.

Though “Barlovento” enters this list on its own merit, it’s nearly impossible to separate the on-screen beauty from the harrowing aftermath of back-to-back hurricanes that ravaged Puerto Rico shortly after the video’s release. As the year comes to an end, let “Barlovento” remind you of the island beauty that was and will someday flourish again. –Richard Villegas

9 Mitú - "Fiebre" / Directed by Andrés Gómez

In the heat of the summer, Mitú released their latest album – and ZZK debut – Cosmus, backed by their single “Fiebre.” Here, the duo strayed from their signature Afro-Colombian techno, embracing more traditional pop sensibilities. The result was a love song featuring Palenque singer and Las Alegres Ambulancias member Teresa Reyes, whose raw, scene-stealing vocals make the song feel effervescent.

Director Andrés Gómez worked to visually represent the song’s essence: experiencing a love and devotion so strong it can be physically painful. The clip depicts a man and a woman who literally bleed for each other, as they dance passionately on a stunning beachfront. The protagonists are dressed in loincloths and rags, and in conjunction with Reyes’ voice and the pounding beat, love unfolds it its most primal state, like a beating heart in the flesh. Gómez dazzles us with spectacular aerial shots of the couple embracing in the rain, many of them shot with drones. It might look cold, but it still burns with a passion. –Cheky

10 Lido Pimienta - "La Capacidad" / Directed by Lido Pimienta and Jon Agua

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yACkEJFr2to

After several years away from the spotlight, Lido Pimienta returned abruptly in 2016 with La Papessa, an album of powerful songs that engage with issues of both global significance and personal resonance for the Colombian-Canadian singer-songwriter. “La Capacidad,” for example, begins with Pimienta’s own painful experience in an abusive relationship and ends in a declaration of autonomy for all women.

This year, Pimienta underscored the feminist message of “La Capacidad” through a video co-directed with Jon Agua, premiered on Remezcla. Leveraging a disarming DIY aesthetic, the musician and visual artist constructed a space of healing and sisterhood with colorful paper cutouts, a few props, and a little help from some other talented women, including Ela Minus. At the center of the piece, both literally and figuratively, is a true and surprisingly funny story that Pimienta shares from a period when she was leaving an abusive partner.

The visual combines film, performance, music, and storytelling to create something more than a music video. It’s a complete work of art, one that makes a moving and timely statement. –Beverly Bryan