12 Official Lyric Videos That Actually Go Off

The concept of a lyric video has come a long way since the starting of YouTube, as soon as fan-made lyrics on a black background served because the only option. Once record labels saw the quantity of views these videos racked up, some determined to prepare official versions to be released with their tracks. Yet not all lyric videos are made equally; some follow the simple format of moving text on a background while others go all-out with storylines and cinematics. Most artists still aren't on the lyric videos train, although these are a few of the ideal from the artists who've embraced them.


"Closer," The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey


There's no conversation of lyric videos without discussing "Closer," which ranks amongst the most-viewed videos on YouTube with over two billion views. Since the song immediately took off without music video, the lyric video grabbed all of the views for months before the main music video was posted.


"Birthday," Katy Perry


Katy nailed the birthday theme in this lyric video, which shows off cake, candles, sprinkles and frosting. It's super sweet to match the song's peppy sound, with endless creativity to put lyrics on every surface imaginable.


"Sorry," Justin Bieber


The "Sorry" lyric video goes hard on special effects, centered around a young woman (played by Lauren Hudson Petrilli) as she can't seem to escape the lyrics indoors or outdoors of her residence. It is irrelevant how several times I've watched this video, I still have no idea how most of those effects were done.


"Life Of The Party," Shawn Mendes


In 2014, Shawn's team nailed a total staple of lyrics video in this one: it's all one back-to-back shot, with a very slow zoom in on the brooding singer. It comes across as stripped down and organic, a brilliant introduction of Shawn to the world at the begin of his recording career.


"Quit," Cashmere Cat featuring Ariana Grande


Ok, right now this is a weird one. The "Quit" lyric video is really a lyric video within a lyric video... Confusing, right? It's as if Cashmere Cat's team made a lyric video, then went on a moving train and played that lyric video alongside plants. It's an incredibly dope aesthetic that works for such a cool song.


"Back To You," Selena Gomez


If you aspire to be able to see how far video editing has come, watch the three-dimensional "Back To You" lyric video. It takes decorative text movements up a notch, between shots and imagery of 13 Reasons Why, the Netflix series from which the song came.


"Silence," Marshmello featuring Khalid


The lyrics of "Silence" aren't just projected onto the wall in the song's lyric video: visuals are split between the wall plus a stack of boxes in front of it. At all times, there really are projections on both the wall and the boxes, allowing for more perplexing visuals as a substitute opposed to just displaying the lyrics.


"Out Loud," Gabbie Hanna


Gabbie gave "Out Loud" the complete treatment, starring solo in the video and clearly feeling every word of the song.


"Miss Movin' On," Fifth Harmony


This lyric video may not win any cinematic awards, nevertheless it captures a moment in time before Fifth Harmony had dropped their first music video. Since the video features the women holding hand-drawn sheets of paper with their lyrics, Fifth Harmony was cool enough to sign those sheets and send them to fans.


"Roar," Katy Perry


Katy really is the queen of lyric videos -- so much so that both "Birthday" and "Roar" made this list. Each lyric appears as a text message in the most emoji-filled categorize chat ever, because every fun friend categorize sends the lyrics to their anthem from time to time.


"The Middle," Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey


Though it only went up five days before the official music video, the lyric video for "The Middle" boasts 30 million more views than its music video counterpart. That's due in part to just how creative the production is in projecting the song's lyrics in each which way possible.


"Don't Stop," 5 Seconds of Summer


Luke, Calum, Michael and Ashton become superheroes in the comic book-themed lyric video for "Don't Stop." Not every lyric for the track pops up, although that's because photos speak louder than words... Especially any time it's photos of 5SOS.