Today's Pick

Canadian producer and electro-pop singer Grimes, known offstage as Claire Boucher, came out swinging in late June with "Go," her first song in two years. The tune signals a departure from the sound she established herself with, mostly, she explained at the time, because she had written it for Rihanna originally, but it was turned down when Rihanna chose not to record it, Grimes and collaborator Vancouver beatsmith Blood Diamonds then decided to reclaim the track for themselves. In her hands, the track features screams and drops and echoes; it's vibing just fine with the rollout for Grimes' highly-anticipated new album.
It's a truly epic bit of pop weirdness, and now her recent summer jam has a pretty wow-worthy video to match. It is a dizzy pileup of images: Black lights! Iron masks! Billowing silks! Big-ass swords! Intense Vapo-Rub dance moves! Sand dunes! Hair flips! It's a whole lot to process like next-level crazy and we mean that in a good way. In the past, Grimes music videos have brought Claire Boucher to a football game, a motocross rally, and deep into the woods. For her brand new "Go" video, she's out in the desert, visiting the Salton Sea, and dancing amongst mimes in a neon chamber. And really, the video was also partially inspired by Korn's "Freak On a Leash." Seriously.

Co-directed by Grimes with her brother Mac under the alias Roco-Prime, the cryptic clip is a sci-fi homage to Dante's Inferno features sweeping desert landscapes and casts Grimes as Dante and Blood Diamonds as Virgil. It even opens with the first lines from "Inferno," spoken over images of dancers moving in a dark. Eventually, her new "Go," the EDM-influenced lead single off her forthcoming LP, kicks in, and the singer wields swords and crosses deserts while wandering through her personal circles of hell. What happens next is a wild visual feast of claustrophobic demonic dance and gorgeous post-apocalyptic imagery in her Korn-inspired take on the epic poem.
"It's our take on Dante's 'Inferno.' The circles of hell reflect more contemporary issues though. In the 'Inferno,' people's actions in life echo eternally," Grimes explains on her Tumblr about the different scenes represent a contemporary take on Dante's infamous "circles of hell." "It's not a traditional hell, it kind of reflects stuff that's going on today. We shot a bunch at the Salton Sea, which is basically an apocalyptic wasteland filled with dead fish because of human carelessness, a hallway of bullet holes à la Korn 'Freak on a Leash.'" If that sounds like a lot, don't fret. "It is also abstract enough to just be a trippy visual accompaniment to the song," the singer concludes.

Lana Del Rey's "Ultraviolence" video is nothing like what Stanley Kubrick or "A Clockwork Orange" author Anthony Burgess, who coined the term the singer used for the title of this song and her album, could have dreamed up. Instead, it's an innocuous bridal fantasy, in which Del Rey wanders around outside in a low-cut wedding dress trudging through the woods, wistfully and sensually singing the lyrics to her track. The soft-focus lighting and the 29-year-old singer carries a look that suggest her thoughts are in some distant place, and the visual has a grainy look it and gives off a haunting and eerie vibe.
The laconic, string-laden torch song finds Del Rey exploring the close distance between love and pain. Far from just a casual "A Clockwork Orange" reference, the ultraviolence that Del Rey is singing about is between a husband and wife, and many feel that lines like, "He hit me and it felt like a kiss" serve to glorify domestic battery. The violins, lightly thumping drums and Del Rey's angelic singing gave the song a church-y feel, pointing out that the track presented her title sound.
The song's eerie, controversial title was inspired by Del Rey's connection to the seemingly conflicting emotions of aggression and softness. She explained: "I like that luxe sound of the word 'ultra' and the mean sound of the word 'violence' together. I like that two worlds can live in one." "I like a physical love," Del Rey added. "I like a hands-on love. [Pauses.] How can I say this without getting into too much trouble? I like a tangible, passionate love. For me, if it isn't physical, I'm not interested."
The Francesco Corrozzini-directed direct clip was shot entirely on the iPhone in soft-focus colors and appears to capture the singer's dream state, in its depiction of Del Rey wandering down an overgrown path that's maybe meant to symbolize a long, long walk to a groom? However, on the way to the alter, the enigmatic songstress does stop to suck on an orange and the fingers of a male companion, which almost looks like an orgasmic experience for Del Rey. When she arrives to the alter, no one is in the church except her, leaving her to have one sad wedding day. Poor Lana.

FKA twigs (literally, "Formerly Known As Twigs") may just be the coolest, most mysterious "it" girl of this year. And after her "Water Me" video had piqued our curiosity in 2013, the music lovers want to know more. Lucky for us, the Jessie J's former backing dancer has just released the music video for "Two Weeks," the first single from Tahliah Barnett's upcoming first full-length, "LP1," due out on August 12. The song is a sighing, soaring bit of electronic pop with her breathy falsetto and magnetic presence, and its lush slow-motion video matches the song's regal, ethereal beauty.
“Two Weeks” a beguilingly straight-laced cut of silken R&B, is a commanding blast of raw sexual power. It captures everything that her unapologetically sexual music is about. "My thighs are apart for when you're ready to breathe in," she declares on the compelling, ecstatically filthy "Two Weeks." This is a song purely about lust, sex, and ecstasy delivered with the subtlety of a dime-store romance novel and it's enough to make you melt. Thankfully, "Two Weeks" is a new age sex jam that even luddites like us can comprehend. Filthy as sin and wholly aware of its own pomposity, it's a bawdy taster of FKA twigs' upcoming "LP1," and she is set to reign over the changing attitudes toward sex.
Of course, this isn't the first time Tahliah Barnett has luxuriated in the realm of carnal pleasures. "Water Me," "Papa Pacify" and "Weak Spot" are all pretty much concerned with doing the nasty, and by that we do mean the nasty. FKA twigs isn't much concerned with love. Lust and vulnerability are her songwriting vices, and on "Two Weeks" she exploits them with slow percussive intent. Falsetto sighs are rolled on top of rasping snare fills in extravagantly brash fashion so that you can't help but gurn along.
And FKA twigs' new video for "Two Weeks," directed by Nabil, is the same way, starting off with a simple focus on the British singer and then panning out to see that she is an empress looking over other small, little twigs dancing beneath her. As we see FKA twigs herself takes a seat on a throne to star as a Hindu goddess who can shoot water from the tip of her finger. The intensely choreographed video mirrors the disjointed otherworldliness of the track itself. The audience is not meant to feel bad for her, but rather be intimidated. It reminded me of certain Björk videos from the Vespertine era: an era of self-actualization through sexual experimentation.

During the "Born To Die days," Lana Del Rey made model Bradley Soileau her video muse. As her sophomore full-length "Ultraviolence" finally makes its way out into the world Tuesday (June 17), a new man hits the scene - an older paramour featured in the video for "Shades Of Cool," the second single from Del Rey's sophomore full-length, which is about many things, but her music videos for the album have tended to be about something very specific: entering hopeless relationships with older gentlemen who happen to have slicked-back hair.

Del Rey wrote with the San Francisco-born songwriter Rick Nowels for this slow sweeping and slightly gloomy ballad marked by reverberated guitars, slight atmospherics that contrasts the more pop-savvy swaggering "West Coast," and the song also consists of a chiming guitar, slow-burn bass line, and swelling orchestra which surround Del Rey's vocals that alternate between a hushed whisper and ephemeral wailing. "Shades Of Cool" is the most Bond-sounding single off Del Rey's "Ultraviolence," but the video is more fairy tale than action movie.
It's steeped in the mirage-like American iconography that has colored Del Rey's music in since "Video Games," depicting a romantic fling with an older man. There are also some stylized images involving birds that could be described as "adult Disney." The man in question is Hollywood tattoo artist Mark Mahoney, and he was also featured in the video for "West Coast." In a sense, the videos for both songs kind of bleed into each other, telling the tale of love most certainly primed to go bad. If "West Coast" was all about Del Rey burning down L.A., "Shades Of Cool" is all about dousing it with water.
Directed by Jake Nava and blurring fantasy and reality, the clip opens with a close-up of Mahoney's face, bathed in blue, he drives off into the California sunset as Del Rey writhes in her heartbreak, and eventually very '70s-styled abode. Initially, our "Ultraviolence" heroine appears as a flickering hologram, swaying until she finally finds purchase in the physical world, frolicking with Mahoney through a landscape filled with pools, retro houses and strawberries, but the lines between fantasy and reality mesh further as the nearly 6-minute track haunts ever onward. It's very Gatsby-core.

Those of you who like to abscond into depressing films like "Blue Valentine" are in for a treat. Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li returned with a story of intimacy and separation with the depressing video to her chest-thumping new single, "No Rest For The Wicked" the second single taken from her upcoming third studio album, "I Never Learn," due out May 6th via Atlantic. It is a beautifully shot film evokes the harsh emotional turmoil of a breakup and the subject matter of the new album, which Li wrote after a breakup.
Following on from the critically acclaimed album "Wounded Rhymes" in 2011, the 28-year-old songstress continues her strong push towards her "I Never Learn," the third part in a trilogy of her albums, which is full of big emotional ballads, and one of the biggest and most emotional is "No Rest For The Wicked." It follows "Love Me Like I'm Not Made Of Stone," revealed earlier this year. The first song we heard cut through with its aching minimalism, just a bleached voice and husky guitar. Now she follows up with the orchestral "No Rest For The Wicked."
Speaking about the song, the singer commented: "'No Rest For The Wicked' is the second song I wrote for 'I Never Learn.' I wrote it in Sweden when I was packing up my shit, and I'd just gotten out of a relationship and it was a horrible time. I just had the hurt, shame, sadness, guilt, longing. The vocal track, the take, is the demo. In the verse, I'm referring to myself pleading guilty but I'm referring to all of us." The song is a heart-wrenching tale of lost love. The video portrays Li's lyrics through its beautifully shot depiction of intimacy and separation, accompanied by the raw vocals and emotional harmonies.
Director Tarik Saleh is able to match the song's emotional weight through a story of two lovers torn apart due to external factors, as "No Rest for the Wicked" video pits Li amidst an interracial love affair, in which her seafaring lover comes and goes like the wind. There's a vintage wash over the three-and-a-half minute clip that recalls a director like Valentine's Derek Cianfrance, and a sense of isolation that rings true to the song's lyrical visuals. Sad music and interracial love surrounded by jerky-sustained hatred... you can see where this is going. Watch the drama unfold below.

Following a successful 2013, Ellie Goulding kick starts the new year with a new colorful video for the Nate Ruess-co-penned tune, "Goodness Gracious," a tropical-flavored highlight from "Halcyon Days," the hefty reissue of her sophomore album, 2012's "Halcyon." Any lingering doubts that Goulding is not ultra-cool should be squashed with the arrival of the "Goodness Gracious" video, which shows the U.K. songstress dancing in light-up shoes, partying with futuristic-looking pals and even skateboarding with ease.
This electro, tropically-infused tune finds Goulding singing about attempting to break free from a relationship but unable to sever the ties. She penned the song with Fun.'s frontman Nate Ruess. Goulding told Coup De Main magazine about their collaboration: "In Australia we first met and we hung out loads, and it turned out we were big fans of each other's writing," she said. "Sadly, we didn't get to write the song in the same room which was a shame, but he wrote his bit and I wrote my bit and I sent it back to him to see what he thought and thank goodness he liked it, because that would have been embarrassing if he didn't."
Directed by Kinga Burza, the video finds Goulding lighting up the night with the same pop pyrotechnics that highlighted the "Burn" music video. This time, however, everything is illuminated as the "Burn" singer and her gang of exceptionally attractive pals spend a rowdy, all-neon night on the town, bouncing from a private dance party to a psychic's den, finally landing on an admittedly cliché yet totally necessary moment of joyriding bikes down on an empty street. It's as if Goulding downed some psychotropic Starbursts with a bunch of friends and filmed the whole weekend.
The 27-year-old British electro pop goddess serves up so much fun in her new holiday-themed visuals, as Goulding explained that because the song's lyrics are dark, she wanted the images to be "bright and bold," so obviously, it was shot in Los Angeles, capital of all of the above. The video is both of those things, big time, and Goulding's glittery and glowing looks command attention. It is a day-glo dream. So forget the freezing temperatures outside for a second, and check out her cheery wardrobe and peep all the sparkly colorful goodness for yourself, below!

Paramore are celebrating their just-wrapped U.K. tour with a new live performance video for their new single, "Daydreaming," the fourth overall single and the third single for the UK from the Tennessee rock band's self-titled fourth studio album. The up-lifting pop/rock track, produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen will be released on December 2nd. As the song slows down and Hayley Williams sings about dreaming of bigger and better things, the video turns to the very specific, manageable dreams of a couple of young fans: flying to London to see Paramore perform! Seems doable.
"Daydreaming" is one of the quieter, more contemplative highlights from the pop-emo band's big return album, This mid tempo ballad about wishing to build a world that matches the ones constructed in fantasies is one of the fruits of her positive outlook. Lead singer Williams says: "we are so excited to be releasing 'Daydreaming' as a single in the UK. Playing it on the tour we just finished over there was one of my favorite moments in the entire set. Thanks to everyone who came out to the Paratour! Hope every time you hear 'Daydreaming' on the radio it brings back good memories of singing along to it at the show."
When Williams began writing lyrics for the songs that appear on Paramore's first release as a three-piece following the departure of the Farro brothers, she found herself feeling more optimistic about the future of the band. As a song, "Daydreaming" channels The Smashing Pumpkins at their prettiest in a cool way. The song is a throwback to 1990's dream pop. and it's sugar-rush bridge, which is capped by a grandiose rush of riffs and guitars, seems not only designed for maximum lighter (or phone)-hoisting, it's plush enough for Williams' song-ending assertion that she's all right to sound like it's being issued from a safe place ashioned by the crashing music that preceded it.
The video is a triumphant glimpse into the band's recent world tour with behind the scenes and backstage footage. It also features a sort of of storyline as well, so it's more engaging than your typical concert-footage videos. Two Paramore fans leave home, and catch a flight to a far-away London to witness live the band's concert at the British capital's Wembley Arena last September. They manage to sneak into the Williams's dressing room backstage, say hi to her, and run to the arena's front row line before security catches them. How it all ends? The two friends enjoy the concert of their lives!

Ellie Goulding sweetly caresses our eardrums once again with a suitably sorrowful music video for her brilliant new ballad, "How Long Will I Love You," which features on the official soundtrack of the new British romantic comedy movie, "About Time." The science fiction film revolving around time travel where a young man tries to change his past to have a better future. Written and directed by Richard Curtis (well-known "Love Actually"), and starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy. The film has already released in the UK last Wednesday and is scheduled to be released in the US on November 1st.
The simple proclamation of undying love is Goulding's delicate cover of The Waterboy's classic gem, "How Long Will I Love You," that originally appeared on their 1990 album, "Room to Roam." The lyrics have also a simple playground rhyme quality to them: "How long will I love you/ As long as stars are above you/ Longer if I can/ How long will I need you / As long as the seasons need to/ Follow their plan." The song's vulnerability is further heightened when these words are coupled with the almost music box-like fragility of the instrumental.
It's funny how Goulding's vocal styling isn't all that different in a mellow tune like "How Long Will I Love You" than it sounds in one of her heavier hitters like "Burn." Switching so effortlessly from soft to loud and back again and that's definitely not an easy feat to pull off. Standing in stark contrast with past club bangers like "I Need Your Love," and "Lights," Goulding's new music video for "How Long Will I Love You," is a lovely piano ballad that's tender and gentle enough to be included on the "About Time" soundtrack.
Serves as the perfect backdrop for a video that promotes both the song and film, the Mike Sharpe-directed video finds the 26-year-old British songbird looking sincerely into the camera, staring wistfully through a window, walking alone by a beach, staring off into a gray horizon and contemplating life in a beach side cottage interspersed with bittersweet montage of excerpts from "About Time." The "Burn" singer eventually walks down to the water with an appropriately wistful look on her face. The accompanying video is simple and short, but super duper sweet and heartfelt. Much like the song itself.

MS MR have returned to the small screen via their media-critiquing brilliant VHS-themed video for "Think of You," the latest cut to be lifted from the alt-pop group's debut album, "Secondhand Rapture." The promotional cycle behind Brooklyn pop group MS MR's "Secondhand Rapture" apparently started many years ago on public access television, at least according to the retro-styled "Think of You" video, which seems to have a particularly intense effect on a little boy who is watching. MS MR are definitely spoiling their fans with such an unbeatable flow of impressive releases - this time.
The love-spurned New Yorkers' dark, entrancing debut album, "Secondhand Rapture," had its share of deceptively epic moments, but the chorus on the get-over-him track "Think Of You" may be the album's most grand pop gesture. Now the song has gotten the video treatment, and while it's not as unsettling as the videos for duo's previous singles, "Hurricane" and "Fantasy," it's just as visually arresting and off-kilter. "Think Of You," finds some middle ground between the bizarre and the nostalgic: public access television has never looked so neon.
Directed by BRTHR, the accompanying music video that starts off pretty tame and transitions into a colorful splash of vintage madness and it includes one flaming keyboard, one creepy little kid, and one guy with a TV for a head smashing a TV. The clip finds a young boy spending his afternoon in front of a dial-driven TV set, peeping pastiches to Bob Ross's The Joy of Painting, spandex-heavy fitness programs and even a headbanging send-up of Wayne's World. Also on the menu is a televised performance of MS MR's new, or is it old, single.
We're brought back to old-school public TV as they perform on what looks like an 80's VHS-era game show. vocalist Lizzy Plapinger and producer Max Hershenow performing the venom-spewing kiss-off tune on a retro television's fictional talk show. The young boy watches from his living room before he's literally sucked into the TV to enjoy the song in the flesh, becoming one with the colorful, trippy, VHS-like short. The whole thing has a David Lynch-meets-Tim and Eric feel. If you've been missing the old days, you'll be pleased. Watch the video below to see how well the song and setup actually work together. You can give it a peep down below.

Just days after the out of nowhere preview of her upcoming single, Ellie Goulding released the new music video for her latest catchy song "Burn," the lead single from the re-releasing 2012's sophomore album, "Halcyon," which will be due out on August 26th with ten new songs. The 26-year-old British singer is currently on tour with Bruno Mars and his 2013 Moonshine Jungle Tour. The Ibiza-style, ecstasy heavy number that will no doubt be a hit with all the sweaty ravers this summer.
Written and produced by Ryan Tedder, "Burn" was first recorded by Leona Lewis during the "Glassheart" sessions. She, however, for some reason let the track pass, till it finally got to Goulding. The anthemic electro pop jam is uplifting and uptempo, a synth-heavy pop song that plants a toe in the EDM world, packed with a fiery chorus with a tonne of mainstream hit potential. It's got those big booming Tedder drums that we all remember so well from when every second song on the radio was produced by the One Republic frontman, a deliciously repetitious hook,  and best of all, Goulding's voice, which is mesmerizing as it constantly flits from hoarse to high and then back again.
"Burn" is undeniably catchy, and Goulding's fragile and angelic vocals blend well with the vibrant dance production. Prepare for Goulding to slay your souls when the chorus hits in. While Goulding's "Burn" is a little more indie-pop sounding, Lewis's breaks into derivative tropical synths on the second verse in an obvious attempt to match the Stargate sound that was such a popular radio staple a few years ago. Her vocal performance is also a lot less inspired than Goulding's, but since Lewis' "Burn" is obviously still in the demo stage, we won't judge her too harshly on that one.
Goulding's voice is certainly one of the most unique and beguiling in pop music, and it's one that sticks with you, without ever resorting to being diva-like. Her vocals are angelic and ethereal, and here, she is surrounded by church bells and lots of computerized layers. Between the closeups, and her dancing as she declares, "We're gonna let it burn, burn, burn," with a swath of effects placed over her voice. The concept of "burning" and "fire" is heavily trafficked territory in pop music so we wish she'd have attempted to traverse a different lyrical route. Overall, "Burn" is not only the chill vibe of this video awesome but her angelic voice makes this song and video very energized and beautiful.

Piecing together footage her recent headlining tour, Ellie Goulding has released an explosive performance video for her heartfelt, emotional tune, "Explosions," the third single from her forthcoming sophomore studio album, "Halcyon," which has cemented her spot as an indie-tinged pop star with her life in warp speed. The 26-year-old UK electrapop darling gets rather personal by using actual footage from various trips and tour stops to compile the intimate visuals.
Goulding isn't afraid to show off her unique voice and powerful message. "Explosions" is tremulous, haunting, trippy, relaxing, enchanting, intense and delicate all at the same time, and is an infectiously smooth, laid back, melodically driven ballad that does a great job at showing off her ethereal vocals soar throughout the emotional song. “Explosions” is also a strong moving ballad that strikes you with elegant keys, enchanting strings, soaring choir hymns with Goulding's heavenly vocals.
As the title implies, "Explosions" is a powerfully stirring track with some brilliantly-written lyrics. The song has a deep storyline with a hook that bursts out with a strong piano accompaniment. Goulding penned this strings-laden ballad about her father, Arthur, who divorced her mum when she was five. The "Lights" songstress sings about how he was missing as she grew up and how he does not have her in his life anymore. The video is simple in concept and execution, but this helps to further demonstrate that "Explosions" is a beautiful and emotional experience all on its own. It's all about her music and her life.
Filmed on the road, and comprised of live performance footage from several different shows, the video is a cleanly shot of Goulding bearing her soul on stage in stark black-and-white effort, which showcases Goulding performing the powerful tune at Terminal 5 in New York City, intertwined with other shows, and capturing a diverse range of emotion and highlighting her spirited performance style. Scattered throughout these performance clips are also shots depicting life on the road from pre-show rituals and backstage with her band to tour bus traveling.

Despite their recent breakup, Ellie Goulding released the music video for her newest track "Bittersweet," produced by dubstep heavyweight and former boyfriend Skrillex. Although Skrillex is known for his hard hitting dubstep infused tracks, this single takes a slower mellow approach. Expect "Bittersweet" to be featured on the upcoming "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2," soundtrack.

The 25-year-old English singer wrote "Bittersweet" as a tribute to her relationship with Skrillex that ended. Goulding admitted to MTV News that she is not necessarily a fan of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, but was still enthusiastic about lending this song to the final installment. "I'm not a Twi-hard but I take it for what it is; it's a cool thing and I can see why There's a huge fanbase. [And] they choose the best stuff for the soundtrack, so I'm really lucky to be a part of that!" she explained.
It's a chill and mellow tune, filled with far more instances of aching vulnerability than sick wobbles, and this wobble-ridden yet mellow tune making its title oddly appropriate given the couple's split not too long ago. The song also sees the DJ conforming to Goulding's style, as the music contains her signature dark electric pop sound. “Bittersweet,” the word has it , it is actually a tribute to their relationship. Regardless of the truth in that, it is an incredible potential break up track with amazing production and passionate vocals.
Goulding also told MTV News that though the tune turned out to be a perfect fit for the movie's storyline, that wasn't her intention upon writing it. "Myself and Skrillex got together in the studio and started working on this song, and it's about waking up in the morning and hoping that the person feels the same way as you," she said. The black and white clip features two characters who look and dress an awful lot like Bella and Edward running around the forest and field together and taking little breaks to be affectionate.

Natasha Khan, known by her stage name as Bat for Lashes, is ending 2012 on a high note. After releasing her third album, "The Haunted Man," in October to critical acclaim, the 33-year-old British singer returns post-apocalypse and gets mildly creepy to deliver a new coinciding aesthetic video for the shivery song, "A Wall." This one tells a labyrinth-like modern fairy-tale love story in a house party setting.
The haunting goes in all directions on Bat for Lashes' magnificent 2012 album, "The Haunted Man." The specter of war haunts the male characters, but "your ghosts have got me, too," Khan sings at one point, and on the cover she literally carries a man's weight on her shoulders. It should go without saying the record is haunting for the listener, too. "A Wall," a vocoder-inhabited electro-pop song with synth work by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, puts even more of the burden on Khan's lyrical protagonist, a situation that comes surreally to life in yet another spellbinding video from the album.
“A Wall” comes lensed once again by director Noel Paul, whose muse is clearly Bat for Lashes. This time around, however, Paul's got her in an intriguing blond-wigged, getting a little too saucy and extravagantly drunk at a strangely sedate party with actor Harry Treadaway, whose slight figure looks quite a bit like that of the man on album's cover. He's wearing something furry, and he's clearly somehow unwell. Haunted, even. Watch Khan roll around with a male furry in this cute, but semi-twisted love story that could have been easily shot at the Overlook Hotel from 'The Shining.' Surreal party, labyrinth and all.
A labyrinth-like hedge, through which the two fail to escape, subtly evokes the song's hook: "Where you see a wall, I see a door." Meanwhile, Khan nuzzles her uncanny man, whose odd attire also distantly recalls the fallen angel in R.E.M.'s classic, Gabriel García Márquez-inspired "Losing My Religion" video. It's not giving away too much to point out Khan looks happier, and more like herself, by the video's end - the wig comes off! - but all in all it's a vibrantly creative, beguiling look at the things we carry into our relationships. And how we keep each other from falling down.

Ellie Goulding channels the lady in red but in, like, a good way in her new obscure visual and aural masterpiece for her hit track, "Figure 8," the second single from British singer's sophomore album, "Halcyon," which is a personal tale of a relationship ending and wanting to hold on to what once was. Sometimes life can imitate art and art can imitate life, but in Goulding's case, it may be a little bit of both. With Goulding just splitting from EDM DJ Skrillex, one could maybe guess what this song was inspired by, and the new surreal Clip seems to be art imitating life.
Built around piano and electronics, the dark and brooding "Figure 8," has a moody vibe that matches its heartbreaking lyrics. The song helps her maintain this authority quickly after on the galloping bruises of "Figure 8," a defensive track that finds her reasoning with her scorched paths, as Goulding sings about a love that didn't live up to its promise of infinity - the titular "8," turned on its side. "Figure 8" continues to explore her ascent into womanhood, centering around her experience of being left heartbroken by a former love over a buzzing dubstep bassline that vibrates with a gentle nod to the album's namesake.
Mourning the loss of her lover, Goulding fights to recapture the heart of her beau, whose resistance is killing her softly. Feeling like there's no reason to live anymore, Goulding's life as she knows it ceases to exist. Do your best to follow the 25-year-old British elecra-pop sweetheart as she navigates the infinite cycle of obsessive love, all to the backing tune of her slick, signature warped beats and distorted vocals. The result will leave you breathless!
The moving clip seems to capture the emotional lyrics perfectly, and really makes the story of "Figure 8" come to life. In the kinda creepy clip, Goulding is practically a ghost in the house she used to share with her man and time marches backward in various stages as she looking anguished and remembers some of the good and bad times. She's hopelessly distraught over a recent lover. Whatever the case, the "Halycon" cut properly soundtracks her tossing and turning and depression. We're totally left wondering how true-to-life this clip really is.

Ellie Goulding released an un-official wipes tears video for her new single, "I Know You Care," which will be featured on the soundtrack of new Brit film "Now Is Good," and as a promotional single and one of the most touching tracks on her terrific from the 25-year-old British songstress' upcoming sophomore album, "Halcyon," due out October 9th  in the U.S. via Polydor Records.
The stunning ballad chilling song is a deeply moving tune about looking back at a relationship that didn't work out. There's no anger or spite, but instead Goulding has the courage to show empathy for her lover lost when she sings, "We are two lovers locked out of love. I will be saving myself from the ruin, but I know you care." The tenderness and emotional intensity of "I Know You Care," is a perfect fit for a movie about keeping a brave face while confronted with an unbearable and inescapable truth. After the hopeful joy of "Anything Could Happen," "I Know You Care" unveils some of the sadder hues on Goulding's forthcoming new LP.
Amidst the emotional turmoil that drives her gut-wrenching delivery she is able to serve up hope and comfort. "I've never known a winter so cold, now I don't want my hands in your coat," she shares. "But I still have hope because this is how things ought to have been. I know the worst of it wasn't all that it seemed." It's an incredibly powerful emotion poignantly captured by Goulding's brilliant songwriting that everyone who has ever loved and lost can instantly relate to. A similar sentiment is also reflected on tracks like "My Blood," "Halcyon," "Figure 8" and "Explosions" that are sure to tug at your heartstrings.
The video delivers simplistic and yet powerful imagery as it merges footage of Goulding singing alone in her room along with specific and emotive scenes from the British film "Now Is Good," starring Dakota Fanning, Jeremy Irvine and Kaya Scodelario. As the somewhat sombre film surrounds the subject of a terminal leukemia teenager girl who compiles a list of things she wants to do before she dies, the video is kept quite slow and subdued, fitting in with both the track tempo and the film scenes.