In late 2021, Taylor Swift took the internet by storm by releasing a ten minute video for her fan-favorite song "All Too Well," featuring Dylan O'Brien and Stranger Things' Sadie Sink. Traditionally, music videos are supposed to be short and straight to the point, translating the lyrics into visually appealing stories or fascinating musical numbers. However, some music videos go beyond and commit to telling engaging stories, developing characters, and a beginning, middle, and end in less than ten minutes.

From catchy pop tunes to classic rock bangers, these music videos have a highly cinematic appeal, offering an unforgettable experience and causing fans to instantly relate the song to the video every time they hear it.

A-ha - "Take On Me"

Take On Me Music Video

A-ha's gripping music video for "Take On Me" is so original and full of passion that fans can easily relate to the video's main character as she gets lost in fiction. With over 1 billion views, the video combines pencil-sketch animation and live-action to tell the story of a young woman who finds herself inside a comic book; in one second she's with the love of her life, and in the other, she's running for her life.

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The music video plays with the lines between fantasy and reality to convey a love story on the same level as Hollywood. Containing romance, action, and suspense in a 4-minute-long production, "Take On Me" is a great example of creative storytelling.

Michael Jackson - "Thriller"

The music video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller" feels like a perfect horror musical to watch on Halloween. Earning a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, the video mixes traditional horror tropes from the 20th century with an engaging choreography led by Michael Jackson and his living dead companions.

Over ten minutes long, the video takes its time to effectively develop characters and build up an unforgettable musical number. Finally, the plot twist at the end is also a great bonus.

Coldplay - "The Scientist"

Coldplay The Scientist Music Video

Viewers could never guess at first watch how Chris Martin's opening eyes would be foreshadowing such a heartbreaking music video. As the lyrics tell the tragic story of a "scientist" longing to go back in time, the music video recounts the story of Martin's character backward, starting with him casually lying on a blue mattress and walking toward his painful past.

Jigsaw pieces fall into place when the video begins to deconstruct the aftermath of a tragic incident, where it's implied Martin's character lost the love of his life in a car crash. As things continue to unfold backward, he safely drives around with his lover, concluding a time travel story about the fragility of life.

Lady Gaga - "Telephone" ft. Beyoncé

Lady Gaga's Telephone Music Video

Lady Gaga has a handful of music videos with movie energy, from the conspiratorial plot of "Paparazzi' to the surrealist narrative of the recent "911." "Telephone" stands out as the most vibrant one, and it even counts with the presence of another pop legend: Beyoncé.

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Carrying out a Bonnie-and-Clyde sort of narrative about crime, lust, and revenge with exuberant costumes and editing as weird as it is catchy, it's incredible how the music video quickly escalates into a colorful visual feast to conduct the engaging trajectory of the characters Gaga and Beyoncé play, walking different paths filled with the same sins.

Radiohead - "Just"

Just Radiohead Music Video

Considered one of the best rock bands of all time, Radiohead are famous for their creepy music videos, and "Just" might easily be the weirdest. Featuring anxiety-inducing dialogues as the song plays along, the music video for "Just" could be interpreted as a clever social satire as well as the setup of a disturbing apocalyptical event.

The video's main conflict is a man who suddenly lies on the ground and refuses to explain why or let anyone touch him. As an intrigued crowd gathers around him, he reveals the reason why he's lying there, although viewers can't really discern what's he saying. In the shocking aftermath, the members of Radiohead look down the window to find the whole crowd lying on the ground.

Blur - "Coffee And TV"

Coffe and TV Music Video

While the idea of a movie about a milk carton who goes to heaven doesn't sound like the most exciting thing on paper, the music video for "Coffee and TV" definitely makes it seem like a story worth telling.

The music video balances 3D animation with live-action, following an adorable milk carton searching for Blur's lead guitarist, Graham Coxon, whose face appears as a missing person on the carton's side. Cute on the surface, the music video, as well as the lyrics, are in fact a sharp satire on alcoholism.

Kendrick Lamar - We Cry Together

We Cry Together Music Video

Perhaps Kendrick's decision to shoot a music video with a live performance makes "We Cry Together" even more powerful. Arguably the most controversial song in his latest album Mr. Morales & the Big Steppers, the song realistically describes what it feels like to be part of an abusive relationship.

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In the music video, Kendrick Lamar and Taylour Page engage in a serious argument to the sound of the gripping beat and piano. Filmed in a continuous shot, viewers can easily get immersed in the life of the couple, and the ending leaves room for plenty of discussions.

Death Cab For Cutie - A Movie Script Ending

A Movie Script Ending Music Video

Compiling a bunch of pictures of a couple with sharp editing, the music video for "A Movie Script Ending" captures beautiful moments of intimacy and the fear of losing someone we love. Throwing back to the term "Transatlanticism" used by lead singer Ben Gibbard to describe "the incomprehensible emotional gap between two lovers separated by comprehensible distances," per Pitchfork, the pictures form a mosaic of moments of two lovers fated to grow apart from each other.

Conducting a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end, the video clip works almost as an experimental movie as static images display a relationship in motion.

Childish Gambino - This Is America

Donald Glover in the This is America video

This Is America" will undeniably be remembered as one of the most impactful music videos of the 2010s as it doesn't skimp on visual resources to expose America's decaying reality and a society haunted by institutional racism.

The music video is centered on Childish Gambino's unreliable and multifaceted character as he witnesses love and chaos all around him. Inserting important symbolism and taking viewers by the hand down the rabbit hole, the video has a hopeless and distressing tone throughout its four minutes, and it induces viewers to reflect and research what they've just seen to pick up all the pieces.

Taylor Swift - All Too Well

Dylan O'Brien, Sadie Sink, and Shawn Levy in Taylor Swift's "All Too Well" music video

The unanimous praise around the heartfelt storytelling from "All Too Well" came not only from Taylor Swift fans but from the film community as well; the 10-minute-long music video for the song's new version was even added to Letterboxd and currently has a 4.3 rating out of 5.

Directed by Taylor Swift herself, the video pays incredible attention to detail by capturing gestures and expressions that gradually show the ups and downs of a toxic relationship. Starring popular actors such as Dylan O'Brien and Sadie Sink, the amazing performances brilliantly add up to the strong emotional appeal of the song and its powerful final gut-punch.

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