This is one of my favorite music videos. Perhaps I should really say short film, as that’s what it is in truth. In this creation, the stunning Del Ray teams up with Anthony Mandler. Now you may not know his name but I bet you know his work. He is a frequent A-List collaborator having worked with Rihanna on ‘Diamonds’, Taylor Swift on ‘22’, Beyonce on ‘Get me Bodied, Jay Z on ‘Holy Grail’…and the list goes on and on. He first started work as a photographer shooting portraits for GQ, Esquire and Entertainment Weekly. In ‘Ride’ this background is obvious as he shoots Del Ray with glamorous decadence and keen frame composition. She simply smoulders in this video!

The beautiful cinematography aside, the true reason why I love this short is one can see Del Ray emerge as a screen writer and filmmaker. The official videos for ‘Carmen’ and ‘Video Games’ are in-fact made by her. She collected video and stock footage, sliced it together, and created a narrative based on whatever she could find. She also shoot footage of herself, and inserted it in to fill the gaps. Part of her initial success was the viral explosion of ‘Video Games’. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

In ‘Ride’, one sees her wander about an American frontier where she tries to take confront on a treadmill of men. She narrates how she found sanctuary through these men and traveling while on tour, she expresses her dreams, disappointments and loneliness. For me, while Anthony Mandles visuals are stunning as she swings on a tyre and rides on a bike – it’s really the combination of the voice-over, written by Del Ray and the song. She vividly displays a sense of mental instability and her embracement of the fact. I believe she is an artist that has a clear sense of how to express herself with words and melodies. This combined with a passion of video, foretells an exciting film making future.

Del Ray, recently teamed up with Mandler on a short film called ‘Tropico’. The project was written by the singer and features more her melancholic music and his sumptuous imagery. Jesus, Marylin Monroe, Elvis and a unicorn also feature in this musical Garden of Eden. It’s really a short that showcase’s the cross pollination of music videos and the short form. It’s certainly a quirky little number. Check it out below.

Check out ‘Ride’ here:

Check out ‘Tropico’ here;

Lorna Buttimer

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