Best Animated Music Videos of the 2010s

Beyond the Canvas: How the 2010s Revolutionized Animated Music Videos

The 2010s was a fascinating transitional era for visual art. As traditional television budgets shifted and internet-native platforms like YouTube fully matured, music videos became a primary incubator for bold, boundary-pushing animation. Freed from the commercial constraints of broadcast television or the physical limitations of live-action sets, artists and directors turned to animation to explore surrealism, deep emotional storytelling, and elaborate sci-fi world-building.

From hand-drawn indie passion projects to viral electro-swing spectacles, the decade proved that animated music videos could transcend mere accompaniment and stand alone as high art.

The Rise of Internet-Era Viral Masterpieces

Before TikTok algorithms completely re-shaped digital consumption, YouTube was the wild west of viral animations. Independent artists found global audiences overnight by pairing infectious electronic rhythms with striking, stylized characters.

A prime example is Caravan Palace’s “Lone Digger” (2015). Directed by Double Caution, the video features a neon-drenched, 1920s-style gangster bar populated entirely by anthropomorphic animals. Beneath its smooth, retro-chic veneer lies a chaotic, ultraviolent turf war that unfolds with pristine choreography. It became an internet phenomenon, proving that sleek, high-contrast 2D animation could captivate millions without relying on mainstream pop tropes.

Similarly, French electro-pop artist DyE released “Fantasy” in 2011, a video directed by Jérémie Périn that starts as a surreal, sun-drenched youth expedition into a mysterious concrete structure and devolves into a body-horror, cosmic revelation. Its shocking twist ending fueled countless online theory videos, showcasing the uncanny storytelling power native to adult animation.

Anime Meets Western Electronic and Hip-Hop

The 2010s also bridged the geographical and stylistic gap between Japanese animation houses and Western music charts. Electronic music producers, in particular, looked to anime aesthetics to evoke deep, nostalgic, and futuristic sentiment.

• Porter Robinson & Madeon – “Shelter” (2016): Animated by the renowned Japanese studio A-1 Pictures, this collaboration is a heartbreaking masterpiece. It follows Rin, a 17-year-old girl living inside a futuristic simulation where she can create her own virtual reality, eventually uncovering a poignant message left by her father before a catastrophic event on Earth. The video weaponized anime’s emotional cadence to deliver a tear-jerking narrative in just six minutes.
• Childish Gambino – “Feels Like Summer” (2018): Directed by Donald Glover alongside animators Ivan Dixon and Greg Sharp, this video presents a melancholic, beautifully drawn stroll through a neighborhood populated by dozens of animated hip-hop and R&B icons. Beneath its deceptively chill, indie-animation art style lies a bittersweet commentary on fame, climate change, and the transient nature of modern culture.

Social Commentary and Bold Graphic Styles

Animation proved to be the sharpest tool for tackling heavy socio-political concepts during a politically turbulent decade.

No project captured this quite like JAY-Z’s “The Story of O.J.” (2017). Directed by Mark Romanek and JAY-Z himself, the video utilizes 1930s and 40s rubber-hose animation styles (reminiscent of early Fleischer Studios cartoons) to subvert painful historical caricatures. By placing exaggerated, minstrel-inspired Black caricatures into modern settings of wealth, luxury, and systemic oppression, the video forces a confronting dialogue about generational wealth, racism, and identity packaged inside classic cartoon aesthetics.

Meanwhile, alternative staples like Radiohead’s “Burn the Witch” (2016) utilized creepy, unsettling stop-motion/claymation reminiscent of classic children’s holiday specials to tell a sinister folk-horror story about mob mentality and paranoia, proving that nostalgic textures could easily be inverted to create pure dread.

The Legacy of the 2010s Animation Wave

The animated music videos of the 2010s did more than just look pretty—they permanently altered how we consume music visually. They tore down the barrier between commercial pop music and independent fine art, proving that animation is often the truest mirror for human complexity.