C'est Non Un Blog

2014 managed to simultaneously be one of the best and worst years for C’est Non Un Blog. On plus side this year I did my first ever interviews for the blog with David Dean Burkhart and Simon Mills (very exciting!); I put out my biggest mixtape yet, The Superhero Summer Mixtape (100 songs!); and the quality of each and every one of my individual posts is probably at the best that they’ve ever been since I started doing this.

Unfortunately all that extra work created some unforeseen problems, mainly that while everything’s been getting bigger and better this year, there’s also been a whole lot less of it to enjoy. There’s been fewer posts this year than any year I can remember since I started doing this more than ten years ago. Yeah, my bad. Take the fact that it now takes me four times longer on average to write a post than it used to, combine that with my perfectionist instinct to not want to put out something half-assed now, and multiply that by my natural predication towards procrastination and laziness and well, after all that gets jumbled together not much got done. Blame it on me trying to take on too much and not pace myself properly, but what you the reader got is this year’s meager batch of posts.

Anyone who’s read one of my year’s end lists before knows that I draw from all of my previous posts to pick my top…whatever the hell number of videos I feel like doing that year, but if I followed the pattern and did that this year I’d pathetically just be reposting everything I’ve already done, so this year we’re going to be doing things a little bit different. Mixed in with the usual favorite videos that I’ve already talked about this year will be my favorite videos that I was totally going to post, but well, you know… as well as the best videos I just found while trolling other people’s Best Of lists while trying to come up with something to throw together last second. With that said, all and all I think I put together a pretty solid representation of what this year had to offer us.

So sit back, put on some headphones, crank the music up and enjoy Part One of our five part look back at what I think best represents the Top 15 videos of 2014.

15. Iggy Azalea – Fancy (Feat. Charli XCX)

If you had to pick the song of 2014 Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” would probably be right up there at the top of most people’s lists. “Fancy” was everywhere this year, catapulting Iggy to top entertainers of 2014 status and finally putting the indomitable Charli XCX on the radars of anyone who was too dumb to have not paid attention to her previously. Don’t believe me? This video has been viewed more than 410 million times as of me writing this.

So why is it on the list? Aside from successfully and playfully paying homage to Clueless, ultimately you’ve got to give it up to the hooks in this song. If “Who dat, who dat? I.G.G.Y” wasn’t stuck in your head all year then it must have been because Charli XCX’s “I’m so fancy” chorus was stuck there instead. You probably don’t need any more proof than that because I’m guessing you are now singing those parts in your head before you even hit play on the video below.

14. Elliphant – One More (feat. MØ)

Next up on our countdown is another all-star female collaboration, this time between Elliphant and MØ, two of the most dynamic female voices coming out of Scandinavia right now (and that’s saying something). “One More” is a beautiful catchy ode to getting perhaps a bit too drunk and trying to convince your friends to stay for just one more drink (that’s also perhaps one too many). This bruiser of a tune’s killer refrain of “I’ve got money” is less bravado than it is a desperate plea to lure back those broke schmucks stumbling out the door at last call for another round of madness.

While singing drunk in the back of a cab isn’t exactly a unique idea for a music video (see also: Lily Allen’s “Our Time” video) what saves this video from mediocrity is their crazy drunk geisha meets club kid fashion choices, as well as the amazing harmonizing of these two unique voices. You can just tell in the video that the two of them had a lot of fun collaborating. “One More” is one of those killer earworms that only gets better and more addictive the more you listen to it.

13. Kiesza – Hideaway

Rounding out today’s countdown of this year’s most badass female performances is Kiesza’s infectiously happy dance video for “Hideaway”. The playful choreography was all shot in one-take, whose DIY simplicity seemed especially refreshing this year now that OK Go is too busy trying to absurdly one-up themselves with each new video (doubly impressive considering she’s recreated the video several times on her live television appearances). I still catch myself singing “ooo…ahh…ahh…ooo” in the shower most days. It all adds up to one memorable video, which is exactly what you need for a Best Of list.

[While it didn’t make the cut, out of respect to the other infectiously catchy girl power tracks on today’s list an honorable mention needs to go out to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” video. Let the hater’s hate, that was a damn fun video.]