Lyric videos are music videos that simply show the lyrics of the song while it plays. Traditionally these are fan-made videos, however by the early 2010s many companies had taken notice to how popular these types of videos are on YouTube and began producing professional lyric videos. Official lyric videos can range anywhere from text on a still image, to Typographic Music Videos (also known as "Kinetic Typography" or "Typography Versions" for the official ones) where they're text-based but are meant to look visually appealing, to full-length music videos in their own right. Official lyric videos have also been advantageous in reducing Mondegreens.
Another form of unofficial lyric video began to appear in the 2010s. It mixes the MAP (Multi-Animator Project) with the lyric video. The artist(s) create animations specifically around the song. They're common in fandoms such as Gravity Falls, Homestuck, Warrior Cats, and the Furry Fandom.
Can overlap with Alternate Music Video if the lyric video has creative elements that would make a music video.
Examples:
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Official Lyric Videos
- There are a few candidates for the Ur-Example, depending on how you define the term:
- Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" music video
(technically actually a promotional clip taken from the beginning of the documentary Dont Look Back (1967), later treated as a standalone video) all the way back in 1965 just has Dylan in an alleyway, pulling away title cards to show you the lyrics.
- You can also make a similar case for Dylan's "Jokerman" from 1983 being the more direct Trope Maker, since it's mostly the song's lyrics superimposed over various classic paintings, photos and sculptures that illustrate them in an abstract way, though for the choruses it cuts away to Dylan doing standard video lip-syncing.
- During the MTV era, lyric videos as we more commonly recognise them can first be seen in R.E.M.'s video for "Fall on Me" in 1986 (though a more abstract and experimental form where the lyrics flash over images of polluted scenes). This was followed by big superstars that famously had music videos simply showing their songs’ lyrics: “Sign O’ The Times” by Prince, from the album of the same name, and “Praying For Time” by George Michael, from Listen Without Prejudice, Volume 1.
- Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" music video
- Abney Park's Not Silent (presented here following the Captain's introspection)
- Accept:
- Blind Rage has "Final Journey".
- The Rise of Chaos has "Koolaid".
- Too Mean To Die has "Too Mean to Die".
- Humanoid has "Frankenstein".
- Blind Rage has "Final Journey"
- Amberian Dawn:
- Innuendo has "The Court of Mirror Hall" and "Ladyhawk".
- Darkness of Eternity has "Dragonflies", "Maybe" and "Sky Is Falling".
- Looking For You has "United" and "Lay All Your Love On Me".
- Take a Chance: A Metal Tribute to ABBA has "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", "Super Trouper", "The Day Before You Came" and "S.O.S.".
- Innuendo has "The Court of Mirror Hall"
- Alestorm:
- Their cover of Hangover.
- Their original song Captain Morgan's Revenge has also had the lyric video treatment.
- Their cover of Hangover
- AWOLNATION's lyric video for "Kill All Your Heroes" features a person with an astronaut helmet on doing things.
- Billie Eilish started making lyric videos for all her songs starting from Happier Than Ever, including one for "What was I made for?" from Barbie.
- Before Blaqk Audio's single "Faith Healer" had a Calvin Klein-style music video, it had a lyric video which was just words on screen, but very flashy and whooshy and precise.
- The original video "leaked" release of Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You" had an artistic lyric video which went viral. A more traditional video was made after the song became a huge hit.
- Cavetown's official video for Home is also a lyric video, since it consists of someone flipping through a pop-up book containing the song's lyrics. It's also a Oner.
- Céline Dion started becoming fond of lyric videos since Love Me Back To Life era. So far since then, the only cinematic music videos she's done are Incredible (duet with Ne-Yo) and Ashes.
- The lyric video to "Closer" by The Chainsmokers is a rare case of an official lyric video having more views than the music video. It has over 1 billion more views and counting. This is in part because the lyric video came out 3 months before the music video.
- Childish Gambino's lyric video for "3005" is framed around two people in a chatroom, where the woman on webcam (adult actress Abella Anderson) flirts with and stripteases for the unseen narrator, who's typing the song's lyrics in chat. Somewhat amusingly, the video contains vastly more activity than the actual official music video, which is a mostly static oner consisting of Gambino rapping despondently on a ferris wheel.
- The lyric video to Daughtry's "Waiting For Superman" uses comic book style pop-art.
- Gamma Ray's Empire of the Undead has "Hellbent".
- The lyric video to David Guetta's "Shewolf" is just a simple slideshow. It however doesn't actually show any wolves, just wolf-like dogs.
- Beginning with the second album, Glory Hammer have done a number of songs which have had lyric videos, including Universe on Fire, Masters of the Galaxy, The Land of Unicorns, and Sword Lord of the Goblin Horde.
- Helloween:
- My God-Given Right has "Battle's Won". The video uses the imagery of the album (notably missile and atomic bomb-shaped Jack O'Lanterns with the description "Da Bomb", a legion of three-headed Supermen-esque soldiers with the H on their chest, a ruined Statue of Liberty holding a tab with the inscription "My God-Given Right", and loads of bullets and soldiers with a pumpkin for a head) while the lyrics are displayed in the screen... and the band's different releases of the album during the solo breaking the immersion.
- The single "Pumpkins United" has one.
- Helloween (2021) has "Skyfall", "Cyanide", "Indestructible", "Rise Without Chains", "Angels", "Mass Pollution" and "Fear of the Fallen".
- Giants and Monsters has "Universe (Gravity for Hearts)".
- My God-Given Right has "Battle's Won"
- Jars of Clay's "Inland" video features the lyrics over nature footage.
- The lyric video to "Suit and Tie" by Justin Timberlake is Deliberately Monochrome. It features a lot of scenery shots and focus on Timberlake in formal attire. It also uses the Smoking Is Cool trope.
- Katy Perry:
- The lyric video "Unconditionally" features a woman singing the lyrics to another woman, who more-or-less just dramatically stares at the camera the entire video. Erika Linder is frequently mistaken for a man in the video, which was probably the director's intent.
- "Roar" has a lyric video in the shape of Instant Messaging screen, complete with emoticons!
- The lyric video for "Chained to the Rhythm" features a miniature house with miniature food fit for a hamster. (In a rare display of consistency, the official video takes place in a theme park whose mascot is a hamster.)
- The lyric video
- Lady Gaga has one for "Applause" where the lyrics are shown over a night club scene.
- The official music video for "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw, the winner of Eurovision 2015.
- Mckenna Grace has Checkered Vans and Post Party Trauma.
- Marshmello and Anne-Marie's song "FRIENDS" has an animated lyric video where Anne-Marie sings the song to Marshmello.
- Nine Inch Nails' music video for "Less Than" features the song's lyrics showing up in Llamasoft's Defictionalization of Polybius while a girl plays. The video contains a specially modified version of the game made for the video.
- NOMA's "Brain Power" has one in EZ2ON REBOOT : R. There's also an unofficial one that was used as part of the song's official inclusion in Neon FM.
- The lyric video to "Wolves Without Teeth" by Of Monsters and Men features choreography done by twins Erna Jonasdottir and Hrefna Jonasdottir while they lip-sync to the song.
- Oomph! made their first, and only one so far, one for "Kein Liebeslied".
- Pet Shop Boys' official video for "The Pop Kids" is the song lyrics (displayed one word at a time) over slow motion footage of dancers at a club.
- Place Vendôme:
- Thunder in the Distance has one for "Talk to Me" and another for "Power of Music".
- Close to the Sun has one for "Welcome to the Edge" and another for "Hereafter".
- Primal Fear:
- Apocalypse has "Hounds of Justice".
- Metal Commando has "Along Came The Devil".
- The remastered edition of Primal Fear has "Chainbreaker" and "Running in the Dust".
- Code Red has "Cancel Culture".
- Apocalypse has "Hounds of Justice"
- The music video to "Beer" by Psychostick is a lyric video. It predates the rise of official lyric videos by several years. The video uses pictographs and intentionally looks amateur.
- Powerwolf have also done a few of these. It seems to be a Napalm Records thing. See: Incense and Iron, Sainted by the Storm, and No Prayer at Midnight.
- The lyric video for "Give Me Your Hand" by The Ready Set features a girl performing ASL to the viewer and to the people on the street.
- Rush: "Headlong Flight" has a lyric video consisting of the lyrics displayed on a strange monitor in front of relevant Stock Footage.
- Sia:
- "Cheap Thrills" featuring Sean Paul features a '50s retraux-style dance show reminiscent of shows like American Bandstand.
- "Move Your Body" features a little girl who ventures around a 1980s-style photo studio.
- "Santa's Coming for Us" features Kristen Bell as she, her family and her guests prepare a household Holiday feast as they anticipate for Santa Claus.
- "Cheap Thrills
- The lyric video to "Not Gonna Die" by Skillet is an animated video where a little girl gets chased by a hydra. It features heavy Christian symbolism (unsurprising considering Skillet is a Christian Rock band), such as the girl being watched over by a lion and her trying to use a slingshot on the hydra.
- There's nothing particularly noteworthy about the lyric video to Sleeping With Siren's "If I'm James Dean Then You're Audrey Hepburn" besides that it uses the "more romantic", acoustic version of the song, instead of the original rock version full of screaming.
- Stephanie Mabey's "The Zombie Song" has a lyric video featuring drawings alongside the lyrics.
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie, while certainly not an artist, has a lyric video available of Bowser's Villain Love Song "Peaches" on the streaming service, DVD, and Blu-Ray releases of the film as a bonus feature.
- Taylor Swift began releasing lyric videos for some of her songs from reputation onwards, with "Look What You Made Me Do" being among the first, and starting from folklore (2020), she has made it a habit to release lyric videos for all her songs, including her Taylor's version rereleases.
- "Selfish Jean" by Travis shows comedian Demetri Martin taking off several layers of shirts that show some of the song's lyrics, some of which are displayed through visual symbols and body language.
- Unisonic has one for the song "For the Kingdom", from Light of Dawn.
- Vampire Weekend has a music video for "Step" which is basically just words popping up on screen in front of nice grey urban backdrops.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic:
- Al originally released "Perform This Way" as a lyric video after Lady Gaga's manager refused to give him permission to parody "Born This Way". Once Lady Gaga herself revealed she wasn't the one who rejected it, he made a proper music video.
- His video for "Bob" consists almost entirely of him holding up pieces of paper with the song's lines on them.
- Weird Al Yankovic has an artistic lyric video for "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me".
- Followed by a video for "Word Crimes" that went even more artistic.
Fan-Made Lyric Videos
- This fan-made video for Modest Mouse's "Sugar Boats", using footage from the cartoon short "Bimbo's Initiation", with the song lyrics inserted pretty seamlessly into the animation.
- This kinetic typography video for Jonathan Coulton's "Shop Vac" is still considered one of the very best examples of how to do Kinetic Typography. The composition of the typography and the graphical content do a very good job of advancing the story of the song.