Music videos were initially nothing more to background settings to songs. However, the medium has gradually turned into an art form in of itself, whether it’s pushing technical limits or visual extravagance. In saying all that, I’m willing to bet there will never be a music video, past, present and future, that will top the shockingly graphic – and controversial – masterpiece to DyE’s ‘Fantasy’.
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Released in 2011, DyE’s ‘Fantasy’ was received as a pretty good, if underwhelming electropop tune that had super-ambiguous lyrics. ‘Fantasy’ didn’t really get much attention until the controversial music video came out and caused the entire internet to take notice of who this DyE fellow was.
The ‘Fantasy’ music video was created by Jérémie Périn and it depicts four teenagers sneaking into local pool at night, goofing around, and getting handsy with each other. However, things take a whiplash-inducing turn midway that is so shockingly unexpected you’ll wonder how the hell Périn created such a twisted music video using DyE’s incredibly sparse lyrics.
I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it but just a big warning, get ready for some seriously messed up stuff.
Hello (again), nightmares.
A coming-of-age story about teens exploring their sexuality descending into a horror-fest is something no one expected. Yet as twisted and controversial as this ‘Fantasy’ music video may seem, it’s actually a work of genius from DyE and Périn.
On a simple level, you can look at it as some Lovecraftian tale involving parallel worlds where the pool is a portal into a twisted world. But dig a little deeper and it’s a pretty great look at a teenage girls of innocence towards sexual relationships.
When the parasite comes out of the shy girl, it represents her being turned on for the first time and not knowing what to do. Her friends turning into monsters and killing everyone is basically her visualising them as gross beings for doing sexual stuff. And finally, her eyes exploding at the end signifies the loss of her innocence because she finally realises that sex is something people do in real life.
Watching the ‘Fantasy’ music video again in 2020, it is just as impactful today as it was in 2011 and I have nothing but respect for what Périn and DyE were trying to do with their controversial vid. Perhaps music videos can take inspiration from ‘Fantasy’ and not be afraid to go weird once again instead of serving as something to shade dodgy dudes with.
Maybe keep this video away from teenagers going through puberty though. They’ve got enough going on in their lives and definitely don’t need a horror-fest like ‘Fantasy’ to ruin sex for them.
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