Could you even imagine today if what we did was turn on MTV and just watched music videos on a loop? Sometimes, I wish that was the case. I can even remember in 2000 when I saw "Bye Bye Bye" by NSYNC (my first music video... don't even try to mock, I say that with pride), and I couldn't believe that this long form type of film was what artists accompanied their songs with. It was such a cool new and interesting form of expression that I had not yet seen.

From then on, with VH1 Jump Start and TRL, I was always eager to watch what mesmerizing visual story artists would try to link with their newest singles. We would get countless weird and obscure videos from Panic! At the Disco and Fall Out Boy, vibrant and exciting videos from Lady Gaga and Katy Perry (and Beyonce's "Single Ladies" of course), and even more long form videos from Green Day, Kanye West or just about anything Thirty Seconds to Mars did.

I feel that besides a few exceptions like Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce and few artists here and there, the 2010's music videos have die down in terms of the story they could be telling along with the song. Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" and "HUMBLE." are one of the few landmark achievements I have seen recently in terms of cinematography, message and pushing the envelope for the sake of art. Both Kendrick and Beyonce share the confidence in telling such relevant and untouched stories, as is seen with the landmark long form visual narrative, "Lemonade."

Not only does a lot of what you see nowadays feel like a run of the mill music video (i.e. any Ariana Grande or Justin Bieber music video), but there is no sense of danger, questionability, message or even just visual beauty in what they're putting out to fans. When an artist like Lana Del Rey ("Ride") or Beyonce ("Sorry") goes out of their way to put themselves in a vulnerable position in telling a story for the sake of producing beautiful art, I think we can all collectively appreciate it.

I'm not saying that people need to recreate Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (I'd like to see anyone try), but a more solid attempt to bring something new to everyone's trending news feed would be a breath of fresh air. In the '80s, when MTV was just an emerging platform for artists, most tried anything they could to have a cool enough video that would be played constantly. Duran Duran even became famous for their approach in making their videos feel like short films.

I'm not saying people need to always take the obscene route like Miley Cyrus with videos like "We Can't Stop" or Nicki Minaj with "Anaconda"; however, if it is all anyone is talking about, then I credit them with doing something new and innovative in the mainstream. Whether you are a huge fan of it or not, it started a discussion among you and others.

I hope with videos like Kendrick's and Beyonce's that people start to follow this trend in visual storytelling. I know that it's not why musicians are musicians in the first place, to make great music videos; but in terms of presenting yourself or your group in a new dynamic way, it'll definitely show the dedication you have for all aspects of your craft.

Here are some of my personal favorites in recent years (and who other artists should take notes from).

And even though Young Thug probably had nothing to do with this, director Ryan Staake was a genius for putting this out.

Do you think music videos need to make a comeback?