When the Music Video Doesn't Match the Song

Submission 1,562

About

When the Music Video Doesn't Match the Song refers to a trend on YouTube and TikTok where a song is paired with a style of music video that does not fit the genre. The trend was started by YouTuber loveliveserve in December 2018, inspiring other creators on YouTube and TikTok to create their own music videos that don't match the song.

Origin

On December 26th, 2018, YouTuber^[1] loveliveserve posted a video titled "When the music video doesn't match the song" where they create a music video in a trap hip-hop style to the pop song "Boyfriend" by Big Time Rush, garnering over 16.1 million views in five years (shown below). The YouTuber^[2]^[3] posted two sequels to the video on January 6th and 18th, 2019 set to the songs "Somebody to Love" by Justin Bieber and "Beautiful Soul" by Jesse McCartney respectively, garnering over 7 million and 7.5 million views in four years.

On January 18th, YouTuber^[4] girlhefunnyaf44 posted a video inspired by these videos set to the One Direction song "What Makes You Beautiful," garnering over 2.5 million views in four years (shown below). This is the earliest known video inspired by the originals, sparking the trend.

Spread

YouTuber^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] loveliveserve posted four more videos in their series between May and September 2019, garnering over 19 million collective views in four years (most popular example shown below, left). On November 17th, 2021, YouTuber^[9] and musician LilMan posted a video following the trend, garnering over 191,000 views in two years (shown below, right).

On April 11th, 2023, TikToker^[10] @uce_gang6 posted a video following the trend to "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus, garnering over 2.9 million views in four months (shown below, left). The TikToker^[11] posted another version of the trend on April 16th, garnering over 23 million views in the same span of time (shown below, right). The trend became increasingly popular on the app over the following months.

On August 22nd, TikToker^[12] @theowisseh_ posted a video following the trend with Natasha Bedingfield's song "Unwritten," garnering over 2.5 million views in a week. On August 23rd, Bedingfield reacted to the video through her TikTok^[13] account, garnering over 170,000 views in a day (shown below). On August 24th, X^[14] user @nhoodpublicist reposted the video, garnering over 1,800 likes in under 24 hours.