It’s an uneasy time for the art form known as a music video. With so much digital content constantly bombarding our social media feeds, it’s pretty easy to overlook a new video from an artist. But even in the era of lyric videos, Instagram, vloggers and Viners, a truly brilliant idea can shine through and a brilliantly executed concept can still attract the attention of millions. These 8 videos not only caught our eye, but also made us click the ‘Replay’ button more than once.

Rihanna – Bitch Better Have My Money

It was a hard year for Rihanna fans. After several false starts her long-overdue eighth album still hasn’t materialized. But at least now we know who’s partially to blame; turns out Rihanna’s accountant was messing with her wealth and eventually got what was coming to him in the form of a seven-minute-long blood-soaked blockbuster that was easily 2015’s most brutally fun music video. Miss Fenty directed it by herself with the help of Megaforce. Who said Lady Gaga was the only one who’s allowed to film long music videos filled with blood and excesses?

Taylor Swift – Bad Blood

Taylor brought out the big guns, too, both literally and metaphorically, when she enlisted half of her phonebook to star in the video for the (according to rumors) Katy Perry-bashing Bad Blood anthem. The Joseph Kahn-directed short action movie was hyped like a proper blockbuster, with each badass female character getting her own nickname and a poster. The only complain we have: Why did it have to be so damn short? We’d love to see more of Ellie Goulding’s Destructa X, Zendaya’s Cut-Throat and especially Cindy Crawford’s elegant-yet-deadly Headmistress! Maybe once Taylor’s done making out with Clint Eastwood’s son (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdneKLhsWOQ) , she can bring on a sequel to “Bad Blood”?

Kendrick Lamar – Alright

After completing his duties in Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” video, the Californian rapping sensation returned with his own stellar music video for “Alright,” an introduction of ‘Lucy’ (an important character in the To Pimp A Butterfly album’s narration). Filled with equally breathtaking and nerve-wracking imagery, the video once again reminded us why Lamar is considered not just a voice of his generation, but also a grand visionary of our times. If he keeps up at this pace, hip hop’s “gon’ be alright” for sure.

Adele – Hello

Nobody doubted for a second that Adele’s comeback would be epic, but we couldn’t imagine that she’d ask renowned Canadian actor/director Xavier Dolan to secure her return that mesmerizing vintage look. The retro-inspired sepia-galore music video stars Tristan Wilds as Adele’s old flame—a far cry from Wilds’ stint on the 90210 remake series. The video eventually beat the new Star Wars trailer’s peak view rate, proving our theory that Adele is a secret Jedi. Who else could turn the Billboard chart into her very own Empire?

Carly Rae Jepsen – Your Type

This Canadian crooner is no stranger when it comes to making remarkable music videos—her career was kick-started by that hilariously cheesy yet charming “Call Me Maybe” video, and then she let Tom Hanks steal her thunder and lip-sync to her comeback single, “I Really Like You.” But it was the video for “Your Type,” Carly’s finest lovesick sad-pop banger to date, that we really, really liked for its eerie atmosphere, neon lights, soap bubbles, cryptic plot and all of this David Lynch-meets-Cinderella business. This is definitely our type of music video!

Calvin Harris & Disciples – How Deep Is Your Love

How do you top a classic neon-lit video for the Bee Gees’ song of the same name? By replacing three rotating machos with one alien/robot/who-knows-what-else supermodel. The trick surely worked for Calvin Harris and Disciples’ video that featured Gigi Hadid in all kinds of pleasant scenarios from making her dip into the pool in a silk dress to giving in to the dancing at the local rave. We’re not entirely sure what the plot of the video was, how it was connected to the song’s lyrics and how many times Hadid actually touched her hair throughout the video, but one thing is certain: we’d happily take Gigi’s spot at that gorgeous white yacht. Our love for such activities is pretty deep!

FKA twigs - Glass & Patron

If the “How Deep Is Your Love” video wasn’t trippy enough for you, here’s full-on madness from the mistress of all things weird and artistic, British experimental electronics queen FKA twigs. The video kicks off with FKA laying in a white van in the middle of the woods giving birth to… we guess her creativity, as she’s directed the video herself. Consider it a loose sequel to Madonna’s “Vogue”: There’s a lot of vogueing, endless stream of brave fashion ideas and never-ending supply of attitude.

Major Lazer ft. DJ Snake and MØ - Lean On

By now you have probably heard enough of this catchy multi-cultured collaboration of Americans Major Lazer, French producer DJ Snake and Danish singer MØ—it was played everywhere around the globe all year long—yet we still can’t stop watching its colorful Bollywood-inspired music video and repeating all of these awesome dance moves. Our favorite part? All of these super-producers stepping outside of the studio for once and working it on the dancefloor. Go show ‘em, Diplo!