When the Music Isn’t Hitting the Charts, Maybe the Visual Needs to Hit First
Let’s be honest: sometimes a song just doesn’t hit right away.
Maybe the beat is good. Maybe the lyrics are catchy. Maybe there’s something there, but for whatever reason, it isn’t climbing the charts or grabbing people’s attention. And sometimes, all it takes is the right visual for that song to suddenly become something bigger.
A great music video can completely change the way a song is experienced. It can give people a reason to press play, create an identity around the song, and turn a track that might otherwise get overlooked into something memorable.
Personally, I think of Addison Rae’s “Diet Pepsi.” The song was good, but the music video? HIT. It had that instantly recognizable, iconic quality — plus Jason DeLaurentis from Pretty Little Liars (I know that’s not his real name, but he’s hot as fuck) — and suddenly I was hooked on Addison Rae. “Diet Pepsi” was on repeat from then on.
The video gave the song a whole world. It made Addison feel iconic. Her image and brand were there, and after that, I started paying much more attention to what she was doing. Her other songs hit even harder because now I had a visual association with her as an artist.
Take “Aquamarine,” for example. The music video was great, but honestly, I probably wouldn’t have watched it if “Diet Pepsi” hadn’t already pulled me in. That’s the power of one memorable visual: it can make you curious enough to explore everything else.
Another personal example is “MAMA’S EYES” by METTE. At first, the song was kind of whatever to me. It sounded good, sure, but I wasn’t sitting there thinking, Damn, this song slaps.
Then my cousin’s friend started raving about the music video.
I watched it.
And suddenly I was like, DAMN. This song actually slaps.
The music video was so memorable that it changed the way I heard the song. Once I had the visual attached to it, the song started making more sense to me. I understood its energy differently. I connected with it in a way I hadn’t before.
And I think that’s one of the most interesting things about music videos: they allow a song to unravel in a way that a song alone sometimes can’t.
Yes, the beat can vibe. The lyrics can hit. The production can be incredible. But when you add a visual component, you’re giving the listener another dimension to experience the music through. Suddenly, you aren’t just hearing the song — you’re seeing it, feeling it, associating it with a specific image, aesthetic, character, moment, or story.
It becomes a world.
And once a song has a world attached to it, it becomes a lot harder to forget.
That’s why I think bands and artists have to take their music videos seriously. A music video shouldn’t always feel like an afterthought or simply something you make because the song needs a video. It can be part of the song itself.
A killer music video can introduce an artist to someone who has never heard them before. It can make someone replay a song they originally didn’t care about. It can create a recognizable aesthetic around an artist. It can give fans something to talk about, share, recreate, meme, obsess over — and sometimes, it can be the thing that finally makes a song blow up.
Because sometimes the song doesn’t need to change.
You just need to give people something unforgettable to see while they’re listening to it.