"In hindsight, it’s incredible how quickly Thao Nguyen and her team of collaborators not only saw how Zoom windows would come to be the dominant visual mode of the year, but also put together this impressive ode to distanced creativity. Crowdsourced contributions like those in “Lay Your Head on Me” became a way for some artists to connect with fans while also giving voice to the idea that no one was shielded from the events of this year. And with isolation becoming an even more universal theme than before, it made sense that someone would look to harness a view at life through screen time."

"Many videos filmed in the months before March or with less obvious constraints may take on a retroactive significance (Jack Garratt twirling around to the chorus of “Better,” Moses Sumney in old-age makeup looking over the remains of a haunted bedroom in “Me in 20 Years”) and some filmed during it may end up being indicators of this time in their own way (HAIM strolling through the parking lot of The Forum, Jeff Tweedy lending the lower half of his face to a parade of famous guest lip-syncers). Regardless of the timing, no list of the year’s best would be complete without including the videos that were able to respond to an uncertain world in as close to real-time as you can get."

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