Moby 'Beautiful' - Official video

2005

Moby 'Beautiful' - Official video (2005) Director: Laurent Briet Era: Post-Play Commercial Alt-Electronic Era (2005) - Moby's mid-2000s pivot toward polished alt-rock pop with the Hotel album cycle, bridging electronic dance heritage and mainstream radio aesthetics. High curatorial value as a document of Moby's commercial peak pivot moment, a visually distinctive single from the divisive Hotel album that nonetheless achieved mainstream chart success and cultural longevity through film soundtrack placement. The video's surrealist concept, directed by Laurent Briet at the height of his music video career, offers a striking counterpoint to Moby's earnest electronic persona and stands as an artifact of mid-2000s alt-pop video aesthetics. Useful for comparative study alongside the broader Hotel single campaign video series. Context: Released as the fifth single from Moby's seventh studio album Hotel (Mute Records / V2 Records, March 2005), 'Beautiful' arrived during a transitional moment in Moby's career. Hotel marked a deliberate stylistic pivot away from the sample-heavy electronica of Play (1999) and 18 (2002) toward alternative rock and conventional pop songwriting structures, the first Moby album without vocal samples since Ambient (1993). Moby later acknowledged the album reflected an unusual commercial ambition, describing Hotel as the only time he made music focused on fame rather than artistic drive. The 'Beautiful' video's swinger-party-in-animal-costumes concept satirizes celebrity culture and performative romance, matching Moby's stated dual reading of the song as both love song and critique of self-congratulatory celebrity couples. The track was later licensed for the soundtrack of The Devil Wears Prada (2006), extending its cultural reach into mainstream fashion media. Director notes: Directed Version 1 of the 'Beautiful' music video in 2005 as part of the Hotel album single campaign. The video concept centers on a swinger party populated by guests in animal costumes, providing a surrealist and satirical visual counterpart to Moby's self-described 'devious love song' about celebrity couple self-congratulation. The 2005 production year aligns with Briet's most active period as a music video director, during which he also helmed videos for Fort Minor and Tori Amos. A second version of the video was directed by Ben Weinstein.