3 of your favourite Elton John songs now have official music videos.

(YouTube)
(YouTube)

Last year, Elton John held a global competition with YouTube called “Elton John: The Cut”, where fans were encouraged to create original music videos for his hits “Tiny Dancer”, “Bennie and the Jets” and “Rocket Man”.

The submission rules specified that the “Rocket Man” video should be animated, the “Tiny Dancer” film should be live action, and the “Bennie and the Jets” video be based around choreography.

(Image Credit: thecut.eltonjohn.com)
(Image Credit: thecut.eltonjohn.com)

The people who created the winning videos won $10,000 from YouTube. The legendary Elton John and his songwriting partner of 50 years Bernie Taupin announced the winning submissions at the Cannes Film Festival.

 

Elton John said he was “moved and amazed” when he watched both of the videos, adding: “The future of creativity is clearly collaborative, fusing art and technology, and it’s been fantastic to open up our work to the next generation of creative talent and to share that process with the world on YouTube”

A well-known supporter of emerging young talent, John added: “It’s always great to see new things from someone you’ve never heard of. It fills you with passion,” he said. “It was like giving the songs Botox” (laughing).

The YouTube blog post that shared the names of the winners wrote:
“These iconic hits – released in 1971, 1972 and 1973 – were made before the emergence of music videos, yielding an opportunity to breathe new creativity into some of the most loved music of all time. The concept was beautifully simple. And the results are amazing.”

Check out the winning videos, in no particular order

1. “Bennie and the Jets”
-Director Jack Whitley and choreographer Laura Brownhill


2. “Tiny Dancer”
-Director Max Weiland


3. “Rocket Man”
-Iranian filmmaker & director Majid Adin

The judges for “The Cut” competition were intimidating, to say the least. The winning decisions came down from DreamWorks Animation co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, music video director Melina Matsoukas, and the Oscar winning director of “Moonlight”Barry Jenkins.

Filed under: bennie-and-the-jets, elton-john, Music, rocket-man, tiny-dancer, youtube