| Sumario: | In previous studies of music video's semiotic triumvirate of music– image–text, it is most common to focus on the first two and more or less ignore the role played by words – perhaps because lyrics only rarely strike us as the most prominent part of this totality of communicative layers in music video. However, recent years have witnessed the birth of a new music video genre that places a greater emphasis on words than is usually the case, namely the so-called lyric video, that is defined by graphically replicating the sung lyrics as text in the image. This essay traces the development and definition of this particular music video genre, providing theoretical reflections on the role played by words and lyrics in music video in general and in lyric videos in particular. It is argued that lyric videos in fact run counter to what we normally expect of music videos. This is demonstrated through an in-depth analysis of SOPHIE's 'Faceshopping' that reads as a critique of the lyric video genre from within the genre itself. Like this video, the essay maintains that the creative clash between the three different registers of music–image–text is indeed the most fundamental aspect of music video aesthetics.
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