PinkPantheress’ new music video evokes 2020s nostalgia-driven visual culture: An Offbeat by CFUV Review
Cover Image via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUPvKIjqx-M.
Dance-pop queen PinkPantheress (Victoria Walker) has established her reign as the world’s British Y2K phenomenon, defining this decade with a niche she carved out herself. Merging her range of inspirations in electronic, R&B, drum and bass, and UK garage, Walker has seen a series of successes for her musical contributions.
She released her second mixtape, Fancy That, in the spring of 2025 to widespread critical appeal. One year later saw the arrival of the music video for “Girl Like Me,” the second track off the mixtape. Showcasing the subtleties of nostalgia and a distinct cultural memory of Britain in the undefined early 2000s, PinkPantheress has proven that great artistry and branding can bridge the evocative with the totally unique.
“Girl Like Me” kicks off with a cameo by Davina McCall, British TV personality best known for hosting Big Brother from years 2000 to 2010, featuring her signature catchphrase “Fancy another one?” The video then transforms into a total red, white, and blue fantasy — complete with all tastes of stereotypical London fashion: bouncing city townhouses, a parade of marching King’s Guards, and a smiling lollypop lady.
The video showcases a series of characters, including Walker and McCall, engaging in a series of quick-timed, minigame-style tasks set to the beat in a distinct city environment. Sectioned pieces of the background also stagger in movement, creating a living city that moves with the music. When the city doesn’t compliment its inhabitants with stark concrete buildings, it follows a loose colour palette of the Union Jack, gridded squares of reds and blues along with magentas and purples set against a white background pulsating along. Every featured element contributes to a wholly musical world.
This isn’t director LAUZZA’s first collaboration with PinkPantheress. Last year saw the release of “Close to you,” blending classic playing card motifs with a medieval environment and featuring an anime-inspired, magical girl transformation. Like PinkPantheress, LAUZZA doesn’t shy away from referencing his inspirations. His own website recalls the handmade aesthetic and chrome-faced era of Web 2.0, with his 3D rendered logo sitting in a grey void as though it were an unfinished project made in Blender.
Walker’s influence has already reached artists seeking to remix and reinterpret her music independently. Two weeks prior to the official “Girl Like Me” video, animator Poplako released a fanmade music video showcasing a cartoon PinkPantheress, accompanied by mascot-like cats and, of course, a plethora of early 2000s internet references.
The minigame-like storytelling, too, has led to countless remixes, with the game Rhythm Heaven using the fanmade app Heaven Studio. (Sidenote: with A$AP Rocky’s release “Punk Rocky” directly referencing PaRappa the Rapper, could 2026 be the year of the gamer in music?)
Building one’s brand purely off references is a risky move, potentially opening an artist to accusations of plagiarism or a lack of originality. While contemporary pop artists seem to be able to appropriate aesthetics simply to play dress-up, PinkPantheress accentuates her sound with her visuals. Drawing on British kitsch and the anglophilia that fell out of popularity in the mid-2010s, Pink proves herself as a herald of a new pop generation with a now timeless aesthetic.
While the referential and sampled nature of her music dates the inspiration, her sound has built an energetic and innovative approach to production. Along with the techno-optimistic feel in her autotuned voice and animated elements in this particular music video, PinkPantheress could spark a visual renaissance in a post-MTV world.
