anyone remember the summer eric roberts was in every music video?
Does anyone else ever think about that one summer where actor, Eric Roberts was in every music video? The year was 2005 and the music videos were four-minute cinematic experiences with unbelievable production value. It was the year that brought us Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi and three top music videos all starring Eric Roberts in a common theme of wealthy “zaddy” type vs handsome young man.
In this trip down mid-aughts memory lane, we’ll start with the one that is arguably the most forgotten but lays the foundation for the music video for one of the biggest songs of 2005. Mariah Carey’s “It’s Like That”, introduces Eric Roberts as a mysterious proprietor of some kind of masquerade-casino-club venue. In “It’s Like That”, Eric Roberts, clad in a three-piece suit, is lulled from his gilded office by the siren call of Mariah Carey dancing on super random/VERY creepy TVs in the aforementioned office. But just when you think Mariah and Eric are going to end up together, we get a late entry from a masked (then dramatically unmasked) Wentworth Miller. With just a look, Eric Roberts conveys “this isn’t over” and walks away with only the confidence that an owner of a masquerade-casino-club could have and this showdown abruptly ends with a “To Be Continued”!
INTERMISSION - While we wait for this love triangle to be continued, we’re introduced to another. In arguably one of the best songs of all time (I said what I said) “Mr.Brightside” by The Killers gives us a music video where once again, Eric Roberts is the proprietor (and maybe pimp? honestly it’s unclear) of a vaudeville club. Keeping consistent with the theme, Eric Roberts and Brandon Flowers spar over Young Burlesque Girl in the age-old struggle of Villainous Sugar Daddy vs 20s male, Established vs Struggling, Velvet-robed vs Eye-lined. Watch the music video for the song and stay for the moment where Roberts and Flowers play checkers for Young Burlesque Girl’s heart and Flowers flips the checkers board (an iconic moment in millennial pop culture honestly).
Now back to the Emancipation of Mimi. In one of the biggest songs of 2005, Mariah Carey’s music video for “We Belong Together” does not hold back. It is Mariah’s wedding day. She is sad and contemplative when suddenly we see a man in a suit. It’s Wentworth Miller, maskless, and seemingly in the same suit we last saw him in from “It’s Like That”. Is he the groom? NO! Enter ERIC ROBERTS in a full tuxedo, strutting down the aisle. We cut to Mimi in a wedding dress with the longest train known to mankind. Cut to Wentworth brooding on a stone railing with a focus on his Converse sneakers (why? we’ll never know). FLASHBACK and we’re back to the masquerade-casino-club where apparently Mimi and Wentworth were in love. Back at the wedding, Mimi reluctantly is at the altar with Eric Roberts who looks so happy only to have his heart broken seconds later when Mimi RUNS from the wedding (which I can’t help but feel is somehow a Runaway Bride reference as Julia Roberts is Eric Roberts sister in real life, fun fact). Mimi runs away with Wentworth leaving Eric Roberts at the altar.
So was Eric Roberts in every music video in the summer of 2005? No. But did he elevate every damn one that he was in? Without a doubt. In fact, just think about how much better Maroon 5’s video for “She Will Be Loved” would’ve been had Eric Roberts been cast as the villainous husband. That could honestly be a 90-minute film I would watch in theaters. Anyway, I’m hard-pressed to think of another year that has seen the same actor star in multiple different artist’s music videos and I think that says something. What that something is I’m not fully sure but Eric Roberts elevated the music video acting genre and for that, he should be celebrated.
P.S. in peak 2006 form, Roberts is back in the music video game as a cop in Akon’s “Smack That”. Enjoy.