Juice WRLD & The Weeknd - Smile

What this video is

Released on August 11, 2020, the animated music video for 'Smile' arrived during the COVID-19 pandemic and approximately eight months after Juice WRLD's death in December 2019. As the sixth posthumous single from Legends Never Die, it represented a broader industry trend of estates commissioning animated visuals — rather than live-action — to memorialize deceased artists without the ethical complications of…

Why it matters

A landmark in the subgenre of posthumous hip-hop music videos, 'Smile' demonstrated that fully CGI animation could serve as a culturally resonant and critically accepted vehicle for tribute storytelling. KDC Visions' work here helped establish animated music videos as a viable prestige format…

The director

KDC Visions is a self-taught Black 3D animator and music video director from London. Discovering animation at age 11 via Roblox, KDC built an early YouTube following under 'Kady Create' before pivoting at 17 to directing animated hip-hop music videos. His…