Synopsis

Suede perform "Beautiful Ones" in a stark black-and-white studio setting, with Brett Anderson commanding the frame as the band play through the song's restless, sing-along arrangement. Rapid cuts interrupt the performance with brief conceptual images that translate the lyrics into literal visual fragments, creating a deliberately hectic portrait of youth, alienation, style and excess. Rather than following a conventional storyline, the video mirrors the track's catalog of outsiders and misfits through its brisk editing, monochrome photography and flashes of confrontational imagery.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Beautiful Ones" was released as the second single from *Coming Up* on October 14, 1996, and reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart.

• The song grew from one of Richard Oakes' early guitar riffs after he joined Suede. Mat Osman recalled that the band tried the riff on around 20 different guitars during development.

• Brett Anderson said the song was intended to reflect the marginal lives of himself and his friends. Its earlier working title was "The Beautiful Scum," before it was shortened to "Beautiful Ones."

• In a 2018 interview, Mat Osman described the video as a very typical 1990s production, built around the band looking good while performing, with a few conceptual cutaways. He also estimated its budget at around GBP100,000.

• The song became a regular live highlight for Suede. Osman recalled fans singing it back to the band in large groups, including an incident outside a hotel in China where roughly 100 people sang it from the lobby.