Archive for the ‘Videodrone’ Category

Lily Allen Is Asking The Girl In The Mirror To Change Her Ways

Maura
July 13th, 2009 // 11 Comments

The video for Lily Allen’s musing on whether women of her generation have been stamped with an expiration date, “22,” chronicles those moments that members of the fairer sex spend in the bathroom during late nights at clubs—scrutinizing themselves in the mirror, intoxicated on both the offerings served up by the establishments’ bartenders and the peacocking they’ll have to go through once they escape through the doors marked WOMEN. Clip after the jump.





I spun Allen’s “Everyone’s At It”—also from It’s Not Me It’s You—a couple of times the other night, and what struck me about both that and the above song were how resolutely bleak they both are, somewhat uptempo music aside, and how the characterization of her as the 20something generation’s Jarvis Cocker might be more apt than not. Of course, if her next album is a collection of completely unjaded Ibiza anthems I’ll revoke that assessment.


Lily Allen – 22 [YouTube]

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M.I.A.’s Directing Aesthetic Is As Crazily Technicolor As You Might Expect

Maura
July 1st, 2009 // 3 Comments

What with her flashy clothes and ability to dance under any circumstances, it’s no surprise that the M.I.A.-directed video for Rye Rye’s “Bang” (which one could be describe as a “banger” if one weren’t worried about the obviousness of said description) has lots of people shaking their booties like crazy, as well as people outfitted in finery that’s so glow-in-the-dark, it makes you wish she’d just gone all-out and cast Tron Guy. Clip after the jump.





Rye Rye: “Bang” [AOL via Pitchfork]

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Seether Kills ’80s Nostalgia Dead

Maura
June 15th, 2009 // 1 Comment

A brief list of utterly unnecessary pop-culture references in Seether’s C64-inspired clusterfuck of a video for its still-unkillable cover of “Careless Whisper,” a clip that is half-’80s nostalgia trip and half-boneheaded “commentary” on issues of the present day like Kim Jong Il’s grip on power. You may recognize him up top, where he’s talking to Tony “Scarface” Montana and Vicki while presiding over a scaffold not unlike the one Donkey Kong commands. Oh, haha, I guess I just inadvertently started that list! But there is so much more.





These aren’t in order, really, because Yahoo! won’t let you rewind! or fast-forward! the video!, and I was not going to listen to George Michael’s masterwork get murdered multiple times. Special thanks to Al Shipley for letting me rant about this video to him while I was watching it!
• Bailouts.
• The stock market.
• Mortal Kombat.
• Swine flu.
• Pitfall! (Paired with swine flu.)
• Big-breasted nurses. (OK, so that’s more of a timeless motif.)
• Q-Bert.
• DeLoreans.
• Teen Wolf.
• The A-Team.
• “The environment.”
• Peak oil. (Well, sort of.)
• E.T. (But not E.T.: The video game! Curious.)


The one nice touch: The first whack the lead singer gets against a bad guy is a “Wham!” If only the rest of this clip had that relative wit.


Careless Whisper [Yahoo!]

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Beth Ditto Has A Secret That’s Making Her Smile

Maura
June 15th, 2009 // Leave a Comment


Beth Ditto’s performance in the Gossip’s video for “Still Standing In The Way Of Control” “Heavy Cross,” from the band’s forthcoming major-label debut Music For Men, is weirdly reminiscent of American Idol–namely, all those moments when singers are trying to prove to you that they really feel a song, only the smile playing across their lips directly contradicts the seriousness / bummer quotient of the lyrics. I get that Ditto here is trying to play to the type of the all-seeing disco oracle here, but “Cross” is something of an odd contrast with both the glitter-and-gold motif of the clip and her almost-too-knowing grin. Particularly when she’s really trying to belt out that bit at the end–I don’t even think Whitney keeps a smile on her face while she’s really giving her songs their all. [YouTube]

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Mandy Moore’s Secret Weapon Might Be Her Intense Awkwardness

Maura
June 12th, 2009 // 6 Comments

I’ve spent some time with Mandy Moore’s latest attempt to break free of her teenpop bonds Amanda Leigh since it came out, and one word keeps coming to mind: Disarming. The songs are quite good, but there’s an odd feeling of placelessness about it; it doesn’t have much of a sense of time, or even locale, despite references to rivers and summers and dells. The video for the album’s first single, the snappy “I Could Break Your Heart Every Day Of The Week,” is kind of a perfect showcase for how the record sounds OK on the surface, yet has a queasy unease lurking within!


It’s set in a dojo, although Mandy herself could be anywhere else in the world for pretty much most of the clip–she lip-syncs the track while trying to look “tough” but really just looking like she’s irritated about being stuck at the video shoot, and shots of her are alternated with shots of the flipping and flying fighters in such a way that you wonder if all these people are even on the same set, let alone in the same room. That is, until the mean old dojo leader walks in, and we’re treated to the dramatic conclusion: Mandy gives the big jerk an underwear flash, then kicks him in the balls. And walks out, to the cheers of his oppressed students. It’s unclear why she’s taken on this role of mean-teacher avenger, which leads me to wonder if this might be an alternate “all cutting room floor footage” version of the clip. I really like this song and think that it could help her achieve Triple-A crossover to some extent, but this video’s unbelievable awkwardness is just painful to sit through.


Mandy Moore – I Could Break Your Heart Any Day Of The Week [YouTube; embedding disabled]

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50 Cent Shows Off The Muppet-Saving Qualities Of His Branded Vitamin Water

Maura
June 12th, 2009 // Leave a Comment


Curtis Jackson: Lover, fighter, actor, rescuer of the worst Sesame Street character in history. Oh well, at least he’s trying to get attention for doing something sort of nice, right? [YouTube via broken cool]

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George Michael Engages In A Little Gender-Rebending

Maura
June 10th, 2009 // 1 Comment


Beyoncé closed out her UK tour last night, and as a surprise, she brought George Michael onstage for a performance of her male-privilege-examining ballad “If I Were A Boy.” Michael’s vocals in this clip are for the most part drowned out by B’s instrument and the shrieks of the overexcited fans at London’s O2 Arena, but the bits where he busts through sound great, and it just makes me want more from him, like, now. (Especially if that “more” means “more collaborations with Beyoncé”–could you imagine?) [YouTube via Vicki]

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Amerie Brings The Mic Close, Her Listeners Closer

Maura
June 9th, 2009 // 2 Comments


Amerie’s video for “Why R U,” which is the first single off what I guess is going to try and be her comeback album In Love & War, is a pretty standard affair: Amerie stands and lounges in front of various walls while miming the track, flaunting her legs to maximum effect. I’m hoping that Def Jam’s attempt to remarket Amerie after the fizzling of Because I Love It works on both a commercial level and an appealing-to-me level. And it’s probably a good sign that “Why R U” has grown on me a lot since its release last month–although I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that feeling was in large part to it being included on the better-with-every-spin ziptape The Future Of R & B: Volume 26, which you should definitely snag if you haven’t already. [via Vicki]

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Jordin Sparks Is Out Standing In Her Battlefield

Maura
June 8th, 2009 // 4 Comments


The video for Jordin Sparks’ “Battlefield” made its way to the Internet over the weekend, and on the day that newly minted American Idol winner Kris Allen made his inevitable record deal with 19 Recordings official, it’s somewhat instructive to see what happens to people who stay in the 19 fold for their second albums. Sparks’ Ryan Tedder-produced track, which has co-written by ex-Color Me Badd dude Sam Watters on its four-man songwriters’ roster, is OK enough and it’s getting raves from people whose opinions I respect. But it still sounds somewhat odd to these ears, like her voice has been dosed with a double shot of Splenda because that was the only way it could match up to the bombast surrounding her. The video, on the other hand, is a simple affair that allows her to get into maximum drama mode. [YouTube]

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Bret Michaels Has An Inadvertent Makeout Session With Some Scenery At The Tony Awards

Maura
June 7th, 2009 // 4 Comments


You have to feel for Bret Michaels. The Poison frontman took to the stage with his band at tonight’s Tony Awards–in an effort to show that he can use Sunday-night TV to promote his music career, and not just make out with various surgically enhanced women–and his performance of “Nothin’ But A Good Time” was capped by him getting clotheslined by a piece of scenery descending from the rafters. (The VH1 gods do not like to be teased.) No word on his condition yet, but apparently his nose isn’t broken. The clip of the band’s full performance is above; as you might expect, industrious YouTube users have distilled the clip down to its Bret-getting-clocked essence, and you can see that after the jump.





Can’t wait until this mishap is written into a challenge for the next season of Rock Of Love!


(Also, Constantine was robbed! OK, not really, those kids were cute. )


Poison at Tonys (June 7, 2009) [YouTube]
Bret Michaels Poison Tony Awards [YouTube]

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