Since we are on the subject of MTV, let's take a moment to analyze this year's Video Music Awards nominees shall we? Why don't we take a look at the most "prestigous" and coveted award of the evening: Video of the Year. The nominees for this year's Video of the Year are:
Panic! At the Disco!/I write sins, not tragedies
Madonna/Hung Up
Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean/Hips Don't Lie
Red Hot Chili Peppers/Dani California
Christina Aguilera/Ain't No Other Man
Now as is the case with every awards show, there a few qualms to go along with everything the voting committee gets right. The main problem with the VMA's every year is that they often forget about the V in the title nominating or awarding songs just because of their popularity. Now I understand the reasoning behind this, with heavy rotation and familiarity come higher ratings, higher sales, happier record companies and artists, but said artist with the hit single should be rewarded for crafting a video that is just as awesome [for lack of a better word] as the song itself.
Take Hips Don's Lie for example. Great song. Mediocre video. Merely here because of its popularity and the possibility to get Shakira up on that stage cause lighting up a stage is what she does best. Then there are the videos that are creative but on a purely cinematic level thanks to average cinematography, lazy editing, or just having too much going on, can get old rather quickly or not warrant a repeat viewing. [I love Dani California, but the video is "cool" at best. Gnarls Barkley do a much better job with the same concept with their Smiley Faces video released just last week, making it ineligble for awards. And Panic! At the Disco? I respect the theatrical "let's give em hell kids" with the entertainment idea taken from a page in the My Chemical Romance handbook, but not worthy of a video of the year nom. Purely here cause MTV helped blow them up and in turn they help bring MTV some cashmoney.]
Two places MTV got it right? Madonna's Hung Up and Baby Jane's Ain't No Other Man. Madonna's video is plain and simple. Dance! Dance! Revolution! all over the world. You show me a person who wasn't glued to the screen when they first saw the video and I'll show you a person who can't resist shaking their hips when the song is played at high decibels. Instant classic. This video has it all, sex appeal, dance moves both new and old [from disco to krumping], a club scene, humor, and of course eye candy without being over the top. It's like a modern update on Pat Benatar's Love is a Battlefield with just as much action and energy.
On the other side of the coin is the artist formerly known as Xtina's Ain't No Other Man. A great single with a great video. If you have been keeping up on your summer singles and fall releases you will have noticed that Jessica, Beyonce, Justin, Janet, and Christina have all released "comeback" singles and with the exception of Baby Jane, all of the videos have been lazy, confusing, okay, or just bad. [I'm looking at you Janet.] Not Ain't No Other Man. Building on the jazz laced vibe of the 1920's up on through the 40's Christina borrows a little bit from her scenes in Lady Marmalade crafting images of flappers, speakeasies, and past nightlifes that are more than some kind of blue.
Now if we could go back in time and place Tauwan Patterson on the selection committee I would look to the other categories and pull some stellar videos that deserve a place in the video of the year category. First Up Beyonce's Check On It. Great song. Great video. Dancing, sex appeal, great editing and cinematography, non stop action and fun. Next Golddigger, Kanye West. A truly classy video in the manner of Ain't No Other Man. In an era of video hoes and the like, Kanye and Jamie Foxx surround themselves with pin-up girls of the 50's and 60's brought to life, shimmering before colorful set designs and backdrops. A fine example of a great song paired with a great video. And if popularity is what many of these picks are about how the hell was this video shunned.
Gnarls Barkley. Crazy. I don't listen to the radio so this song still gets me everytime. Hipsters love it. Parents love it. Geeks love it. Men, women, and children love it. And the video? Just as creative, imaginative, and out there as the music itself. Not a video of the year? That's just crazy.
And finally a song that wasn't huge as a single but slick and hip as hell, Beck's Hell Yes. In the video a Japanese audience enjoys the performance of choreographed dance moves placed on tiny robots set to be released onto the world in two to three years. That's right. Beck got permission to use these bad boys for his video before most of the world even got word of their production. In fact the video is the actual world premiere viewing of the robots for the Japanese audience before them. All the while in the background holograms of the artist himself go in and out performing the song. It's hip, immaculately crisp [white, silver, black, a hint of blue], and more than entertaining.
But what do I know? I am just a music fan with no say in the matters. This year unlike in the past voters can vote in every category, not just Viewer's Choice. So get out there and vote cause the last thing anyone wants is to see somebody win and then bitch about it, uttering the lines "man I should have gotten off my ass and voted."
No comments:
Post a Comment