The video for Bat For Lashes’ disco-ish “Pearl’s Dream” is a charmingly ramshackle affair, with Natasha Khan recreating the alternate solar system she normally inhabits on the stage of a small auditorium. She’s confronted by a blonde, shoulder-feather-free version of herself sitting in the audience, but manages to prevail over her less plumaged persona thanks to a very irritable wolf–and a pyro budget that was just big enough. [MySpace via ONTD] More »
The video for Lady GaGa’s “Paparazzi” is a doozy, a seven-and-a-half minute affair with opening and closing credits that is supposed to serve as a commentary on the thin line between fame and infamy. Because, you see, GaGa starts off being photographed by the paps while having what looks to be very unpleasant sex on her crazy villa’s balcony and ends up in the lens of a mugshot photographer! More »
Kanye West’s video for “Paranoid” has leaked in a higher quality, so you can appreciate the Wendy O. Williams-meets-a-guitar aesthetics of the bedclothes Rihanna wears in the clip. It’s sort of a dancing-dream-meets-driving-dream, and Rihanna looks really great–and for some reason, it took all these listens for me to realize that the song sounds a lot like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps.” Am I crazy? [YouTube via Music Is The Heart Of Our Soul] More »
The fourth studio album by tween juggernaut the Jonas Brothers–which has the somewhat awkward, yet also Sugababes-ish title Lines, Vines and Trying Times–comes out on June 15, less than 10 months after their previous effort, the silky-smooth A Little Bit Longer, was released to stores. Whether this is an attempt to get the record out there before every record store goes away, or before the bulk of the JBs’ fans age out of the target demo–or both–is a matter between the Walt Disney Company and its shareholders, but the first single from the album is certainly . “Paranoid,” which has references to meds and exes, possesses a sheen that recalls some of the glossiest, softest pop of the late ’80s (most notably, Icehouse’s “Electric Blue”)–and the attendant clip allows Joe Jonas to be tag-teamed by a pair of mask-wearing luchadores, which I’m sure is getting some of the fan fiction writers out there hot and bothered on this long weekend. [Dailymotion] More »
Beyoncé’s video for “Ego” continues the theme of her being flanked by two other dancers, and this time there are props: a chair, a clutch of canes. There are also a few weird edits, like at around a minute in, when B and her henchwomen are clearly doing something with their legs but the camera stays trained on their heads. Modesty, flirtatiousness, or a gnawing fear about the censors at 1515 Broadway feeling like legs swinging open like they’re on hinges is going a bit too far? [OnSMASH via CONFESSIONS OF LIARS] More »
Last night Island Def Jam, in a display of largesse that according to Vibe editor Danyel Smith felt “very 1999… in a good way,” held what it called a Spring Collection Preview, in which the label’s various upcoming releases got the fancy-party-with-canapés preview treatment for journalists and other industry wags. Among those releases was the video for Kanye West’s “Paranoid,” which features Rihanna (she was in attendance to pick up an award commemorating 16 million record sales and preview her July 4 attire); some industrious attendee decided to whip out a video camera during its airing, resulting in the clip you see above. Risky! And also kind of annoying to watch, in those $5 DVDs that you buy from people selling them on the subway way. The same fate befell the video of The-Dream’s “Walking On The Moon,” which also features Kanye; check it out after the jump. More »
You know, I thought the THC-filled patriotism splashed across the cover of Frobama: Head Of State–the new album by the chronically high, Grammy-nominated Afroman–was going to be the best thing about today. But then Jeff Rosenthal said to me “Someone just said that he made ‘Because I Got High 2009’?,” and things brightened a little bit more. More »
Since the advent of the Rickroll–in which Web surfers are redirected to a clip of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”–the song has become something of a “funny” karaoke staple for people who want to incorporate some comedy into their routine. But is Rickroll karaoke still funny when Astley himself is responsible for vocal duties? An audience in Athens, Ga., found out the other night, when the British singer stopped by, and treated the audience to a performance of his now-signature hit. He’s definitely working the crowd, allowing them to sing along. (Also, the glasses make him look quite fetching!) And there’s more from the evening–after the jump, Rick shows off his falsetto with a performance of “9 To 5,” and peeves someone else in attendance with his need for multiple star turns! More »
Sure, the Christmastime setting of Justin Timberlake’s Saturday Night Live skit in which he dresses up as a cup of soup and retrofits “Shoop,” “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and “Whoomp! There It Is” for the purposes of collecting cash for a charity–and out-hipping the sad-sack Salvation Army Santa who only knows moldy old carols–seems a bit odd, given that the calendar was just flipping to May 10 when it happened. But you have to admit that even while in instant-lunch drag, his performance doesn’t come off as foam-handed in the least. (EDIT: Oh, it did air in December; this is what happens when you watch TV via online “Recently Updated” lists, ha ha. The sequel clip, in which JT dresses up as a breast implant and invites people on down to “Plasticville”, is below.) Meanwhile, if you somehow didn’t have “Motherlover”–Timberlake and Andy Samberg’s Mother’s Day-themed sequel to “Dick In A Box”–e-mailed to you 10 times over the past 36ish hours, it’s after the jump. More »
