Review Revue: Critics React To Kanye West’s “Power” Video

Robbie Daw | August 6, 2010 2:35 pm

Kanye West’s eye-popping 102-second “Power” video premiered on MTV last night, and, in a way, seems to prove that 10-minute epics like “Telephone,” “Alejandro” and “Born Free” aren’t necessary to get tongues wagging. Case in point: the Internet as a collective had plenty to say about West’s Marco Brambilla-directed clip. So this led us to round up some of the more interesting observations about ‘ye’s latest spectacle. Read the critics’ assessments about “Power” below!

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:: MTV Buzzworthy‘s Chris Ryan enthuses that “the world is just more fun when Kanye West is an active participant and character in our lives. Love him, hate him, or both, he is truly one of the most enigmatic, charismatic, vulnerable, venerated, egotistical and loveable musicians to come along in generations.”

:: Wall Street Journal‘s Speakeasy says, “The clip has the feel of a slow-motion Roman orgy, with West being the Caesar at the center, rows of ionic columns stretching out behind him. And then, 90 seconds into the song, that’s it. Painting gone. You have to hope there will be an extended version to see soon.”

:: Urlesque jokes (we think), “Besides being artistically innovative, the video is a perfect glimpse of how Kanye sees the world all the time. When he walks into Rite Aid or wherever, you can be sure that in his head he’s surrounded by columns and getting air-fived by the very hand of God.“

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:: Kanye’s clip, however, left The Atlantic with a big question mark. “The ‘video’ for Kanye West’s single ‘Power’ debuted last night after Jersey Shore, and no one quite knows how to describe it.”

:: “Power” had the Dallas Observer wondering, “Could Kanye be launching a new era, where music videos serve as trailers for entire songs, rather than simply visual accompaniment? Maybe.”

:: New York Daily News notes the tie-in of the video’s premiere with the newest Jersey Shore episode: “In a Michael Jackson-esque move, Kanye West turned the debut of his ‘Power’ music video into a bona fide TV event.” The publication then goes on to note Kanye’s lead-up promotion of the clip on Twitter: “It seemed as if West, speaking in his usual self-centric riddles, was plugging his video as a work of art and trying to make it into something more than it was. And he wasn’t kidding this time.”‘

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:: NPR sums the 100-second extravaganza up by stating, “Perhaps more self-aware than he is given credit for, once again, Kanye puts himself in the center of the frame, commanding attention rather than acceptance.

:: HitFix cracks, “Kanye West put on a crown for ‘Jesus Walks,’ so it was only a matter of time before he ascended into heaven… It’s all a little weird, a little funny, and under two minutes long. ”

:: Finally, That Grape Juice raves, “Without a doubt this is one of the best productions of the year. There is nothing else to say… Sidebar: If this does not get the Illuminati theorists buzzing then nothing else will!”

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