Review Revue: Critics React To Katy Perry & Kanye West’s “E.T.” Video
Remember Katy Perry’s first video for “Ur So Gay”, with its DIY Barbie puppets and Flash-made cartoon backdrop? How far our girl has come since then! Katy’s Kanye West-featuring video for “E.T.” (watch it here!) is a beautifully shot, visually stunning big-budgeted slice of intergalactic sci-fi space glam. But though the clip is undisputably nice to look at, critics are divided on just how out of this world it is. After the jump, read up on reactions to Katy and Kanye’s clip from across all the web.
Consequence of Sound asserts that “there is a lot to like about the remix video: we get to watch Kanye conquer zero gravity, Perry gives her best Gaga impression, and the end of the clip features some absurd product placement. The behind the scenes footage must be amazing.”
Celebuzz found some similarities to other pop star videos: “Is it just us, or is this video like the love child of Lady Gaga‘s “Born this Way” and Ke$ha‘s “Blow”? With each having some level of space imagery, crazy colors and the animal/human transformation, we think this video feels curiously similar to the other two.”
PopDust isn’t too impressed: “The Floria Sigimosndi-directed clip its share of nifty visuals, but most of the imagery is more cheesy (blue alien Katy—isn’t this still a little too soon?) than it is striking or innovative, and the bombast (Supernova explosions! National Geographic stock footage! Naked male ass!) doesn’t lead anywhere interesting.”
MTV Buzzworthy believes the video is a big change for Katy, stylistically: “Gone are the cheeky Latex dresses and tongue-in-cheeky winks. No shaving cream bras or pissed-off, middle-finger-waving Gummi bears. Floria Sigismondi (Marilyn Manson’s ‘The Beautiful People,’ Christina Aguilera’s ‘Hurt,’ Muse’s ‘Supermassive Black Hole’) created what feels far more like a sci-fi, deep space sojourn than a music video.”
Rolling Stone thinks “the clip looks as though it could be the trailer for either a sequel to Avatar or a Katy Perry video game” and notes that the song itself “sounds more like Evanescence’s hard rock balladry than her cheerful radio hits ‘California Gurls’ and ‘Teenage Dream.'”
Vulture takes note of the style over (the lack of) substance: “Whatever makeup artist got to paint her face should still be proud: Perry’s rocking a number of genuinely detailed, outlandish, semi-gorgeous rainbow-kabuki looks.”
MTV takes a look at the larger picture: “[‘E.T.’ is a] video that not only moves Perry to the upper echelon, but looks and sounds great. It’s a widescreen, THX-ian type of thing, meant to be marveled at.”
What do you think of Katy’s trip to space?
