Videos
Must-See Videos of the Week: Lady Gaga, Themselves, Michael Ashanti...
Courtney Smith
Lady Gaga “Bad Romance”
This week the entire Internet formed a circle to hold hands and watch the latest Lady Gaga video. Why? Because we’ve been unerringly conditioned to expect spectacle from Gaga. She delivers again with “Bad Romance” – but it’s a spectacle with tons of dazzle and no point. One thing Gaga does that no female pop star has ever before done is thwart the male gaze. You don’t watch her because she’s beautiful but she’s not so unattractive that it’s worth remarking on. You can stare at her all day without pure interest in the shiny objects it’s so over the top ridiculous that the morbid sexuality of a Britney Spears never enters the picture. She might not be making real art but she really is fucking with your head.
Themselves “Roman Is As Roman Does”
Talk about where the wild things are. What the fuck do these creatures have to do with this song and why do they love cupcakes so much? Also is some of that frosting made of the slime they use in the Kids Choice awards? This entire video is like a childhood nightmare come true.
Spiral Stairs “Cold Change”
This video starts with an effect more video directors should use – it appears as if you wake up, disoriented and in an alien environment, viewing things through the eyes of an unknown narrator. This particular effect allows the viewer to engage in a suspension of disbelief that makes your participation in the video inevitable. And fucking weird.
Michael Ashanti “The Internet (There’s Nothing Wrong With Love)
You thought one R. Kelly was enough? How a less attractive, older and much more wired version? Seriously though, this video captures the weird irreverence of the early days of music video – you know, back when they didn’t mean jack shit and just flashed some colors at you on top of a loosely connected story line that sort of tied into the theme of the song. Internet dating ya’ll, it’s here to stay.
Piano Club “Love Hurts”
I don’t think there’s been a more mesmerizing use of animation in a music video since “Yellow Submarine.”
Follow columnist Courtney E. Smith on Twitter or read her blog.
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Watch: Trailer for Lil' Wayne Documentary 'The Carter'... 'I'm not into poetry'...
Todd Roberts
UPDATE: Frequent Swarm contributor Matt Diehl checked out the premier screening of ‘The Carter’ and gave his review over at Kspace.tv
At the beginning of the film, a title card apologizes for the fact that the filmmakers were never able to sit down and have a formal interview with Weezy, and that he withdrew his support from the film. Well, they shouldn’t have bothered. Number one, they have enough footage of other people interviewing Lil’ Wayne, not to mention in-depth Q&As with everyone from Birdman to Wayne’s best friend to Wayne’s adorable twelve-year-old daughter (who busts a startling good freestyle). Secondly, and more importantly, the fimmakers had an all-access pass to Weezy’s life for six months, shooting as a fly on the wall in all manner of intimate situations. You see Wayne dump a wad of money the size of a cement block into his suitcase. You see Wayne in concert. You see Wayne’s birthplace, Hollygrove, in New Orleans. You see Wayne on drugs, pounding sizzurp and smoking copious weed. There’s tons of comedy, intentional and otherwise (mostly intentional), and Wayne drops incredible science throughout; the best is one interview where he lists everything he’ll legalize, from prostitution to “putting cocaine back in Coke.”
Our previous coverage of the static between Lil Wayne and the producers of ‘The Carter’ documentary can be found here and here.
