Video Reviews for Week of December 8th
Video Reviews for Week of December 8th
By C. Duke
August Alsina – No Love ft. Nicki Minaj: New Orleans hailing and Def Jam Recordings artist, August Alsina, is notably know for his song, I Luv This Shit, with Trinidad James. He’s released his first studio album, Testimony, April 15th of 2014. From this album is the video for, No Love, which features Nicki Minaj in the beginning and toward the end of the jam.
The song basically talks about hittin’ it and not wanting to settle down (playa) in the lines, “Shawty, if you looking for somebody tryna settle down/Probably won't be around, nah, baby” with the repeated refrain, “No love”.
Nicki retorts with, “You can't treat me like you treat them/Yes, I am the crème de la crème”.
A mid tempo jam, the video has August dropping off another girl at her apartment, Nicki being the main girl. We see scenes of Nicki and August
spending their time together and scenes of the new girl he’s stepping out with. A split screen shows the new girl then white roses blooming and the other Nicki, then red roses wilting and dying off.
At the end of the video we see the reverse in the rose situation and when the new girl calls he ignores it and looks at pictures of him and Nicki and smiles. Thereafter Nicki enters her kitchen to a huge bouquet of red roses.
Beyoncé – Haunted: From the Platinum Edition of the album Beyoncé, comes this next video. A two part song called, “Ghost” and “Haunted”. This review is about the latter.
This video opens with eerie music and various shots of empty rooms in a large, twenties styled hotel intertwined with shots of TV’s and finally the title, “Haunted” appears on a TV screen. After that we switch to Beyoncé driving up a road with a view of the ocean behind her and the sound of seagulls. She is in a green convertible with luggage strapped on the trunk.
Makes me think of, “The Shining”.
She pulls into the driveway in front of the door of the hotel and parks. Stepping out with her heels and white with black spots fur. Entering the hotel with a “B” monogrammed on the luggage she sets them down and
throws off her fur coat letting it fall to the floor as a flash of a black and white closed circuit camera shot watches her. She pulls a cigarette from behind her ear. The bell hop enters the foyer and lights it and you notice her black rings all up and down her fingers.
Beyoncé has marcelled (similar to a finger wave) blonde hair, red lipstick and dark make-up around the eyes. She takes the room key from the bell hop, drops the cigarette on the floor and steps on it.
With more flashes of closed circuit TV shots, Beyoncé proceeds up the winding stairs in her black pin stripped suit. Reaching the top there is a long corridor she has to walk down. As she does this she looks into the open doorways of rooms.
The first room is a man getting his hair done. He’s sitting next to a TV with Beyoncé on the screen starting off the song and the music begins with a droning piano.
She continues down the corridor looking into each room and scene. A lady with a sphinx cat, an old man in a wheelchair, gangsters playing poker, a couple in gas masks, twins in black in white pinstriped suits, the drums kick in, lap dances, a man in leopard printed underwear standing in a bathtub with bubbles floating around, a mannequin family at a 50’s table getting ready to eat, a topless woman painting herself with super imposed stars over her nipples, men with white painted faces and black rings around their eyes, and so on.
She winds up on a bed with girls choreograph dancing around it as she herself gyrates and sings. From there it’s just flashes of all the weirdness and people in the rooms.
Sparse instruments, drums, piano and synths, make up this tune with sexually charged lyrics.
Paramore: Hate to See Your Heart Break ft. Joy Williams [OFFICIAL VIDEO]: From the self titled currently available Paramore Deluxe album, “Hate to See Your Heart Break”, features multiple Grammy award winning singer/songwriter Joy Williams.
Set in black and white in a studio recording session, Hayley starts off this tune solo at the microphone. A twinkling soft tune, Hayley sings, “There is not a single word in the whole world/That could describe the hurt/The dullest knife just sawing back and forth/And ripping through the softest skin there ever was”. That’s what lost love feels like and Hailey get’s it ever so right.
Joy joins in on the chorus harmonizing as we see scenes of her and Hayley talking, laughing and goofing off. The next verse has Joy performing and Hayley joining in on the chorus.
The video ends with the two hugging at the mics.
Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga – It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing): What a team up! Tony Bennett, long time singer of show tunes, jazz and pop standards, and Lady Gaga hit it out of the park with this cover of the 1931 jazz tune composed by Duke Ellington and lyrics written by Irving Mills.
Another studio session setting, this one in color, we hear Lady Gaga speaking about what the song means to her. Then, the horns kick in with Gaga at the mic. Tony starts singing, “It don’t mean a thing/If it ain’t got that swing/Do wah, do wah, do wah, do wah, do wah, do wah, do wah, do wah”. The two alternate verses and also sing in combination.
Lady Gaga does a great job here. She captures the mood perfectly and sounds like she just bounced out of a 1930’s club.
This short lived tune ends with Bennett saying, “That’s jazz”
.
Zella Day – Sweet Ophelia (Official Video): Still just a teenager, Arizona grown, Zella Day has released a four song EP of the same name in October of this year. Her family owned a coffee house where, growing up, she would perform tunes by Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Bobby Darin.
Zella, in the back seat of a car with flowers along the rear window sings, “Believe me now you're too young girl/Cherry pie with your gold curls/ Growin' up like a grapevine/Wrapped around you in due time” combined with the chorus of, “Sweet Ophelia/When Young blood escapes/Vows that break/Go up, up away”, makes me think this song is about young innocence
on the verge of becoming a woman as the video also has a visual reference of flowers blooming.
The music itself is a simple drum beat overlaid with synthesizers. - Read the full story at UnRatedMagazine.com
By C. Duke
August Alsina – No Love ft. Nicki Minaj: New Orleans hailing and Def Jam Recordings artist, August Alsina, is notably know for his song, I Luv This Shit, with Trinidad James. He’s released his first studio album, Testimony, April 15th of 2014. From this album is the video for, No Love, which features Nicki Minaj in the beginning and toward the end of the jam.
The song basically talks about hittin’ it and not wanting to settle down (playa) in the lines, “Shawty, if you looking for somebody tryna settle down/Probably won't be around, nah, baby” with the repeated refrain, “No love”.
Nicki retorts with, “You can't treat me like you treat them/Yes, I am the crème de la crème”.
A mid tempo jam, the video has August dropping off another girl at her apartment, Nicki being the main girl. We see scenes of Nicki and August
spending their time together and scenes of the new girl he’s stepping out with. A split screen shows the new girl then white roses blooming and the other Nicki, then red roses wilting and dying off.
At the end of the video we see the reverse in the rose situation and when the new girl calls he ignores it and looks at pictures of him and Nicki and smiles. Thereafter Nicki enters her kitchen to a huge bouquet of red roses.
Beyoncé – Haunted: From the Platinum Edition of the album Beyoncé, comes this next video. A two part song called, “Ghost” and “Haunted”. This review is about the latter.
This video opens with eerie music and various shots of empty rooms in a large, twenties styled hotel intertwined with shots of TV’s and finally the title, “Haunted” appears on a TV screen. After that we switch to Beyoncé driving up a road with a view of the ocean behind her and the sound of seagulls. She is in a green convertible with luggage strapped on the trunk.
Makes me think of, “The Shining”.
She pulls into the driveway in front of the door of the hotel and parks. Stepping out with her heels and white with black spots fur. Entering the hotel with a “B” monogrammed on the luggage she sets them down and
throws off her fur coat letting it fall to the floor as a flash of a black and white closed circuit camera shot watches her. She pulls a cigarette from behind her ear. The bell hop enters the foyer and lights it and you notice her black rings all up and down her fingers.
Beyoncé has marcelled (similar to a finger wave) blonde hair, red lipstick and dark make-up around the eyes. She takes the room key from the bell hop, drops the cigarette on the floor and steps on it.
With more flashes of closed circuit TV shots, Beyoncé proceeds up the winding stairs in her black pin stripped suit. Reaching the top there is a long corridor she has to walk down. As she does this she looks into the open doorways of rooms.
The first room is a man getting his hair done. He’s sitting next to a TV with Beyoncé on the screen starting off the song and the music begins with a droning piano.
She continues down the corridor looking into each room and scene. A lady with a sphinx cat, an old man in a wheelchair, gangsters playing poker, a couple in gas masks, twins in black in white pinstriped suits, the drums kick in, lap dances, a man in leopard printed underwear standing in a bathtub with bubbles floating around, a mannequin family at a 50’s table getting ready to eat, a topless woman painting herself with super imposed stars over her nipples, men with white painted faces and black rings around their eyes, and so on.
She winds up on a bed with girls choreograph dancing around it as she herself gyrates and sings. From there it’s just flashes of all the weirdness and people in the rooms.
Sparse instruments, drums, piano and synths, make up this tune with sexually charged lyrics.
Paramore: Hate to See Your Heart Break ft. Joy Williams [OFFICIAL VIDEO]: From the self titled currently available Paramore Deluxe album, “Hate to See Your Heart Break”, features multiple Grammy award winning singer/songwriter Joy Williams.
Set in black and white in a studio recording session, Hayley starts off this tune solo at the microphone. A twinkling soft tune, Hayley sings, “There is not a single word in the whole world/That could describe the hurt/The dullest knife just sawing back and forth/And ripping through the softest skin there ever was”. That’s what lost love feels like and Hailey get’s it ever so right.
Joy joins in on the chorus harmonizing as we see scenes of her and Hayley talking, laughing and goofing off. The next verse has Joy performing and Hayley joining in on the chorus.
The video ends with the two hugging at the mics.
Another studio session setting, this one in color, we hear Lady Gaga speaking about what the song means to her. Then, the horns kick in with Gaga at the mic. Tony starts singing, “It don’t mean a thing/If it ain’t got that swing/Do wah, do wah, do wah, do wah, do wah, do wah, do wah, do wah”. The two alternate verses and also sing in combination.
Lady Gaga does a great job here. She captures the mood perfectly and sounds like she just bounced out of a 1930’s club.
This short lived tune ends with Bennett saying, “That’s jazz”
.
Zella, in the back seat of a car with flowers along the rear window sings, “Believe me now you're too young girl/Cherry pie with your gold curls/ Growin' up like a grapevine/Wrapped around you in due time” combined with the chorus of, “Sweet Ophelia/When Young blood escapes/Vows that break/Go up, up away”, makes me think this song is about young innocence
on the verge of becoming a woman as the video also has a visual reference of flowers blooming.
The music itself is a simple drum beat overlaid with synthesizers. - Read the full story at UnRatedMagazine.com
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