Video Rewind 03.06.2015

Zola Blood “Meridian”

Zola Blood’s video for “Meridian” takes place in a location that most New Englanders would rather be. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s somewhere in the Mediterranean or perhaps on the coast of some South American country. The focus of the video is a female dancer who is out in the sun with her dog making swift movements often with her arms going 90 degrees and holding. In a way it looks as though shes praying to the sea or perhaps in the midst of some ritual. It turns out that she is a synchronized swimmer. She dives into the ocean or sea and proceeds to dance. The images of her in the water, later joined by two others, looks haunting in a way. The water is dark so you cannot see what is happening beneath the surface when the camera is some distance away and angled down. All you see are her feet spinning as she sinks deeper to the water. I guess it could be said that this is what mermaids would do if they existed. The mystery of what’s going on under the water adds a caveat to the video that was missing in Bombay Bicycle Club’s video for “Luna”, and I have to say that added ingredient of seeing a magic trick but not knowing how it’s performed adds wonder to the visuals.

Iggy Azalea featuring Jennifer Hudson “Trouble”

Iggy Azalea and Jennifer Hudson have released the video for “Trouble”. This video has plenty of trouble in it. We’re taken back to the 1970’s where Iggy plays Bonnie to her boyfriends Clyde. It all starts with her boyfriend saying he’s going into the bank to get a loan. As everyone runs out, the police show up, and he’s arrested for robbery. What follows shows how different things could be. Hudson plays a female police officer who also works at the prison. In fact, the prison’s staff is entirely made of women who seem to faun over the beefy bad boys behind bars. Iggy does what a good woman would do, and breaks her man out. There’s a bit of a chase, followed by a wreck, and the boyfriend is back in handcuffs. It was here that I started to get a bit worried. Iggy and Jennifer start singing to the camera next to each other. They look like they’re great friends now, but when Iggy puts her arm around Jennifer she’s in for a rude awakening. Jennifer twists her arm and slaps the cuffs on her. Be warned artists. You invite Jennifer Hudson into your songs, and then she turns on you.

Magic! “No Way No”

Magic!’s video for “No Way No” is cleverly done on a street. The story visually is of a man trying to get a woman to go out with him. Lead vocalist Nasri arrives with the rest of the band in an orange van all dressed in red suits. They pile out onto the sidewalk and Nasri makes his move. He grabs flowers and heads on over to a woman talking to a man. The man walks away, and the woman doesn’t seem interested in talking to anyone, least of all Nasri. He never gives her the flowers, but he does do his damnedest to keep after her. He uses his band, and balloons, and a puppy to try and win her affection. None of this works, at first. The balloons fly away. The puppy winds up in the hands of a little girl playing hopscotch. The woman makes her way into a bar, where lo and behold the band is playing. Eventually she starts to warm up to Nasri. They wind up outside sitting at a table that is moved on a track. She likes him, or maybe the attention he’s giving her, and they wind up piling back into the van with the rest of the band. When you first meet someone, it’s not about love, or even liking them solely. There is always a rush felt in the chase. The effort you put in always shows someone how much you think they’re worth.

Bob Dylan “The Night We Called It A Day”

Bob Dylan’s been around a long time, but he’s still making music. He appears in the video for his latest single “The Night We Called It A Day”, and for it he takes back to the early 1900’s. Dylan’s heading over to a club where a blonde lady is doing some dancing. This is back in the day where it wasn’t about taking your close off, rather wearing clothing the showed the shape of your body while shaking your goods. The man he meets there is an old guy, too, with some mob connections perhaps. He’s looking at an engagement ring that Dylan has brought. Looks like he wants to marry the blond. What follows is a case of mobster going to dame’s apartment only to find out he’s been crossed. Then, when Dylan and the dame make their way from the crime scene, another cross occurs and only one can survive. It’s Dylan. He makes his grand escape. What I like most about this is that I think it portrays sociopaths as they truly are. There is no one here who is invincible and looks to make it out completely unharmed. What we do have is two people outsmarting one, then trying to slyly turn on the other before they know what’s up. Dylan survives, but only because he pulled the trigger first. Turn this into a movie, and I’d watch.

Alesso featuring Roy English “Cool”

Alesso and Roy English collaborated for the track “Cool”. The video shows that while times have changed, high school is still all about status. The protagonist in the video is a young, dorky male. He doesn’t get notice in the positive way, rather as an outcast and loser. At first, I thought that as he started daydreaming in class this would turn into a “Hot For Teacher” type video. In a way it did, but not exactly. The daydreaming leads to our young hero freaking out and leaving the classroom. Turns out he just wants to dance, and he does all throughout the school. He’s so interested in dancing that he has spent his time with a large man in the library going over how to dance. There’s books, and film, and videos, and all the while he’s studying hard. His big break comes when he shows up to the school dance looking pretty sharp, and twirls that teacher from before around like he knows what he’s doing, because he does. She likes it. The other girls like it, but before anyone can get a shot with him, he turns and leaves giving the camera a grin. Seriously men, I can’t preface this enough, women like dancing. Do it.

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