Hoodie Allen featuring Ed Sheeran “All About It”
Hoodie Allen and Ed Sheeran have come together on Hoodie’s new album that doesn’t feature any rapping for the song “All About It”. The video features the two young, hot talents probably taping a reality show. I just imagine these two hanging out would go a lot like this video. Hoodie is an astronaut. They both dress up as super heroes. There is food, being eaten and thrown. Hoodie’s on a treadmill with a sandwich. Ed is taking a baseball bat to various vegetables. Hoodie thinks he can do everything, so he’s trying to get in on a dance battle. Go on, watch the video, and join them. It’s great.
Pell featuring LV Baby “The Never”
Pell continues to impress me, and his latest track with LV Baby is no exception. At first I honestly was disappointed with the change in music in this video. That introductory snippet of a piano playing is wonderful. Then the song takes a change as “Never” fully cuts in. Then you realize that Pell is out of the city. He’s on a road trip of sorts. There are horses, and fields, and eating at diners. There’s even a stop to buy fire works. This trip is as much about work, for a writer’s mind is always working, as it is about having fun. The hook to this song is my favorite part. Though I don’t smoke marijuana, I think anyone could go for one last romp in the summer of a get away to party with friends. Life needs to be celebrated, and Pell reminds us of this while crooning that he has seen the dirt roads, but he’s not afraid to walk. Just follow him to the Never.
Lorde “Yellow Flicker Beat”
Lorde’s latest track is for “Yellow Flicker Beat” which will be featured on the next installment of The Hunger Games movies. Lyrically you can pick up on the tones of the story if you’ve read it, or if not you can guess where it is going. Lorde sings things like people used to scream for her, but now they only whisper. And also about locking up everyone who ever laid a finger on her. Visually there’s some great images as well. Most notably for me are the scenes of Lorde in some motel where her window has bright neon signs outside of it. It’s the kind of thing with the tacky interior that reminds me of Blade Runner. And her outfit and hair in this room is probably my favorite look on her. But, that’s not particularly relevant. Another great scene is her at this ball, for lack of other words, where she’s dressed in black walking through the crowd, but she’s doing it like a total boss just before leaping into the blackness. It’s also worthy to note that she dances in this video, and though her dancing skill aren’t the best, she’s always been an expressive artist. Her dancing is quite expressive for the terms of this video. All in all, it shows a character coming to grips with being pushed to the edge and only beginning to find footing to stand on her own. Feminists went crazy for Beyonce, well, Lorde I think does feminism a solid in this video on her own.
Metronomy “The Upsetter”
Metronomy’s song “The Upsetter” is about love. It’s a difficult love. I mean, the words “you’re giving me a hard time tonight” are repeated over and over. The video is unusual. I admit that several viewings leave me wondering if the person living in the woods is a man or woman. I’m leaning towards woman, even though there is a chin beard. Moving on, this person has been living in the woods for quite some time. The clothes are tattered. The shoes are gone. And, this person is dirty. Also, this person is longing for companionship. After laying in the underbrush of the woods, and rubbing arms both and forth, the idea comes to build a person out of the needles and leaves on the ground, and using a large pine cone as the face. Then, it’s nookie time. After grinding atop this forest golam, things get weirder. The creature comes to life, which frightens our recluse. Running away, our protagonist falls in some mud. Using mud, and bark, and mushrooms, a camouflage is created to remain unseen from the pine needle monster. The two reunite at the river, where the monster sheds some sappy tears. The two make their way into the river where they kiss, all the while being washed away by the river current. If that’s not love these days, I don’t know what is. You show yourself to someone. It freaks you out, and you try to hide. But you go back. Or at least, that’s what television and cinema would have us believe.
Kendrick Lamar “I”
Kendrick Lamar is working on a new album, just released a new song called “I”, and is letting the world know that he loves himself. That’s important, because many people don’t even like themselves. In his new video for “I”, Kendrick is showing that he runs the city. Sort of. He starts out in a bar, and finds a need to go outside. This is when he takes off on foot down the road, but keeps picking up people to follow him. I can’t say if Kendrick actually wants to be a leader, but his style does show that he wants to stand out amongst the others, and this has gotten him some credit among his colleagues. The video ends with him leaving his rooftop party to get into the back of a car. As the car drives off, Kendrick is hanging out the back window getting boisterous. The lyrics say here that he’s lost his head. And he does seem to be coming down from some sort of high. He dances a lot in this video, but then seems to crash as he returns to the bar where he sits looking extremely worn out while a woman works on his hair. It’s kind of like being manic. You want to be out and about living life, but then you just feel drained and want to be alone. It’s a tough tight rope to balance on.
Karmin “Yesterday”
Karmin’s latest single “Yesterday” deals with relationships, and how one day can change everything. Vocally, you get both parties singing, which works well for one of the stories in the video. And just a quick side note, that bass. Just, so good. Back to the video. The duo are out in the wilderness at night with car lights to light them. This is exactly the kind of thing you might do if you’re in a relationship where “we need to talk”. It’s also nice to see the duo playing instruments in a video. We don’t see that often. The other tale here is of the man on the couch at the beginning of the video. He receives a text message from someone known only as Subject 7. I messed up. I’m sorry. I never meant for this to happen. These are the messages he receives. As he makes his way upstairs he comes across mens clothing on the ground. Getting closer to the door, there are more clothes strewn about. He opens the door, and just under his right arm we can make out, not in focus, that there is something going on in the bed. The next we see the man he is returning to the sofa to sit down. What he represents is unclear. Could he be a scorned lover? Could he be into some kind of kink? It’s unclear, especially because the video ends with him receiving another text that we never get to see.