Sleigh bells ring kiddies. Are you listening? Seriously, are you listening? Pay attention to me! Christmas is the time of year where we gather with our family, sequester those members we like and force them, along with all our bestest buddies to listen to the music we want to rant about. So that's what I'ma do. Let's start with what might end up being the only holiday themed song of the bunch.
There is no one more festive than Bootsy. True story: this version kills the original.
Beyonce's double album probs doesn't need to be a double album. The non-special edition of the thing only has eleven tracks, so from a super green perspective it's kind of a WASTE OF CARBON. BEYONCE HATES THE ENVIRONMENT. Whhaaaaatevs. The reason its a double album is that it allows Bey to indulge her cheesy, middle-am friendly ballad self on the "Beyonce' album and spend another album being the woman who is constantly channelling Prince's various backup dancers (eg: freaking on people, having legs, being the best thing ever).
This is all because, as an overexposed super-celeb B has always remained kind of removed, kind of distant and private. The split personality thing is supposed to give us some insight - she's multifaceted! Maybe bi-faceted. Beyonce's always been far more impassioned in music than in person. The woman has a carefulness when answering questions that White House Press Secretaries would kill for. That's why this interview is kind of awesome. She acts like a person, not an idealized abstraction of fabulousness.
Natalie Portman has a very different role in Hollywood than anyone else. She gets to be simultaneously attractive and smart, and those two ideas about her are so accepted that they meld together into a sort of automatic respect. Funnily enough, she's so respected that everyone assumes she's a great actress. It seems to me she's a great everything else and a pretty crap actress. Whatever, I'm obviously a big jealous uggo. The point is, smart girls with gravitas are the only one who get to be silly without being served a side order of disdain. I mean I'm glad we can reclaim silly/girly, but I wish it were available to all manner of folk.
All this by way of saying, you're going to like this video.
This is without a doubt the most happy making thing I have seen this month. I don't know how you get school kids of this age to perform with this much unself-conscious gusto. I don't know how these kids are so god damned cute. I don't know how we came to this place where people are seemingly brimming with zingy-fun-times over a presidential election. But I like it. A LOT. You can vote however you like
I wish I had something a little deeper to say. But this just makes me glad.
Feist seems like a lovely lady and is very talented. She'd make a great kindergarten teacher or chair of an important committee for preservation of the arts. Her voice is a whimsical pigeon, her hair a cascade of silk. I'm saying all this so the indie kids don't cut me for the following: chica cannot dance. Which is fine, she doesn't have to, her videos don't need it. But nobody has the guts to tell her that.
Feist - 1234
To my mind that dancing is at best "jolielaide" as the french say.
Oh no! You reply. You don't get it! She may not be the most precise or technical dancer, but she conveys a spirit, you know? It's free and joyful and more than a little bit retro! It's fun, it's dancing in front of the mirror and not caring if anyone's looking! Whee! Uninhibited joyful rhythmic expression! No. NO. I know what all that "wheeeeee!!" looks like, and "wheeeee!!"? Looks like THIS:
Beyonce - Single Ladies
God Bless B. That other single is so bad I don't even want to talk about it. Except to say that it sounds like something Kelly Clarkson would reject. And that has already been written by Joan Osborne before Joan Osborne got funky. So yeah, we're not talking about that other single. And sure, this one does sound like Get Me Bodied, but I LIKED Get Me Bodied. A lot.
To conclude this video is like the most bad ass and inappropriate high school lip-synch ever.
Just a quick post. This video has a lot that's great. Thrusting, blaxploitation and a dash of reality (who hasn't fallen asleep playing Xbox 360?). It's all about balance, kids.
Oh and the damn near perfect song. This guys are from Norway (whaaaat?!). Yeah. Madcon - Begging
And yeah, this song is almost a year old, I'm so far behind the curve I've been lapped. One of the many bad things about not living in Scandinavia.
Just the sweetest summer song. And the video! Don't get me started. It's so cute and simple and well made I just want to eat my arm.
Divine Brown - Lay It On The Line
I'm in love with the cast of this video. And heck, the crew, too. That male lead - you've got to adore a man that looks like he's saying 'Oh my goodness!' with every move. The dancer at the end are life. If this doesn't make you smile, you're awful. Her album's out tomorrow.
This on the heels of Miss Jully Black jumping on that throwback good good. Canada is just killing it.
