Nelly’s Still Famous Apparently, Has Nightmares About Marriage
Today I came across a pretty sweet mashup of Pink’s “Sober” and Nelly’s “Just a Dream.” I hadn’t actually heard the original Nelly song, so I looked it up. Turns out that “Just A Dream” is Nelly’s newest single. I’s also not super surprising the mashup works, since that song has a harder edge to the instrumentation already. Still, the mashup is a lot of fun and, more importantly, the video for “Just A Dream” is hilarious, so I thank that track for prompting me to find it.
One of the best parts about this video is that it features Katerina Graham, who plays the kick-ass witch-in-training Bonnie on The Vampire Diaries these days. Although, you can’t really tell that she’s in it, because there are a lot or artful lens flares, bubbles in water shots, and a gigantic engagement ring in every other shot.
What is up with this ring? It’s on the beach, it’s in the sky, it spends the whole video threatening to fall and kill everything near it — as a heavy-handed metaphor about wishing Nelly had committed to his girl is wont to do, I suppose. It’s so distracting that I forgot to pay attention to whether Nelly’s girl had died or if he was dead or if it was really a dream or he was drunk. After a second viewing, I learned that the video makes almost no sense, so actually the One Ring To Crush Us All is probably meant to be distracting.
But the song itself is alright. Plus, Nelly still has a job. We must cling to the important facts.
Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan Star In Video For Eminem’s “Love The Way You Lie”
At this point, my obsession with Megan Fox is well-documented among my friends, so it’s only fair that I try to make it abundantly clear to the internet, too. I think Megan Fox is great! I am always on her side!
I am also someone who was a young teenager when The Lord of the Rings hit theaters, loved what Peter Jackson and his team did with the story, and still tend to watch a lot of what the actors involved do even when it’s kind of wretched. (What up, Elizabethtown?) So to see the premiere of Eminem’s video for his latest single featuring Rihanna, “Love the Way You Lie” and realize that Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan star in it, playing the completely dysfunctional and abusive couple? Color me stunned by beauty and conflicted by content. I’m sure the fact that it was midnight had something to do with me being bowled over, but, really, this video is surprisingly fantastic:
The visuals are well done, the video narrative matches the lyrics enough without being entirely literal, and there are some interesting parallels drawn between Rihanna and Eminem’s separate experiences with abuse and destructive relationships. Take all that and top it with the knowledge that Megan Fox donated all of her earnings from the project to shelter for women and children who’ve suffered abuse, and this video is just where I’m at today, over and over, completely entranced.
J. Cole “Who Dat” Looks Like A One-Take Wonder
Since Drake’s debut, Thank Me Later, left me feeling underwhelmed after the first couple listens, I’m throwing in my lot behind the people looking toward J. Cole. His mixtapes thus far have been both infectious and impressive, and I love that the simplicity of the video for his first official single, “Who Dat,” doesn’t take away from its creativity. I can’t definitely say that it’s all done in one shot, but it certainly gives the illusion successfully. That’s just cool.
It turns out that J. Cole has some previous experience with the video’s directors, BBGun. They’ve help shape how he thinks about music videos and ways to make them interesting. Solid rhymes and real attention to how he’s visually represented? Me likey.
