I Know You Want to See Me Naked
And yes, Rihanna, I would like to see you naked. This year's quintet of videos all have some sort of comment on female body image, some stereotypical, others with a little more thought. Alessia Cara, a singer whom I had never heard of before, is one of the nominees for "Scars to Your Beautiful," a song about people who are not conventionally beautiful but nonetheless attractive in a "beauty is skin deep" kind of way. It's a nice sentiment, and I hope those youngsters who like the song take the message to heart. But the song is pretty bland, and the video, directed by Aaron A., has nothing to recommend. It's simply Cara standing in an empty room, intercut with shots and interviews of people with some kind of body issue, such a man with half an ear, or an obese woman. I suspect this got nominated because of the message, not the quality of the video.
Also speaking to body image is Kendrick Lamar, in his video "Humble," directed by David Meyers. Now, I can't stand the song, but that's an old man talking. The video, however, is very visually interesting, if not a touch blasphemous. It has Lamar dressed as the Pope, and in a recreation of "The Last Supper," with Lamar in Jesus' seat. It also has him rolling on table full of money, an homage to the old Grey Poupon commercials, and a scene with Lamar's head on fire. A song about rap stars being humble sounds inherently like a contradiction, which may be the joke, and there's a verse about him being tired of Photoshopped images. He wants to see "asses with stretch marks."
The other three videos use the female body as simply eye candy. The aforementioned "Wild Thoughts," by DJ Khaled, with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller, directed by Colin Tilley, is very colorful, but not terribly interesting. It's full of hip-hop posturing (DJ Khaled, not exactly an Adonis, does that thing where rap guys cross their arms, which I thought would be old hat by now). The star is Rihanna, who is in some gorgeous costumes and is a genuine star. Her vocal on this song is hypnotic.
Another genuine star is Bruno Mars, and he's up for "24K Magic." But again, the song is fairly routine, and there's nothing special about the video, directed by Mars and Cameron Duddy. Mostly it's just him and a few buddies dancing in Vegas, wearing what I assume are the latest fashions (loud button-down shirts and shorts). There are also a bunch of girls in skimpy bikinis.
There's also plenty of girls in skimpy bikinis in The Weeknd's "Reminder," directed by Kid Studio. Right away I didn't like the song because it has auto-tune (so does Mars' song) and the video is boring, just shots of The Weeknd and his friends hanging out around a private plane, which seems to be another example of hip-hop excess. I have no idea how this got nominated.
So if I had a vote I'd cast it for Meyers and Lamar, the only video here that shows any ambition. (I particularly liked the use of an anamorphic lens while Lamar is riding a bicycle). It also shows Lamar golfing--will this be the new trend among hip-hop artists?
I note that there are no rock acts in this category. They do have their own category, and the nominees are from the usual suspects: Green Day, Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, Coldpay, and Twenty One Pilots, which I'm not sure is really rock. So there you have it--rock is now a ghettoized music form.
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