SHOW AND TELL: POP EDITION
In this post, Shakira sleeps with a ninja, Lindsay Lohan pleads for privacy, and Friendly Fires provides the booty-shaking you so desperately need in your daily life.
Shakira "Did it Again"
I should be fair and put that the song actually features Kid Cudi, but I won't because I hate the version with his verse and stupid little phrases. To me, the video version is great because it's all Shakira, it's all I want.
This past spring, I got really into her first single "Wherever, Whenever," which my mom would torture me with as a child. I hated Shakira. I hated her weird voice. I was a Britney Spears elitist. But something came over me a few months into the spring semester and I started listening to "Whenever, Wherever" on my own. I remember one day when I played every live version YouTube had to offer at a pretty high volume in my room, and the official video several times, for nearly an hour. I offer a belated apology to my neighbors, but it wasn't really optional.
Last month, when I was hanging out with my friend and one-time fellow Ridgewood High School dance team member Thaddea, she introduced me to "Did it Again" while we were showing each other videos with either good or interesting choreography. The choreography in the video for "Did it Again" is so original, and very Shakira in its sex appeal. It features some modern ninja-like bed routine with a ninja-like guy. I don't understand how it's real at times. There's a lack of Shakira's signature mesmerizing belly dancing, but I forgive her. I also have no idea why she is hanging out in a steam room with a bunch of girls who have the same hairstyle, but I forgive her for that too. And the Japanese girls playing the drums, which also seems to have nothing to do with the narrative.
I love the way she yells "HEY!" in my ear. Shakira manages to be vulnerable, yet fiery at the same time. She admits that she keeps making the same mistake in her love life. She gets "it all wrong." She can't resist. And I can't resist listening to this song.
Lindsay Lohan "Rumors"
I recently got very obsessed with this song. I listened to it on repeat for 30 mins a few weeks ago. You can't help but empathize. No one would want that extreme of a lack of privacy.
You want to live. You want to be. To do that as any human being may prove difficult, but as a celebrity, it is obviously even more difficult to deal with. Lindsay Lohan was made to sing this song. She seems to have much difficulty in dealing with this incredibly not private life she lives. The genius that lies in "Rumors" is that it doesn't only highlight the experience of Lohan or celebrities, but normal people when you get down to it. Everyone wants to be free of judgment. But the issue with this is that you have to learn how to develop an impenetrable forcefield to allow yourself to live. You can't let the judges, haters, and commentators, celebrity or not, fill you with anxiety or anger.
There's something about that repetitive guitar riff that feeds my body and spirit. The video for this one features a barely legal Lohan and paparazzi getting in the way of her fun. She "just needs to free [her] mind." She has a dance breakdown on the roof and a helicopter rescues her. It's pretty boring, unless you like Lohan seductive slow-mos. I usually praise any dancing, but the dancing in this video is weak, sorry Lindsay, I just can't get with it. But the message that is at the heart of the song is worth your time and consideration.
Friendly Fires "Kiss of Life"
This doesn't really count as mainstream pop music, but it kind of sounds like it so…
I once downloaded Friendly Fires's debut album for free with the help of an eMusic free trial and loved it. Fast forward to July 2009: I was still listening to them and they had a new single, "Kiss of Life." Pretty lame title, right?
I loved "Kiss of Life" for many reasons. The percussion takes me away to another, more perfect world. Everything feels so free and urgent and amped up at the same time. And that chorus, "OOOoOOOOoOhHhhh, Kiss. Of. Life." I am hypnotized by the words spilling out of Ed MacFarlane's mouth.
I was already a fangirl for Ed, and the "Kiss of Life" video only made it worse. I was a sucker for his dancing from the moment I saw him do it in this live video, then it was forever amplified by his dancing to "Paris" during Live on Jools Holland. Please, if you do anything, watch the way this man moves at 0:32. Are you kidding me? Naturally I watched that part over and over and let the giddy, girlish delight fill my body. I also realized that I love when a man moves his hips, just like my great-grandmother who loved Elvis. And no, I'm not the only one to fawn over his dancing. A YouTube video titled "Ed Macfarlane podium dancing - the sexiest thing I've ever seen!" makes that obvious, as does the fact that there are other videos which specifically refer to his dancing, and yeah, there are comments like this on said videos:
ed dancing
In "Kiss of Life," Ed looks like Voldemort and has this serious/intense look on his face in the close-up shots and it still makes me laugh really hard. And his dancing… I'm just like, get it. The slo-mo shots of his dancing, the regular shots, everything. Besides Ed, there's the drum line. Just as much as I love the percussion in the song, I love seeing it played out in the video with a bunch of people in colorful clothes. And the island harmonizes with the mood of the music.
But let's be real, I'm there for da ass.
