Wednesday, August 20, 2014

 

Controversial Videos, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj


As I mentioned here a few days ago, Taylor Swift is out with a new song and video from her upcoming new album. The upbeat catchy song, "Shake It Off," is a tribute to 80s music and the video with lots of dancing is a tribute to the early days of Music Videos.

Back in the 80s, when MTV actually still Was Music TeleVision, the concept of music videos was fairly new. No one knew exactly what to do or what could be done with a music video. Before MTV and the Music Video revolution of the very early 80s, videos were made for a very few songs as promotional material, designed to boost record sales. But on 8/1/81 when MTV went on the air, or over cable actually, it seemed that every sing needed to have an accompanying video to make it a legit song. That meant that many videos were made on low budgets. Bigger budget videos tried to outdo each other for attention. By late 1983, Michael Jackson released a 13-minute music video for "Thriller," directed by famous Hollywood film director John Landis.

Taylor Swift in an Ad for Keds

Taylor Swift goes back through the years and alludes to styles and cliches used in previous songs and videos. This is what happens in the entertainment world. People "borrow" lyrical ideas and video looks that others have used in the past. If done right, with enough modification and injection of personal style, people accept the allusion to past works and it helps them identify with the current offering. However, if people feel that the artist is blatantly ripping off previous works, they will complain of plagiarism. Both opinions are represented in reviews of Taylor Swift's new song, "Shake It Off".

It is likely that Taylor Swift will Shake Off most criticism of her latest song, "Shake It Off" because the song is actually about ignoring haters. Have a look and decide for yourself. Is this popular new Taylor Swift video, with 3 million views on day one and now 15 million views on day two, a tribute or a rip off or something entirely different?

Yesterday saw the release of the new Nicki Minaj video, Anaconda. This video is also controversial, also features elements from the past, and includes lots of dancing. In this case, the connection to the past is deliberate. The song includes samples from the 1986 hit dance song, "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot. That song told of Mister Mix's appreciation of women who had a figure that was little in the middle but having much back. His Anaconda didn't want none unless she had buns. He obviously liked big butts and he could not lie about it.

So Nicki Minaj made a video celebrating the effect of her twerking butt on someone's Anaconda. In addition to twerking scenes, the video features banana eating and whipped cream shooting on Nicki's chest. Some say this video promotes porn and strip clubs. Take a look and decide for yourself. If you are a parent with young children, you might be interested to see this very popular video by Nicki Minaj that got 10 million views on day one, and decide if your children should see this or not.

Where do you buy your music? Why not get it at Amazon.com! They sell everything there! Shop at Amazon.com for music, electronics, clothes, even food! Here are some items available at Amazon related to Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj. Have a look, and check out other things for sale at Amazon as well. Happy Shopping!

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