The poll brings us now to the VIDEO of the year, and after some snuffling around on YouTube I have links for all our six nominees.
Fergie - "Fergalicious": Fergie and Will.I.Am in a Willy Wonka fantasia.
Christina Aguilera - "Ain't No Other Man": Xtina living out her 40s starlet dreams.
Bouncy - "Ring The Alarm": Angry Bouncy in an interrogation cell.
OK Go - "Here It Goes Again": Power-poppers on running machines.
Camera Obscura - "Hey Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken": Catalogue couple dance through department store.
Infernal - "From Paris To Berlin": Disco inside a compuler.
Go and look at them if you like, and tick below.
[Poll #892358]
You can still vote in the previous polls, and indeed nominate in the categories we haven't polled yet. As ever, votes based on your nominations: both Fergie singles were mentioned more than once, and I picked only one for space reasons - if Fergie humping a horse guard was your vision of 2006, my humble apologies.
Fergie - "Fergalicious": Fergie and Will.I.Am in a Willy Wonka fantasia.
Christina Aguilera - "Ain't No Other Man": Xtina living out her 40s starlet dreams.
Bouncy - "Ring The Alarm": Angry Bouncy in an interrogation cell.
OK Go - "Here It Goes Again": Power-poppers on running machines.
Camera Obscura - "Hey Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken": Catalogue couple dance through department store.
Infernal - "From Paris To Berlin": Disco inside a compuler.
Go and look at them if you like, and tick below.
[Poll #892358]
You can still vote in the previous polls, and indeed nominate in the categories we haven't polled yet. As ever, votes based on your nominations: both Fergie singles were mentioned more than once, and I picked only one for space reasons - if Fergie humping a horse guard was your vision of 2006, my humble apologies.
Case study
Date: 2006-12-20 01:39 pm (UTC)Re: Case study
Date: 2006-12-20 01:39 pm (UTC)Also
Date: 2006-12-20 01:39 pm (UTC)Re: Also
Date: 2006-12-20 01:44 pm (UTC)Favourite bit of 'Ring The Alarm' video: the softer, sadder middle eight, atonal harmonies providing the DISJOINT, Beyoncé sitting on the sofa and gazing into the middle distance, waves crashing behind her, and you SEE HER EYES GLISTEN WITH TEARS.
Re: Also
Date: 2006-12-20 02:10 pm (UTC)Re: Also
Date: 2006-12-20 06:14 pm (UTC)(That's what's going on in the music, too: the maintenance of style above and beyond the conflagration. To the detriment of the music, I'd say. "Survivor" wasn't as frenzied or fierce, but the anguish and spite were more genuinely full-blooded.)
Re: Also
Date: 2006-12-21 12:30 pm (UTC)Re: Also
Date: 2006-12-21 12:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 02:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 02:23 pm (UTC)Good, slick solo choreography on the Xtina one but it didn't really match the verve of the song, so no tick there. OK Go was fun but would have been a better 30-second YouTube video than a 3-minute pop one, also I didn't like their clothes. No tick. Fergalicious I enjoyed but Fergie herself felt kind of static, not really joining in with the phantasmagoria. So no tick.
Which left Camera Obscura and Beyonce. Camera Obscura had terrific choreography but the appearance of mopey CO head spoiled it a little. Visually I think I liked it best, but Beyonce got my tick because of the more interesting structure, and also because of the singing-to-camera sections where she very effectively sells a song that (in unremixed form) hadn't grabbed me before.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 02:30 pm (UTC)Other videos which caught my attention in the 06
Date: 2006-12-20 02:42 pm (UTC)For the wrong reasons: Justin is at his sexiest when dancing and singing into the camera with puppy-dog eyes. So for a song about how sexy he is...we have jerky, unchoreographed, blink-and-you-miss-them action clips of him running around a big house after a girl. Rubbish. I have imagined a far superior video in my head, though one admittedly not suitable for The Hits or TMF really.
Justin Timberlake ft TI - My Love
Much better! Monochrome simplicity, awesomely subtle dance routines - not so much throwing shapes as tossing them, lightly and casually and very much in response to the beat and the words. The violins, paper and ring flying at the screen are a nice touch. Fantastic camera angles too, especially panning beneath the ground in the closing sequence.
Ciara - Promise
More evidence that the secret theme of 06 was BALLADS YOU CAN DANCE TO. I love this mostly for its retro feel, from Ciara's big 80s Janet Jackson hair to the cheesy making-love-to-magnetic-microphone sequence to the tracksuits to the gentle swaying conga on the way out.
Ciara ft Chamillionaire - Get Up
Rather more energetic choreography from the best dancer in pop, this time - rapid-fire jerky moves, meek and mild Ciara Harris pulling on that leather glove and metamorphosing into a megastar, spicy like hot sauce. Best bit - camera bouncing with her and her dancers on the "jumping jumping" line.
Cassie - Long Way 2 Go
Come on, the entire first verse is about Cassie deleting unwanted friends off her Myspace.
Paris Hilton - Nothing In This World
Cheeky and cheesy take on the high school teen comedy - it's essentially a trailer for a fictitious Never Been Kissed-style movie, complete with awesomely corny straplines - "SOMETIMES A DREAMER!" "DARES TO WIN!" - with Paris playing the role of guardian angel and saviour to a lonely bullying victim.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 02:46 pm (UTC)also, why do i find fergie's face disturbing? i can't put my finger on it.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 02:48 pm (UTC)My personal video of the year may be Cornelius' 'Fit Song' (http://youtube.com/watch?v=7AeodCMHCFk)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 02:55 pm (UTC)I think my favourite video of this year would actually have been 'Fish And Chips' by Marga Man, however.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 02:59 pm (UTC)*Others that come to mind:
"Fell In Love With A Girl"
"Baby One More Time"
no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 07:06 pm (UTC)Ditto! I hadn't actually heard the Fergie song before now. It's a bit overegged innit so the extravagant video actually goes quite well with the music.
Something about the Camera Obscura vid irritated but the song (which again I hadn't heard before) is tremendous.
Beyonce = third favourite vid. Like
no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 03:50 am (UTC)It is! Indie Lives! or something.
I'm prob being too cynical, but it sounds a bit like they suddenly niched-out on the fact that Johnny Boy never capitalized properly on that generation/shoes thing.
cor!
Date: 2006-12-20 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-21 05:56 am (UTC)Meg and Dia - "Monster," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOpyLKOA07U) Madonna - "Sorry" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfw1bpLLWYc), Ms. Peachez - "Fry That Chicken," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx4ulI-PZqY) Klaus Nomi - "Lightning Strikes" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqvWPl1oomY) (well, it was uploaded to Youtube in '06, which is what really counts). Most DISAPPOINTING videos of the year all belong to DEVO 2.0 who should have had three or four of the best videos ever by default.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 03:57 am (UTC)