A Bad Beat And You Can't Dance To It

Christina Aguilera is a great singer but a lame artist—that's always been my take. Her new video doesn't do anything to disavow me of this notion. I already don't like "Not Myself Tonight"—it's a throwaway club track that sounds dated—but the video reeks of desperation.

I realize GaGa does videos that go over the top, but I think when she does it there is a clear sense of purpose, even if the actual purpose is often difficult to sense! Christina's video feels like a GaGa rip-off in structure, and uncomfortably quotes from Madonna throughout (though the opening frames really remind me of Annie Lennox's jerky head movements in "Missionary Man"), including homages to "Human Nature," "Erotica" and "Express Yourself."

A mess. She does have hot guys. And at least she looks beautiful, with the exception of her pendulous fake titties, which look like second cousins twice removed. And unlike Madonna on all of her recent videos save for "4 Minutes", she tried.

By the way, Miley Cyrus's new single is also a mess, but then I am so NOT a fan of defensive, self-referential, fame's-a-bitch songs ("Human Nature" included). It sounds like Adam Lambert's annoying "For Your Entertainment" meets, again, Lady GaGa (vocally) and Britney Spears (it's remarkably similar to "Radar" and Madonna's "Revolver"). She's a sweetheart and points for branching out, but I don't see what adults get from cheering on yet another girl going from sweet to sticky using yet another song like this to do it.

Of course, Miley's the girl of the moment, so her fans will eat it up and quite a few adults will convince themselves they're on board, too. Rinse, repeat.

Comments

[Cristián]

Agree.
A mess.
Xtina has reached her Debbie-Gibson-Anything-Is-Possible point.
From here on is all down.

Too bad. She does have a great voice.

[Castor Reigns]

Upon hearing Miley's song, I kept on singing "My love's a revolver, my sex is a killer..." over and over again.

[J.R.]

So funny! I caught Christina's video last night. I was shocked by the obvious Express Yourself and Human Nature rip offs. I say rip offs because I'm fairly certain that both Christina and Hype would never openly admit to borrowing the imagery. As if most people wouldn't know or recognize where they got the idea. Not as if Madonna didn't take things that already existed and make them her own. But come on! That image of Christina at the top of the staircase with steam pumping up in back and her use of the monocle? I do like the song (how ever uninspired it is) but was surprised that she tried so hard with this video. And yet, did really try at all.

[J.R.]

Sorry. The last line should read "didn't really try at all". I'm pre-coffee. :)

[Mark]

While I am not in complete disagreement with your thoughts on Christina's song, I do think you sell the video way too short. Especially because I think the homages were done very, very well and thus demonstrate that the girl (and her team) knew what they were doing. And the whole everyone is trying to be like Lady Gaga thing, because they are making a catchy video or have a electronicy song is absolutely tired. Even if you believe that, I think people's arguments need to be far more nuanced than quick references to Lady Gaga's ostensible originality. While 'Not Myself Tonight' is not a great single, not a single Lady Gaga song released has been good. They are popular because (a) there is nothing really great on the radio anymore and (b) because her music allows people who otherwise never felt comfortable (or just weren't good) at dancing to pop music or never invested much in it do so now cause the point is never to look good but to act foolish. That is fine. That is why all the parodies work so well. But it still doesn't qualify it to great pop art.
I except far more perceptive points from someone who is so invested in pop culture, and particularly who is so specific on his positions of Madonna. Disappointed.
As for Miley, yah she sucks.

[self publishing]

Christina Aguilera looks so much older in that photo, almost like a 90s retro band.

[Christian]

I dont' see any Lady Gaga comparisons at all in there but the Madonna ripoffs are all over the place.
The song blows and the video goes nowhere which is a bit disappointing but Christina could have worn jeans and a t-shirt and Gaga's insane fans would claim she was copying her so its a lose lose.
That said, I wish Christina would stop tryign so hard and use her voice to record music that is better than what she does. She has such an amazing voice but just doesn't use it right. Her material is awful, she oversings and overdoes it. When she speaks its so contrived and painful. I wish she could just chill, take five and just concentrate on the music as opposed to making everyone believe she is something she is so obviously not.

[Tomi Luka]

No Lady GaGa comparisons? What about the ubiquitous product placement (Carrera, Nokia, etc.)? Those crazy masks-shades she's wearing? Setting the thing on fire is very Bad Romance.
This is def a Madonna by way of GaGa rip-off. I had high hopes for this album (why with the Sia collaborations and all). I hope I'm right.

[Mark]

Lady Gaga did not invent product placement. And the setting thing on fire seems more like George Michael to me....Just saying.

[ryuchi]

i was totally going to mention the fire is more like George Michael from the freedom video!

[Matthew Rettenmund]

Mark: I can't take you too seriously in this regard when your point about Lady GaGa is that QUOTE not a single Lady GaGa song released has been good UNQUOTE. If you expect far more perceptive points from me, I should expect the same, no?

I'm not a stickler for originality—Madonna has ripped off the best!—but Madonna has usually been able to use things in a fresh way. One could put Madonna's work under a microscope and claim "This part and this part and this part have been done before!" but the whole package is new, has a point of view and is done with conviction.

GaGa has that same ability to take things and still make it new and her own. Yes, we don't know for 30 years what she turns into—a LARGE flash in the pan or maybe something more enduring.

In my opinion, Christina's video does not in any way feel like a one-of-a-kind artist is paying homage (or even just absorbing and reflecting) all the many references. Many Hype Williams knew, but Christina doesn't—if you follow the link and listen to her talking about the video, she doesn't say a word about it being inspired by any artists.

It's an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach.

As for the comment about GaGa's insane fans crying copycat (Christian), I agree it's become too knee-jerk to claim everyone is copying her. But...many artists are (anything hot gets copied), and the original GaGa thief IS Christina. My take is that back when GaGa was not even close to being the overnight icon she is now, she was making a splash and Christina's people ripped off her style hard thinking no one in the mainstream would even get it. Perez got it because he's a GaGa stalwart, and he made everyone aware of it, which was unexpected. Christina may not even have been all that aware, but once she figured it out and found herself accused, she really lost a lot of cred by claiming not to know "what" this GaGa was, etc.

What shocks me is that she has not consciously avoided doing anything GaGa-esque. And that doesn't mean she should avoid doing massive videos with lots of fashions, but c'mon, she has a lot of GaGa (Perez has some great side-by-sides that I'm sure he did not do himself, but which are convincing...unlike his old-time Beyoncé diatribes where everything she did was stolen...not) and Madonna parallels in there. It's like...doesn't she see this and think, "Even if I'm NOT trying to be too like another artist, maybe I should avoid anything obvious that might create that impression?"

By the way, it probably will never cease to fascinate me how so many people are polarized on the GaGa issue. But like Madonna before her, arguments that her songs are not good don't hold water (outside of one's own personal taste of course). The people have spoken and like it or not, GaGa IS a great big pop artist. She is the definition of POP—musically and literally: She is POPular. Very. More so than most. And I think her abilities are much, much more respected at such an early stage in her career than Madonna's were. Lucky for GaGa! Poor Madonna had all the success but SO LITTLE critical acclaim for several years. Then of course everyone looked back and said, "The early work was amazing, too! Even better than the newer stuff!"

Anyway. I enjoy the comments.

[Tomi Luka]

Yes, when I think of a lady in a bustier setting her bedroom of fire I think of George Michael, but we're talking about video output here, not what he likes to do on a Friday night. LG didn't invent product placement, but I can't think of someone else who has done it so blatantly on their videos. Anyway, Christina warned us, she's definitely NOT herself tonight.. she's lady Gaga.

I know LG is not exactly original, but I think of her as a Madonna visual cover band, which could be seen as an original concept in itself. But when someone copies the cover band, it's hard to stand for their originality.

I'm sure if Matt had more time, with his trained eye and photoshop skills he could pull up at least 5 scenes that echo Bad Romance and other LG stuff (aside form the obvious Madonna references).

[Matthew Rettenmund]

Tomi: Exactly...I'm a GaGa fan, but I'm too fucking old to be a GaGa expert, lol. I got a vague sense of her until I saw the side-by-sides and was like, "Oh. Wow. 'Bad Romance.'" And no one can tell me Hype Fucking Williams has not seen "Bad Romance," or people around her have not seen it and did not think, "Oh, shite."

[JR]

Well said Matthew. Well said. :)

[Joao Simoes]

He was talking about George Michael's Freedom video. I thought of it automatically when I saw this also. It is clearly a rip off of that, not the Lady Gaga video.

[Henry Holland]

Could someone explain to me what the appeal for so many gay men is for straight female pop singers? My friends and I are in to bands like MUSE, bands that write their own songs, not hire people to do it for them and can play their instruments at a virtuoso level and who rock out.

I know it's supposed to be part of my Introduction to Gay Life packet that I got when I came out that I like everyone from Marilyn to Judy to Cindy to Madonna to Xtina to Gaga, but I have zero interest in them so what am I missing?

[Denis]

I agree with everything Matthew said here x1000...

[JR]

Henry,

While it certainly is not a requirement if you are a gay man to like or admire 'straight' female pop singers. There is a link to appreciating them from a gay perspective for a variety of reasons. I personally have been a Madonna fan before I even really understood the whole gay thing. But I also have my own musical roots in punk rock and R&B, New Wave, Reggae and so on. So you are free to like what you like. I think every generation gets their divas (Judy, Barbara, Madonna, Whitney, Mariah) and the new ones (Britney, Christina, Gaga). But honestly, I think its just honest and mature to own up to your own pop sensibilities, regardless of your sexuality. Pop music is just that, Pop. Not that it is required listening. But when it's good, it's good. And you either like it, or you don't. Feel free. There are plenty of homos that are into Muse and other like rock bands (my BF included). So go for it.

[Jayson]

I tend to really agree with you, Matthew. Particularly the point you make to Mark about Madonna ripping off the best — but she's usually been able to use things in a fresh way. That's so true and she's done it so well.

Madonna has done so much in reference to her looks, performances on stage, and video. It's almost impossible for another female artist (or male) to do someone and have someone not say, oh she's ripping Madonna off. But this video, although done very well, really had downright rip offs of Madonna's stuff. It's kind of pathetic. Some of those ideas from the Express Yourself video particularly came from Madonna's imagination and creativity.

Although I like Christina, it just seems like she's chasing a dream instead of leading, unlike someone like Madonna or Lady Gaga. But I suppose she always has been like that.

This too shall pass and be forgotten soon.

[John]

i'm unimpressed with the song and count myself as neutral when it comes to aguilera. i admired her big band tribute thing she did a few years ago, even though i personally wasn't into it. but in re this video, my biggest beef isn't with her so much as it is with the director, hype williams who is imho, the shlockiest, laziest, overrated and overpaid video director around. and frankly, that's quite an accomplishment. there really is nothing wrong with paying homage or lifting visual ideas from other people, but when the execution is this lazy and enervating, i have to protest. this video wasn't cheap and was obviously planned. so when you try this hard and all you get is whatever the hell this video is trying to be, i start thinking that the players in corporate music are lazier and more cynical than i imagined.

and to those who can't distinguish between the works of madonna / lady gaga and this mess, my heart goes out to you.

[Devonasa]

"Didn't invent product placement, but I can't think of someone else who has done it so blatantly on their videos."

How about every Britney video of the past two years, she has featured her perfume in every video she has had during her "Circus" era (as Christina did with NMT), not to mention Virgin Mobil (like GaGa did in Telephone), and Bvlgari, not to mention these sunglasses everyone seems to be bringing up, are the exact same ones Britney wore in her "3" video (which both GaGa and Christina rocked in their videos)....yet no one is saying GaGa and Christina copied her.

And why is that, oh because everyone wants to believe everyone is copying Lady GaGa.

No one is trying to copy Lady GaGa...

[Matthew Rettenmund]

Devonasa: You may not like GaGa, but to say "no one is trying to copy Lady GaGa" is a bit much, especially in Christina's case. But your point about product placement is well taken.

[Mario]

I think part of the problem here is that some people are into Gaga and some aren't. Those that are have difficulty seeing past those that don't. Not every decision is made with her in mind. Personally I don't think she is hte cultural force her fans claim her to be. Her music is over produced, derivative and frankly been done before. Her image is gimmicky and overtaking whatever artisic credit her work may deserve. I've seen her Romance video and could think of a million videos that it aped. She is not the bastian of originality her fans claim her to be either. There may be some things that look similar to Gaga but i honestly don't think it was intentional or even important. I honestly didn't even think of Gaga at all watching the video.

[Devonasa]

Maybe I shouldn't have said "no one", but to me Christina is NOT.

Quality of the song and video aside, Christina is a very smart popstar, everything she does is calculated to a tee. I highly doubt she and her team sat down looked at anything Lady GaGa did and set out to recreate or copy it, especially after the whole debacle about her copying her 2 yrs ago. She is far to smart for that, and the fact that she has gone through a decade, makes me believe she deserves more credit than just to be dismissed as a "swagga-jacker".

Cascada is someone who has copied GaGa,but in my opinion Christina is not.

[Tomi Luka]

Henry: Don't feel alienated, it happens to everyone. Most of the straight guys I hang out with have only a passing interest in 'straight guy' stuff like sports. Some even think sports fandom is for dumb people (their opinion). So the question is not why a guy gay wouldn't relate to that, as much as how interesting it is that a lot of us do.

Devonasa: I see your point about product placement (Hillary Duff comes to mind, as well as Patron Tequila) but I think GaGa after Telephone has kind of made it something of a trademark of doing it so in-your-face (having more than one product). Plus, its presence doesn't help keeping the Bad Romance vibe away.

And all these people trashing on GaGa's music, where were you when Eminem was labeled a genius and J Lo topped the charts?