Kelly Clarkson's Karaoke Revolution
Music Video Review
Kelly Clarkson
"Walk Away"
Director: Joseph Kahn
In David Raposa's Pitchfork review of "Since U Been Gone," he described the hit track -- and its writer, Max Martin -- as having given Kelly Clarkson an image makoever. The song recasts her as a woman who's "diffident, defiant, and mad as hell." And it was an utterly catchy, innovative pop confection. But the video for "Since U Been Gone" was not nearly as inspired. In those one-note three minutes, Clarkson is supposed to be in her ex-boyfriend's apartment tearing up his and his new girlfriend's shit while they're away, acting as the agent dispensing bad karma to the boy who did her wrong. Not only was it difficult to figure out how she got into the apartment (if you had even figured out that that's where she was), but, more importantly, it didn't have the subtlety of the song itself. It was too bad-ass for its own good. Thus, as Clarkson tore open down pillows and snipped clothes into rags with a pair of scissors I'd ignore the video, but kept MTV Hits on just so I could hear that lyric of falling "for that stupid love song." My preferred method for listening -- and, let's face it, rocking -- to "Since U Been Gone" was and is to turn my iPod up and sing the fuck along.
And singing the fuck along is the very premise of "Walk Away." When we enter "Walk"'s video-time, it's 8:30 in the morning. A radio DJ announces that Kelly Clarkson is going to perform her hit single "Walk Away" for listeners all across "Radioland" (the announcer's description of his radiowaves). As one experiences every weekday, 8:30 is populated by those who are just getting ready for the day, and those who are already in the thick of morning. Throughout the course of the video, we catch glimpses of a girl who's getting up, a guy who's stuck in traffic, a mousy woman at work slipping her earbuds into her ears, a guy vacuuming his living room, a cop giving a fancy woman a ticket, a guy showering, shaggy-haired twins cleaning their kitchen, a busboy, a hairdresser, a waitress, a guy singing into the mirror of a public bathroom, and football jocks all hanging out in their locker room. The thing these individuals have in common is that they are all infected with the song, so much that they themselves break into song. And the pleasure in the video is seeing their diverse versions of getting down.
It's almost as though one day, Clarkson and/or Joseph Kahn were looking at the 10 East on a Wednesday morning and saw a number of commuters (myself included!) get down when I heard "Since U Been Gone" on the radio. Maybe Clarkson was thinking of her pre-American Idol days with aching nostalgia; like, say, if, like all girls who grew up in the `80s, she would sing to, say, "Like a Prayer" with abandon. And, speaking of Madonna, the video for "Walk Away" is, in a major way, the karaoke/lip-synching version of the video for Madonna's "Hung Up." Both videos have the elements of people rocking out to a diva, and cuts to the diva herself singing and shaking it. But what differentiates "Walk Away" is the line that Clarkson draws between her viewers and herself. While Madonna converges with her grooving audience, a kind of joint club circuit/Dance Dance Revolution/do-the-Hustle convention, Clarkson is officially a pop diva who brushes the sleepdust out of her fans' eyes, but stands apart from them. I suppose it's because there would be something admittedly weird if all the people featured in Clarkson's latest video met up with Clarkson and started singing along with her and a Karaoke Revolution revolution of her song.
Given its variation-on-a-theme quality, "Walk Away" is simply a super-fun video to watch. And it was well worth the risk of possibly being called a copy-cat. Perhaps one of the weirder emulations featured in the video is Kelly Clarkson-as-sex symbol. With midriff bare, sexy, lace-up boots hugging her calves, Clarkson swivels her hips, stands contrapasto, plays sassy, and even, towards the end of the video, gets upset at the director because he's being too difficult to work with. But it still feels weird to see America's most popular American Idol -- no, American Idol's sweetheart -- with the aim to scald. We've seen this side of Clarkson before, in leotard form, singing "Behind These Hazel Eyes." This side's got the same tight, ripped, shocking fashion statements (of which I am no fan), but it doesn't seem to have been emphasized in choreography before. And while it might fit the lyrics that Clarkson is singing, she doesn't yet feel comfortable in the role. But the delightful thing about the video, though, is that everyone else in it -- everyone who's singing along -- totally does. And the truth of it is, wouldn't we all agree that Madonna looks pretty ridiculous in "Lucky Star"?
Kelly Clarkson
"Walk Away"
Director: Joseph Kahn
In David Raposa's Pitchfork review of "Since U Been Gone," he described the hit track -- and its writer, Max Martin -- as having given Kelly Clarkson an image makoever. The song recasts her as a woman who's "diffident, defiant, and mad as hell." And it was an utterly catchy, innovative pop confection. But the video for "Since U Been Gone" was not nearly as inspired. In those one-note three minutes, Clarkson is supposed to be in her ex-boyfriend's apartment tearing up his and his new girlfriend's shit while they're away, acting as the agent dispensing bad karma to the boy who did her wrong. Not only was it difficult to figure out how she got into the apartment (if you had even figured out that that's where she was), but, more importantly, it didn't have the subtlety of the song itself. It was too bad-ass for its own good. Thus, as Clarkson tore open down pillows and snipped clothes into rags with a pair of scissors I'd ignore the video, but kept MTV Hits on just so I could hear that lyric of falling "for that stupid love song." My preferred method for listening -- and, let's face it, rocking -- to "Since U Been Gone" was and is to turn my iPod up and sing the fuck along.And singing the fuck along is the very premise of "Walk Away." When we enter "Walk"'s video-time, it's 8:30 in the morning. A radio DJ announces that Kelly Clarkson is going to perform her hit single "Walk Away" for listeners all across "Radioland" (the announcer's description of his radiowaves). As one experiences every weekday, 8:30 is populated by those who are just getting ready for the day, and those who are already in the thick of morning. Throughout the course of the video, we catch glimpses of a girl who's getting up, a guy who's stuck in traffic, a mousy woman at work slipping her earbuds into her ears, a guy vacuuming his living room, a cop giving a fancy woman a ticket, a guy showering, shaggy-haired twins cleaning their kitchen, a busboy, a hairdresser, a waitress, a guy singing into the mirror of a public bathroom, and football jocks all hanging out in their locker room. The thing these individuals have in common is that they are all infected with the song, so much that they themselves break into song. And the pleasure in the video is seeing their diverse versions of getting down.
It's almost as though one day, Clarkson and/or Joseph Kahn were looking at the 10 East on a Wednesday morning and saw a number of commuters (myself included!) get down when I heard "Since U Been Gone" on the radio. Maybe Clarkson was thinking of her pre-American Idol days with aching nostalgia; like, say, if, like all girls who grew up in the `80s, she would sing to, say, "Like a Prayer" with abandon. And, speaking of Madonna, the video for "Walk Away" is, in a major way, the karaoke/lip-synching version of the video for Madonna's "Hung Up." Both videos have the elements of people rocking out to a diva, and cuts to the diva herself singing and shaking it. But what differentiates "Walk Away" is the line that Clarkson draws between her viewers and herself. While Madonna converges with her grooving audience, a kind of joint club circuit/Dance Dance Revolution/do-the-Hustle convention, Clarkson is officially a pop diva who brushes the sleepdust out of her fans' eyes, but stands apart from them. I suppose it's because there would be something admittedly weird if all the people featured in Clarkson's latest video met up with Clarkson and started singing along with her and a Karaoke Revolution revolution of her song.
Given its variation-on-a-theme quality, "Walk Away" is simply a super-fun video to watch. And it was well worth the risk of possibly being called a copy-cat. Perhaps one of the weirder emulations featured in the video is Kelly Clarkson-as-sex symbol. With midriff bare, sexy, lace-up boots hugging her calves, Clarkson swivels her hips, stands contrapasto, plays sassy, and even, towards the end of the video, gets upset at the director because he's being too difficult to work with. But it still feels weird to see America's most popular American Idol -- no, American Idol's sweetheart -- with the aim to scald. We've seen this side of Clarkson before, in leotard form, singing "Behind These Hazel Eyes." This side's got the same tight, ripped, shocking fashion statements (of which I am no fan), but it doesn't seem to have been emphasized in choreography before. And while it might fit the lyrics that Clarkson is singing, she doesn't yet feel comfortable in the role. But the delightful thing about the video, though, is that everyone else in it -- everyone who's singing along -- totally does. And the truth of it is, wouldn't we all agree that Madonna looks pretty ridiculous in "Lucky Star"?
posted by Melissa at 6:21 PM
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