Article written by Lauren Johnston.
This week we take a look at what artists made a statement in their music videos, whether it be shocking, political, comedic or just plain weird. Everyone likes to be a little different sometimes and that goes for celebrities as well. If you are famous the last thing you want to do is blend in, that’s how you become a distant memory and a one-hit wander. There’s been a few videos that have come out that have caught the attention of the internet and media outlets, including names we love like Childish Gambino with his music video to his song ‘America’, and many more that will be discussed in this article. The thing is music videos are one of the most popular form of artist expression there is, it allows the artist to tell a story and enables us to see how they tackle big issues such as racism, political issues, gender equality and so on, but sometimes the content that is made is pretty graphic.
Lady Gaga: ‘Do What You Want’ feat R.Kelly and ‘Judas’
If we are talking about controversial music videos it’s no surprise that Lady Gaga has made this list, with not only one but two songs. Lady Gaga is not one to shy from letting her creative mind run free when it comes to her music videos, they are all a bit out there and definitely outside the box, but this one in particular is pretty messed up. ‘Do What You Want’ shocked the media for several reasons; First of all she worked with R. Kelly and director Terry Richardson ignoring the fact that both have been accused of sexual assault not just once but a few times. Second of all in the video, there are sexually suggestive scenes (like the fact that R. Kelly is a doctor in the music video and takes advantage of drugged Lady Gaga while she's undressed). And if that wasn’t the cherry on top of the cake, Terry is seen photographing Gaga as she rolls around nude in newspapers. The video was never “officially” released, but reports say that it was most likely canceled due to fear of backlash over R.Kelly and Terry, and if you really want to you can see this video on Youtube.
Judas
Not everyone loves this song and that’s mainly due to the religious controversy this song caused. The timing of the song was critised along with Lady Gaga herself. As I was reading through an abundance of reports critising Gaga I found a quote from http://www.alloy.com/entertainment from the president of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue who criticized Gaga for portraying Mary Magdalene and mentioned that she intentionally chose to premiere her offensive video close to Holy Week and Easter. He said: “Lady Gaga tries to continue to shock Catholics and Christians in general: she dresses as a nun, she gets raped, she swallows the rosary. She has now morphed into a caricature of herself. She is falling short. She wants to shock, does she actually believe her own BS?”
Gaga didn’t break a sweat to any of this and claimed that she had no intention of offending anyone. She said: “The only controversial thing about this video is that I'm wearing Christian Lacroix and Chanel in the same frame. This video is not meant to be an attack on religion. I respect and love everyone's beliefs. I'm a religious and spiritual person who's obsessed with religious art. I'm obsessed with it.”
Kanye West: Famous
Well our beloved Kanye didn’t stop for anything, the word ‘shocking’ some may say doesn’t quite fit this one, I mean it’s a giant celebrity o*gy! The music video, which was inspired by Vincent Desiderio's painting “Sleep,” shows Kanye laying in the nude and in bed, beside a group of faces with girls who made headlines and news articles with him in the past. These were naked wax figures of celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Ray J, Taylor Swift, and even his ex, Amber Rose.
The video wasn’t only criticized but somehow got praised as well, but the most shocking part is that not everyone who got included gave him their consent. Luckily for him, none of the girls wanted to sue his a** and not one law suit was filed. As for Kanye's original game plan, he explained that he wasn't trying to support (or insult) anyone. He only wanted to give a “comment on fame.”
Rihanna: S&M
That’s right our girl ‘Rhi Rhi’ is among the other great artists mentioned here this week. Basically the song wasn’t bad like the others, the video actually received a lot of positive feedback and it did really well on the charts. BUT, because of the sexual content (like Rihanna motioning having sex with a blow-up doll), it got banned in 11 countries! That’s right, 11 countries thought just because of that it was too much and was no longer played or viewed. Melina Matsoukas, who directed the music video, responded to the media with: “When I go out to make something, I kind of go out with the intention to get it banned – not to get it banned … but to make something provocative … it's making an effect and people are having a dialogue about it, so, to me, that's successful.” Personally if anything all this media about it would have helped her sales on this song and our girl would of made bank!
Childish Gambino: America
This has probably been one of the most talked about music videos yet. Childish Gambino tackles issues like racism, violence and freedom, but not all was well or as innocent as it seemed. The video is packed with symbolism and satire. The song deals directly with race, gun violence, police brutality and the concept of freedom in a chaotic world. In the video Gambino is seen dancing through a big warehouse and as he dances, different things happen and occur. In one act Gambino dances from one scene to another and shoots a man in the head (not literally of course) then can be seen moments later dancing happily with kids in school uniforms. In another part of the video, an all-black choir is singing and dancing when Gambino quietly enters the "room." He dances alongside them and then kills them with an assault weapon. The brutal scene was an apparent reference to the 2015 Charleston church shooting, in which nine black parishioners were shot and killed during Bible study at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. These are just a few disturbing things that happen within this video.
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