Niki N. Phaser

Watching TV the other day and I saw this video for Alexandra Burke’s Bad Boys and I have to say that the plot as well as the coregraphy got my sick mind thinking about what could it all mean. You don’t have to watch too closely to realize that this video seems like a 4 minutes metaphor for a gang bang. The girl’s car breaks down in a shady neighbourhood at night and then she is slowly followed and surrounded by an army of thug looking fellows, who keep checking out her bod. They end up in a pool joint, where the guys make their move and she ends up dancing with all of them, while Flo Rida sits alone and sad outside contemplating “She so so addicted to them rougher fellas” or “get them more the merrier” and concluding “You’ll have them shawty don’t worry”. It all ends outside, where the bad boys circle the girl and one final face-off follows, leaving them big guys down on the ground. This is one faulty cautionary tale for girls walking alone at night…

WHAT D’YA THINK ?

And just so you wouldn’t think that I’m raging against The X Factor, because it’s the seasonal thing to do, I’ll focus my sick mind on a classic hit, a video which I actually saw the same day: Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl. The lyrics talk about, obviously, an uptown girl who is “getting tired of her high class toys” and I guess that because “she never had a back street guy”, she decides to look “for a downtown man”. In the video, the girl just so happens to have her chauffeur stop at a garage, where Billy and his gang of Merry Mechanics giver her the full treatment. As soon as she gets down from her car, the dancing starts. Two bikers and two breakdancers with weird tops join in and soon our uptown girl is dancing with 8 guys at once. Her chauffeur doesn’t interfere, which is very Once Upon a Time in America of him. This is a cautionary tale for all of you uptown boys, this is what happens when your girl gets tired of “living in her white bread world”.

Up WHAT Girl ?!

Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours has, without a doubt, left its mark since its release in April of 2008. It practically spent a year on the charts, setting some new records (most weeks on the Billboard Hot 100) in the process. It’s all true and the guy is an accomplished singer-songwriter, no objection here. My thesis is that a lot of the song’s success is owed to another well-known song, that is Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s cover of Over the Rainbow, from 1993. Yes, you know it, the ukulele version used in a million or so movies, TV shows, commercials or any other entity that can have a soundtrack. The Hawai’ian artist’s heartfelt reendition of the Arlen-Harburg classic is the very definition of the simple, yet effective song — a few ukulele chords and a wonderful calm and soothing voice. The result is one of the most emotional songs ever, that holds a special unique place in the listener’s mind. It was also one of the few ukulele songs to reach mainstream in pop history.

Until April of 2008 (though Mraz’s song might be played on guitar, it is played as to sound like a ukulele)… This is not, in any way, some sort of plagiarism accusation against Mraz, maybe just a demerit, spoiling his golden stars collection. Funnily enough, I’m Yours has started going on the same path as Over the Rainbow: shows, trailers, commercials and you can hold your breath that it will start the romantic comedy/drama circuit soon enough. Both songs evoque a similar feeling, the life-is-short-let’s-enjoy-it-by-loving-someone kind of feeling, a simple philosophy expressed through a simple song structure. It’s a good trick on Mraz’s part, but maybe I’m wrong. Listen to both songs and judge y’rself:

Over the Rainbow I’m Yours

You might find this slightly immature, but it’s always nice to win a bet, no matter how trivial it is. On June 18, 2009 I posted this article , which I called at the time “a public bet I made with myself”. Basically, in it I’m saying (or joking ?) that Kasabian’s music would fit perfectly in a Guy Ritchie brit-gangsta-movie and guess what, it turns out my prediction was pretty right. In a September 12, 2009 article, NME.com is informing us that the director is indeed very impressed with Kasabian and might just ask them to score a movie for him. I guess, I do know my Guy Ritchies…