Hot N Cold

Count the product placements!

         

ohh happy ending, thank god, pheww i was just about to get nervous....

         

i thought the era of hitpop is over, katy prooved its not. seems she is more then a one kissed a girl wonder. anyhow, i dont like her, she's clever in pop. it works, the video is funny.

         

gotta be AF, he's the mothafuckin' madonna of product placement. his specialty is the "irrelevant cell phone performance shot," also seen in his boys like girls, fall out boy, and we the kings videos.

...not that there's anything wrong wiff that.

         

Alan's videos always happen to have a high level of production value thanks to said product placement. Good for him for not taking mv's so seriously. After all, will sticking a cell phone scene in to the edit really take away any credibility from a Katy Perry video?

         

Am I wrong to think this is sort of awesome?

I mean, you couldn't ask for a better pop video.

I thought she was sort of weird looking in the other videos, but here she looks hot. Charismatic, too!

         

this is fucking awesome.

she has BAGS of charisma.

i heard that alan put his entire fee in just to get that zebra.

         

WHTF is Alan Ferguson? Anyone could have made this video. What distinguishes this from the work of Marcos Siega, The Malloys or even Dave Meyers?

I don't think it's bad, but it's not great either. Tired as fuck.

Damn, Kate Perry's a looker! she's the best thing about this video. Standards are low guys, even for pop videos.

         

This is all academic anyway because in six months everyone will be like "Katy who?" as the next shrinkwrapped popette vehicle comes careening through the pipeline.

         

well I for one wouldn't mind earning her bung, nor would I give a toss that in six months everyone would be like "robo who?"

Make a nice change from scrablin' roun' in the goldfish bowl tryin to grab a bit of loose change, or havin doors slammed in yer snot!

         

Video looks good and seems cute for the song. I just can't believe that this is the last gasp of what the record industry has to breathe on. I also can't relate to music marketd to 15 yr old girls one bit.

The other day I heard a pack of about of ten kids (middle schoolers) jumping up and down singing "I kissed a girl." I thought fuck when I was 13 I was listening to everything from AC/DC to The Cure. We may not see it yet but there just may be an entire generation of kids who grow up with no cultural understanding of music outside of bubblegum. Swell.

         

         

quix: Isn't that a little naive? Shit, Meghan McCain listens to Stereolab, the Klaxons, and, seemingly, Hot Chip and the Pharcyde.

--added later-- Meghan, dude, we should, like, hang out.

         

i don't care what you assholes say, that vid was badass.

         

quix Seems to me in the UK, mos' Saturday nites there is a current generation of nihilistic retards wiv zero IQ's, stabbing the crap outta each other and anyone getting in the way! Wot the intellectual or cult quality, of the music they listen to, hardly mitigates or endear me to them

The fact there may be an entire generation of kids who grow up with no cultural understanding of music outside of bubblegum, is the least of the future generation worries, I would think!

         

Like I said the video works nicely. My comment isn't even about the song as much as the lack of variety in the mainstream. A dying industry intends to hang on by offering chocolate or vanilla. And yes that does detract from music as culture. And while music may not be as important to future generations as say not forgetting to walk outside without your Sunblock SPF 2000, its a rather important factor. Music is absolutely a cornerstone to culture.

I'm quite aware that young people these days are exposed to music differently than I was at a younger age. For example blogs to my old MTV. It doesn't change the sad state of the music industry offering candy coated sacrine. Just two nights ago flicking the channels I noticed the opening to CSI NY (eeek). The program began with a 3 minute performance with Maroon 5 as part of the plot.

I don't know, there is something a little sad there. There are like 10 -20 bands or artists who manage to sell the units that labels want to move. And with artists like Katy they see the opportunity to move more ass opposed to develop a culture of music. And there was a time when the job of label heads was to develop music as culture. See Atlantic Records in the age of Ahmet Ertegun for more on that. Simply said before music labels were just small parts of entertainment corporations they saw the development of artists as the development of culture and therefore something marketable. It wasn't just about share holder value.

So no I don't think I'm naive. Just saddened. There is nothing particular about this song or video that makes me say this other than the fact that I've seen the image Katy as second coming in music plastered everywhere. I kind of found the video cute as I mentioned above.

For more on the majors mindset I'd suggest a really interesting read posted here: muxtape.com

         

Read it! Good call quix!

         

I miss Marc Webb videos, at least he wouldn't let all that dance choreography just sit there in static shots like that. The video is fine for what it is, I'm sure everyone at the label is real happy with it. The wedding bookends give it the impression of a concept enough that you can forget about the middle not making any sense. I'd take "Clumsy" or "Wait a Minute" any day of the week over this.

         

It's a solid little video. I was all set to hate it, given that the whole idea of an artist whose first single was "UR SO GAY" (in a bad way) and second was "I kissed a girl" and also borrowed her styling off the burlesque scene (which I do a lot of work with, and which is full of people who R GAY and/or kiss girls) just filled me with rage.

But I have to say, it was solid. It's not innovative in any way; I will not be inspired by the direction of or steal a shot from this video (although I do feel a strange compunction to buy DIESEL sunglasses....), but it's solid pop. And at least they haven't made her look like something sprayed on the nose-cone of a B-52.

I dearly wish the zebra had been a unicorn but that probably would have been too actually gay for KP's product managers.

         

Fabulous pop video. It is the song in visual form and turning the aural into a matching visual is exactly what we are hired to do.

You can't fight the song and too often you see directors trying to do that and falling flat on their faces. I thought this video worked perfectly. Proof is in the pudding - if you like the record then you're bound to like the promo.

Job well done.

K

         

@moritz: brill. And this, probably the most important piece on the music industry this year that nobody will read.

         

i've read that article already. As long as record sales are falling, labels will have to go to other sources for financing, whether music videos or tours. If your going for a high budget video, product placement is necessary these days (unless your diddy videos.antville.org). The problem with the product placement shots in this video is that they're fairly obvious. I mean Michael Bay obvious. Otherwise, video is good, pretty much had the same idea when I first heard the song.

         

i feel a strange compunction to buy katy perry records.

         

@alexdecampi i read it, and it blew my mind. the music industry is really fucked these days, isn't it? can anyone tell me why all these alleged savvy businessmen can't figure out how to rearrange the system to work within the changes that are happening/have happened? furthermore, and i'm sure 80-90% of people on this site have made a music video and will thusly agree, i don't get why they needed to borrow all of nike/cover girl/whoever's money to make those videos. they weren't epics starring zoo animals. i'm sure a bunch of that money could have been saved by not feeding the entourage that showed up and not hiring people who think its 5-10 years ago and music videos can only be made with the kind of money you measure in what fraction of a million it is.

semi-related, does anyone know why, now that music videos can be 'purchased' on itunes, not one cent goes to anyone involved in the making of it? not the director, not the production company.... not like anyone would make a living off of it, but how are labels still epic fails if they're making the majority of profits from digital audio and video sales?

as far as katy perry goes, she looks like a babe in this video, and i really hope that whole "i kissed a girl" smash hit thing means that the flyover part of america is done being homophobic.

         

Who says "I Kissed a Girl" is homophobic?

         

you may want to re-read what he's actually said.

         

I don't care to belabor the point, but I'm not sure he's saying something other than what he's saying, there.

As an appendage to my argument, from Wikipedia:

Regarding the question of her own sexuality that the song has raised, Perry told Santa Barbara magazine (which featured her on the cover), "I like to kiss boys, but there is no doubt in my mind if Angelina Jolie or Gisele Bündchen came a callin', who wouldn't pucker up?"[20]

Amen, sister. (Still, Katy, "Ur So Gay" is kinda wack.)

         

..."means that the flyover part of america is DONE BEING homophobic" as in, you would think that the more ignorant, closed-minded people would boycott the song based on it's "scandalous" message, but judging by its success, they weren't turned off by it, which seems very forward-thinking.

on the other hand, i have had conversations where its mentioned that the song is a little questionable. i mean, who says it's that subversive for a girl to kiss another girl? what's the big deal? not that i'm arguing that point, but it's still a good one.

         

It's definitely a good thing the conversation is taking place, if anything. Nothing wrong with that. And yeah, I didn't get that that's what he was saying, thanks mr. lege. :)

         

The fact that Katy Perry is casually flaunting bisexuality as a way to attract attention is far from a victory for the gay-lesbian community. Also just because Joe Six Pack likes to see girls make out doesn't mean that he won't be weirded out when a gay guy tries to sit next to him on the bus. Add to that her aforementioned "UR So Gay" slurs and it's pretty much an open and shut case of Katy being a horrible, shallow, hypocritical dumbass.