The era of videos like Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Tina Turner’s Simply The Best, and Diana Ross’s Chain Reaction are long gone. Instead we’re stuck with videos that may you think, “Haven’t I seen this before?” Yes, you probably have.

Beyonce is not the only performer hurting music videos’ reputation.

Watch Amerie’s One Thing and then Gotta Work. Not only are the songs similar but the videos too. One Thing was her biggest hit, but is that an excuse to reproduce it entirely? Use the same producer or songwriter, but the music and video too? So far for her, lightning has not struck twice.

These days artists just cannot produce a great song AND video. They achieve one, but not the other. A prime example of this is Ciara and her flop single Go Girl. I personally wasn’t impressed by the video, but it did try something brand new. People raved about it…but those same people did not buy the song because it was terrible. Another case is Rihanna and her single Rehab with Justin Timberlake. The song is great, but instead of going with a touching video to show some versatility, it centres around Rihanna posing with a man- how original is that?

Anyway, this is my view…What’s yours?

When I was younger, my sister and I would love to watch music videos. I remember Tupac’s Changes and TLC’S No Scrubs on constant rotation, and we never got bored watching it. I found TLC’ s video recently on Youtube, and the song and accompanying video were still fresh.

Fast forward ten years, and music videos have all been seen before. Now artists use the same old concepts from yesteryear (or yesterday) to try and impress us. I see a video now and don’t desire to ever see it again. Instead of originality we get posers with as many naked women as possible.

I’ll use Beyonce as an example because she’s my favourite singer, and I’ve seen all of her videos.

I think that the videos for her Dangerously In Love album were superb. Each one of them (Crazy In Love, Baby Boy, Naughty Girl and Me, Myself and I) all stand out in my mind, and I could see them over and over again. They are all different from each other, show different sides of Beyonce, e.g. Baby Boy is hot and wet meanwhile MM & I is serious and touching, and they were all high quality.

I think that it went downhill after the DIL era. I do like the Deja Vu video, but it had to grow on me. It’s a great example of today’s videos that just focus on looks instead of substance. Ring The Alarm ’s video shows the low budget put into what used to mini-movies. Irreplaceable is a complete bore-fest, an ancient storyline involving a woman kicking her boyfriend out.

Single Ladies. I did not like it at first, but it grew on me and now I love it. SL shows the great rewards of taking risks, instead of following the same old, far too tired methods. She started a craze that spread worldwide and took the internet by storm! Who hasn’t tried the routine at some point? I know that the video was ‘inspired’ by Fosse, but at least she modernised it, bringing Fosse to a new generation. Even If I Were A Boy feels fresh. The song’s concept has been done before, but twist in the video balances that out.

Then Beyonce slipped.

The videos for Diva, Halo, Broken Hearted Girl, and Ego have brought her high standard back down to everyone else’s. I know that videos don’t have to completely follow the lyrics, but Diva is just a quirky fashion show. Halo and BHG are just Beyonce rolling around with a guy, and Ego is SL, the lifeless version that we were never meant to see.

What do you think?

I’ve decided to start an ‘Under the Radar’ series for my blog. UtR posts will be about anything that I feel deserved more praise or recognition, but simply fell under the radar for various reasons. I’ll be featuring singers, actors, movies, songs, products, etc. If you want to recommend any subject for an UtR post, feel free to leave it in the Comments section. I’m open to anything!

You’ve probably already heard about Nas and Kelis getting divorced. It is sad, and it shocked many people including myself. It seemed to be a quiet affair…until now.

Things might be getting ugly….Kelis claims that Nas has left her ‘broke’. Understandably, she wants him to pay ‘child support, all pregnancy-related expenses, and one-half of all medical expenses after the child is born. She also wants $3,500 for the baby nurse after the child’s birth’.

I completely agree that he should contribute towards the baby’s costs, since it is his son.

But this is where Kelis loses me: ‘$20,000 for strollers, cribs and other baby supplies.’

Many families live on less than twenty thousand in an entire year! In some countries, families survive on one dollar a day! I don’t have kids yet, but what baby supplies amount to thousands of pounds?

And then this: ‘My survival is based on [Nas'] will at this time. If he does not want to pay for an expense, it does not get paid.’

Why do women do this to themselves? I know her music isn’t commercialy popular, so her sales aren’t big, but even so she could’ve tried other areas on the side e.g. acting, song writing, producing, or even gotten some sort of day job. Instead of putting her pride aside, she sat there and milked off of him for all these years?

Ladies, depend on yourself! Don’t rely on your family, friends, lovers or co-workers to support you through life, do it yourself! Get your own money, buy your own house, drive your own car, wear your own jewllery, etc, etc, etc. Surely that’s better than using someone else’s possessions, knowing that if that person kicks you out then you’re stuck in a rut.

What makes me really sick is this part: ‘Kelis says she’s entitled to maintain the lifestyle to which she became accustomed during their marriage — they have five homes, fly first class, go to fancy restaurants, and on and on.’

If someone wants a rich lifestyle, EARN IT! Don’t rely on someone else to do it for you. If you get used to being rich then you can get used to being poor! That’s what millions of families have been doing since the recession started, so Kelis it’s time for you to do it too.

Yes, I do like Kelis, but I can’t stand when women moan about not getting a free ride anymore.

What do you think?

“Europe’s largest oil company agreed on Monday to a $15.5 million payout to settle a lawsuit over alleged complicity in human rights abuses under the former military regime in Nigeria during the 1990s.

The case, initiated 13 years ago, had been due for trial in the United States next week.

The victims included the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who led a non-violent protest against environmental destruction and abuses against the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta. He was hanged in 1995 along with other activists after standing trial in a military court. The activists’ deaths triggered international condemnation and outrage.

Though willing to pay up, Shell was quick to reject the claims concerning the 1995 execution of six anti-Shell activists by the African country’s military regime.”

Full Article

I know that money won’t bring the dead back, and I know that something is better than nothing at all, but I also know that a life is worth more than $700,000! These oil companies make billions, so milions is a drop in the ocean. The oil giant has made that 15 million back many times over since the ruling was decided, plus the company accepts no responsibility for the activists’ deaths. Surely the point of the case was to show how the company played a part in the executions, yet suddenly money made everything all right.

The developed world takes advantage of Africa so often. The ‘western world’ dumps chemical waste on African beaches or rivers, pollutes the African atmosphere by pumping more harmful chemicals into the air, and then destroys farmers’ livelihood through unfair trade. What do some African leaders do? They let it happen time and time again because they’re in a huge mansion with luxuries, that you and I can only dream of, far away from the people suffering the consequences of greed.

So….is your life worth $700,000?