2018 in Review: Lisa’s 10 Favorite Songs of 2018

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s time to continue to my look back at 2018 by listing my ten favorite songs of the year. If you want to see an example of how varied our tastes are here at the Shattered Lens, compare my picks to Necromoonyeti’s picks for the top 20 albums of 2018.

See, that’s one thing that I like about this site. We’ve all got our own individual tastes!

Anyway, here are my picks. I’m going to post them now and then I’ll probably spend the rest of the week getting laughed at whenever I leave my office here at the Shattered Lens Bunker. But that’s okay! I love everyone!

The Underground by Hardwell and Timmy Trumpet

2. Get Your Shirt by Underworld and Iggy Pop

3. Boom by Tiesto, Gucci Mane & Sevenn

4. Carribish by ADI

5. Like I Do by David Guetta, Martin Garrix & Brooks

6. There Was A Time by Kedr Livanskiy

7. The Middle by Zedd, Grey, and Maren Morris

8. One Kiss by Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa

9. I’m Upset by Drake

(I have to be honest. This is one that I pretty much like exclusively because of the Degrassi-themed video.)

10. The Tired and The Hurt by Moby

That’s it for music! Up next, either tonight or tomorrow, 10 good things I saw on television in 2018!

Lisa Looks Back At 2018:

Music Video of the Day: Stronger by Britney Spears (2000, dir by Joseph Kahn)

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Britney Spears certainly did not invent the “I don’t need my cheating boyfriend to feel strong” genre of music but, over the past 20 years, she’s done a lot to popularize it. Stronger was the first great “I don’t need you” song from Britney and I’ll admit right now that I’ve got the song memorized. It’s a great one to sing along with. “I’m not your property?” Hell yeah! “I don’t need nobody.” Uhmmm, okay, the grammar could use some work but still …. you go, girl!

(Technically, that’s a double negative so, when Britney was singing “I don’t need nobody,” she was actually saying that she does need someone. I used to frequently point that out, mostly because I was annoying like that. “I don’t need anybody” may be the correct way to phrase the sentiment but nobody sounds better than anybody when it’s sung aloud. Anyway, I’m just kind of rambling right now….)

As for the video, I guess the first question we should ask ourselves is, “Is Britney in the future?” Now, seen today, the video might not seem extremely futuristic but, way back in 2000, this was like some serious Matrix shit going on. Even in the future, though, Britney still has trouble finding a good man. Upon finding her boyfriend cheating on her, Britney announces, “Whatever,” and then proceeds to drive a car and dance in a chair. Apparently, Britney can use her magic chair to make people trip and fall. Past, present, or future, you don’t want to get on Britney’s bad side. Whenever I’m watch this video, I’m amazed by both how good a dancer Britney is and also how bad everyone else in the video is. Watching everyone else dance in the spinning future night club, I was reminded of the infamous “Hanging Out With My Family” dance scene from Birdemic.

This video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who began his career in the 90s and who has directed videos for basically everyone. He’s worked with both Britney Spears and Taylor Swift, which means that we’re pretty much living in Joseph Kahn’s world now, whether we realize it or not.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Lucky by Britney Spears (2000, dir by Dave Meyers)

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Britney Spears wins an Academy Award!

Okay, it’ll probably never happen. I mean, I’ve watched Crossroads more times than I care to admit but even I have to admit that Britney is a better singer than actress. That said, we’ll always have the music video for Lucky, in which Britney does win an Oscar. Well, actually, Britney plays an actress named Lucky who wins an Oscar but, even before the tabloids did their thing, it was obvious that Lucky and Britney were one in the same. With the benefit of hindsight, there’s a poignant subtext to this song and this video. Lucky was the first video that Britney did that centered around the struggle to balance fame with happiness. It would not be the last.

Lucky was the second single to be released off of Oops! …. I Did It Again and it’s hard not to feel that both the song and the video were designed to let us know that, regardless of what we may have heard, Britney wasn’t always playing with hearts and getting lost in the game. Much as how Sometimes was meant to counterbalance the more exuberant ….Baby One More Time, Lucky seems to be saying, “There’s more to Britney than what you’re reading in the tabloids!”

This video was directed by Dave Meyers, who has directed videos for …. well, just looking at his credits, it seems like he’s directed videos for almost everyone. Kid Rock, Master P, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez, P!nk, Imagine Dragons, the fucking Dave Matthews Band …. he’s worked with them all. In fact, he directed that video for Katy Perry’s Fireworks. (Remember how sick we eventually all got of hearing that song? Seriously, all through 2010, I dreaded watching any sort of “inspiring” video because I knew Fireworks would be played at some point.) Anyway, Meyers has worked with Britney a few more times, directing the videos for Boys, Outrageous, and Radar.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Oops! …. I Did It Again, covered by Nouveau Lounge (2018, dir by ????)

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is National Bootlegger Day!

I know that because I use a site called CheckiDay, which is a really fun site that I recommend to everyone. Now, I’m not sure who exactly decided that today was National Bootlegger Day or why they decided that it should be on this particular date but, ultimately, the why isn’t important. What’s important is that the day just is.

Of course, when we think about bootleggers, we think about the 1920s and Al Capone ruling the streets of Chicago while Zelda danced and F. Scott wrote. The 1920s, which is one of my favorite decades, was a wild time, largely due to the fact that prohibition was the law of the land. I mean, just try to imagine it. Having survived both World War I and the Spanish Flu, Americans were told that they couldn’t even have a drink to celebrate. I mean, I don’t even like alcohol but I can definitely understand why that would piss people off. Bootleggers worked outside of the law and became folk heroes to a frustrated nation. Prohibition may have been passed to for reasons of health and morality but all it really did was show many Americans that sometimes it pays to defy the government.

Of course, there’s other reasons why I love the 1920s. It’s not just the bootleggers. There was also the music and the dancing and the fashions and the fact that we had three great Presidents in a row. (I know some of y’all are going to debate me on that but we’ll have to get into it later. Warren, Calvin, and Herbert for the win!, regardless of what Upton Sinclair may have had to say.) It was just a great decade.

And speaking of that decade, check out today’s music video of the day. This is a cover of Oops! …. I Did It Again, re-imagined as a vintage, 1920s song. The song is performed by a British band called Nouveau Lounge. (Singing is Amanda Davis.) This is a perfect video for National Bootlegger Day, don’t you think?

Now, if you want to know more about Nouveau Lounge, check out their Facebook and their Instagram. And definitely check out some more of their videos on YouTube.

(And if you want to learn more about prohibition, check out Daniel Okrent’s history of the era, Last Call!)

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: From the Bottom of My Broken Heart by Britney Spears (1999, dir by Gregory Dark)

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Cedar Springs Garden!

It’s a nice little town, somewhere down south. It’s a place where you can spend the day swinging back and forth on a tire swing and where you and your boyfriend can chastely spend the night sitting on the back of a billboard. It’s also the setting for the music video of Britney Spears’s From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart.

From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart was the last single to be released from Britney’s debut album and I have to admit that, when I watch it today, I have mixed feelings about this video. On the one hand, the song showed, in its own simplistic way, that Britney was a singer who was capable of delivering emotional content. On the other hand, there’s a soft-focus blandness to the video that kind of reminds you of why it took critics a while to take Britney seriously as a performer. Some of the problem is that the guy that Britney’s singing about doesn’t really seem like he’s worth all the drama. The other problem is that the video itself could have just as easily been set in the 1950s as opposed to the start of the 21st century. This is the safe, non-threatening Britney, as opposed to the Britney who, in her next big hit, would joyously and triumphantly celebrate getting “lost in the game.”

For such an inoffensive music video, From the Bottom of My Broken Heart was surprisingly controversial when it was released. That’s because was directed by Gregory Dark. It’s one of the many videos that have been directed by Mr. Dark and, in fact, one could argue that, in the 1990s and the early aughts, he was one of the best video directors around. However, before he directed music videos, Gregory Dark directed not only hardcore adult films but also several erotic thrillers. Even though, by the time that this video came out, Dark was no longer making adult features, it was argued by some critics that Dark directing this video was evidence that Britney was an unwholesome influence. That’s especially hilarious when you consider that this is probably one of the most wholesome videos in which Britney Spears ever appeared.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Oops! …. I Did It Again by Britney Spears (2000, dir by Nigel Dick)

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Before The Martian, there was …. Oops! …. I Did It Again!

Oops! …. I Did It Again is one of Britney Spears’s best-known songs and it’s certainly one of the most fun to sing at the top of young lungs when you’re speeding down the interstate on the way to Lake Texoma. (Just ask my sister.) But I think that people forget just how weird this video is.

Basically, we’ve got an astronaut (Eli Swanson) exploring Mars when he comes across an image on a Martian stone, the cover of Britney’s second album, Oops! …. I Did It Again. On Earth, the nerdy NASA guy is impressed while the astronaut wonders if it’s possible that Britney Spears has come all the way to Mars just to play with his heart….

And she has! Suddenly, there’s a stage on the Martian surface and Britney and the backup dancers are performing while the astronaut watches. Eventually, Britney approaches him and proceeds to …. TAKE OFF HIS HELMET! (Britney will not only play with your heart but apparently, she’ll also try to kill you.) For a few brief seconds, it appears that the astronaut’s head might explode but no, he survives. He then hands her the Heart of the Ocean, the extremely tacky blue diamond that was at the center of the film, Titanic. The astronaut explains that he went down to the bottom of the ocean to get it for her and then he took it to Mars for some reason. (Remember, the video makes it pretty clear that the astronaut wasn’t expecting to run into Britney Spears during his Martian exploration.) In one of the most badass moves of all time, Britney says, “Oh, you shouldn’t have” and then walks away. As for the astronaut, he hopefully managed to get home. I mean, if Matt Damon could do it, anyone could do it….

Yeah, yeah, we know….

This video was directed by Nigel Dick, who also directed the video for ….Baby One More Time. During filming, Britney was actually struck in the head by a falling camera and had to get four stitches before she then went to finish the video. Like all great artists, Britney suffered so that you may enjoy.

So, enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Sometimes by Britney Spears (1999, dir by Nigel Dick)

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, this year, Britney Spear’s debut album, ….Baby One More Time, is 20 years old and good people everywhere are celebrating. Myself, I’m going to be listening to Britney all week and I’m also going to be singing every single song out loud. I’ll probably end up annoying a lot of people, as that seems to be what happens whenever I loudly sing Britney. (My sisters claim that, when it comes to singing, I’m borderline tone deaf but I think that’s going a bit too far. I will, however, admit that my accent probably never sounds more Texan then when I’m singing.)

Anyway, Val has already taken a look at the video for ….Baby One More Time and, yesterday, I featured the video for (You Drive Me) Crazy. So, it only seems appropriate that today’s music video of the day should be the video for Sometimes, which was the 2nd single to be released off of ….Baby One More Time.

Sometimes finds Britney on the beach, watching as a male model named Chad Cole runs alongside a dog and then stands around tossing a football up in the air. (Chad Cole is crazy hot in this video, though I have to admit that I’ve always preferred people who spend their time at the beach writing poems about dead trees and industrial pollution.) Anyway, when Britney isn’t stalking Chad, she’s performing with her back-up dancers. Everyone’s wearing white, which is not only designed to play up the video’s pure intentions but also makes it seem like everyone in the video came to the beach straight from a Backstreet Boys theme party.

With this video, you can tell that the main aim was to provide a contrast to the sexualized Britney of the ….Baby One More Time video. In this one, Britney’s dressed in all white and, instead of asking to be “hit” one more time, she’s instead demurely watching the all-American boy from a proper and chaste distance. This is the Britney who wouldn’t have been out-of-place in one of those sun-drenched, virginity-celebrating beach films from the early 60s. “Fear not, moral guardians,” this video announces, “our Britney is a good girl!”

Interestingly enough, the video’s original concept was that Britney would be looking the beach and having flashbacks to a past relationship. However, in the video that was actually shot, the idea is that Britney is looking to the future, thinking about the perfect relationship that she’ll someday have.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: (You Drive Me) Crazy by Britney Spears (1999, dir by Nigel Dick)

Posted on January 13, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Remember Drive Me Crazy?

Released in 1999, Drive Me Crazy was a little film from the Freddie Prinze, Jr. era of teen romcoms with generic titles. Of course, Freddie Prinze, Jr. is not actually in Drive Me Crazy. Instead, the Prinze role was taken by Adrian Grenier, who does a decent impersonation. In this film, Grenier plays the neighbor of Melissa Joan Hart. The plot was pretty standard for the films of this era. Melissa Joan Hart needs to make someone jealous so she pretends to date Adrian Grenier and then they end up falling in love for real. Along the way, an important lesson is learned about being yourself and not worrying about what cliques think of you. It’s pretty much a forgotten film, overshadowed by the likes of She’s All That and Get Over It. (When Adrian Grenier took on the role of “greatest actor of his generation” Vincent Chase on Entourage, it was often said that Chase’s first film role was in a romantic comedy with Mandy Moore. I assume that was a reference to this film. Not that I ever watched Entourage….)

(Want to be your super hero …. fallin’ from running horse….)

Originally, Drive Me Crazy was going to be called Next To You, which is perhaps the only possible title that could have been more generic than the one that they went with. The title changed after the success of Britney Spear’s debut album, …Baby One More Time. One of the songs from the album, (You Drive Me) Crazy, had been included on the film’s soundtrack and the film’s producers decided to try to capitalize on Britney’s popularity by renaming the film after it. And so, Next To You became Drive Me Crazy.

This also led to the production of a music video tie-in. In the video for (You Drive Me) Crazy, Britney plays a dorky waitress who turns out to be a great dancer. Of course, both Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier make appearances in the video. Apparently, Grenier really didn’t want to be in the video and had to be talked into it by the video’s director, Nigel Dick. Did Grenier think that he was too good to appear in a video with Britney Spears!? That’s a bold statement from someone who subsequently spent 8 years acting opposite of Jeremy Piven.

Anyway, this is a fun video and, with everything that she’s been through, it’s always kind of nice to see Britney actually enjoying herself. Filmed years before the marriage to Kevin Federline and all the stuff that followed afterwards, there’s a lot of optimism and hope to be found in this video.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Wake Up Call by Steve Aoki and Sidney Samson (2012, dir by ????)

Posted on January 12, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to …. *checks notes* …. share more from Steve Aoki on this site so I guess I better get around to honoring that resolution by sharing the oddly disturbing video for Wake Up Call.

“WAKE UP!”

I’ve actually come across some online criticism of Wake Up Call, with the most frequent complaint being that it sounds “messy and confused” but personally, I think that’s kind of the point. It’s all about the sensation of being jarred awake, of being snapped out of a dream and into the real world. Everyone wakes up messy. Everyone wakes up confused. The messiness is kind of the point here. Seriously, whenever I wake up, it always takes me a few minutes to realize where I am and then it takes me even longer to get my hair out out of my face. Sleep is messy, which is why I try to get as little as possible of it.

As for the video …. AGCK! I mean seriously, what the Hell is going on? Is Steve Aoki trying to kill Clifton Collins, Jr? Or is Michelle Rodriguez just dreaming that Aoki is strangling her …. well, I want to say lover but they don’t really appear to be too much in love. Who is dreaming in this video and who needs to “WAKE UP?” Personally, I think Michelle Rodriguez may have seen what Clifton Collins, Jr. was dreaming about so she summoned Aoki from her own dreams, specifically so he could be her vessel of vengeance. To be honest, the whole thing kind of feels like a Jean Rollin vampire film to me. And yes, yes …. I know that I tend to compare anything that is the least bit surreal to a Jean Rollin vampire film but that doesn’t make the observation any less pertinent.

Of course, it’s also possible that there might not be any definite explanation as to just what exactly is happening. Perhaps the point. Like life, the video may mean whatever we want it to mean.

Now, I will admit that I did attempt to search around online and find what other people thought this video was about. Unfortunately, almost every link that I followed led me to someone talking about the video for Maroon 5’s Wake Up Call. I’d actually like to see someone remake Begin Again with Steve Aoki in the Adam Levine role. I think that would be hella interesting.

Anyway, enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: I’m Glad by Jennifer Lopez (2002, dir by David LaChapelle)

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Believe it or not, this is the video that got Jennifer Lopez sued.

That’s right. Paramount Pictures actually sued Jennifer Lopez and Sony Music over a claim of copyright infringement, saying that they had no right to make a video that was clearly a recreation of the 1980s dance film, Flashdance. Lopez countered that Flashdance is one of her favorite movies and that the video was meant to be a loving homage. Personally, I think the video plays more like a satire but regardless, Lopez’s affection for the source material does shine through.

Here’s the thing, though. Paramount might have had a point about the copyright infringement thing. But this video introduced a whole new generation of people (like me) to their film. Would I have ever watched Flashdance if not for this video? Well, probably. I have a weakness for 80s dance movies. But what about people who aren’t attracted to flashy 1983 films like a moth to an open flame? This video is probably the best advertisement for Flashdance that’s ever been made.

While it’s easy to dismiss Paramount’s lawsuit as a miscalculation, the lawsuit filed by Maureen Marder was a far more tragic story. Marder was the dancer whose life story inspired Flashdance. Marder was paid a flat fee of $2,300 for her story. Flashdance went on to make 150 million at the U.S. box office. Basically, a lot of people got rich off of Flashdance but the dancer who inspired the film did not. Nor did Marder see any money from the subsequent Broadway musical or Lopez’s music video. Marder, whose career was ended by a spinal injury, sued Lopez for copyright infringement in 2003. Three years later, Marder’s suit was dismissed.

Anyway, despite all of the legal drama. I like this video. I like that Lopez dances as if her life depended upon it and I like that she’s unashamedly and unabashedly sexy in the video. Famously, Lopez was intimately involved in the editing of this video and refused to allow any type of retouching to be done to her famously curvy figure. This video features her at her most confident and determined, showing off the drive that made her a star. Say what you will about Jennifer Lopez as an actress, she can dance.

Hopefully, someday, someone will do a music video based on the finale of Dance or Die. Now, that would be something to see! Until then, I’m Glad is the perfect 80s homage/satire.

Enjoy!