For today’s music video of the day, we have Public Service Broadcasting’s Night Mail.
Both the song and the video were inspired by a 1936 British documentary called Night Mail. The documentary (clips of which are seen in the video) was a 21-minute film about a night in the lives of the London to Glasgow nightly postal train and the people who staffed it.
All in all, it’s a nicely atmospheric video from one of my favorite groups.
Enjoy!
This is definitely not your “Poison” of the early 1990’s BBD (Bell Biv Deveo) days. This time it’s the 2012 mini-album release for the South Korean girl group Secret. The quartet took a year off before launching a comeback which saw the mini-album’s release and a new sexy and feminine look. It was a far cry from their previous cutesy image.
The song is a combination of many influences from jazz (a repeating saxophone section) to pop R&B (reminiscent of late 90’s and early 2000’s) to hip-hop with it’s layered beats. All of these influences make for a nice uptempo beat that the video is still able to mine for a nice sexy, sultry concept video that shows the quartet unleashing their femme fatale aspects.
The video itself is a more story driven than most K-pop videos of the time. With the girls (or should I say ladies) decked out in British women’s spy fashion mixed in with detective film noir femme attire. While the theme calls to mind Spillane, Hammett and Cain, the dance choreography screams R&B and Hip-Hop. From the choreo matching the song’s percussive beats to the body rolls and get-low moves.
While all four ladies of Secret gets a chance to shine in the song, the video itself is taken over by the visuals of group Leader Hyosung and group Visual and Maknae (youngest in the group) Sunhwa. Both Hana (rapper) and Jieun (Main Vocalist) don’t shrink from their own roles despite the first two having a much more visual impact and presence in the video.
I must agree with all who have seen the video and some of their stage live performances of the song, Hyonsung plus thigh-highs stockings were and, still are, a killer look. A visual good enough to kill for.
For today’s music video of the day, I’m taking a little break from all the holiday music to share the video for Tove Lo’s Cycles. The song is about being trapped in a never-ending relationship loop, a theme that is perfectly captured in this video by one long take of Tove Lo performing while the world spins around her.
Enjoy!
From Denmark comes today’s music video of the day.
The video inspired by this dream-like Chirstmas song is both beautiful and oddly disturbing. It’s apparently the story of two fairies, one good and one bad. It’s also the story of a dancing bear and who doesn’t appreciate a dancing bear? Unfortunately, things don’t really work out that well for the bear but nature gets revenge. The fact that the entire story takes place on a stage only serves to make things even more surreal. Whenever I see anything strange happen on a stage, I automatically start to think about the Club Silencio sequence from Mulholland Drive.
Anyway, enjoy!
Personally, I absolutely adore the Taylor Swift version of this song but sadly, Taylor’s never done an official music video for it.
As for this version, it features everyone’s favorite Swedish CGI creation saving Santa Claus from …. something. I guess Santa somehow managed to lock himself up in his workshop or something. I don’t know. I’m also not sure what exactly the Crazy Frog is supposed to be. Apparently, he was originally known as “The Annoying Thing” and his creator is adamant that he is neither a frog nor is he crazy.
But, at least he was able to save Santa.
Enjoy!
The latest Song of the Day: K-Pop Edition comes from the 4-girl group Mamamoo. They first debut in June 19, 2014 with their official first single “Mr Ambiguous” from their debut EP Hello.
Mamamoo burst onto the K-Pop scene with a mature sound and style that even makes their more typical K-pop songs (happy, cheery and quirky) stand-out from the very crowded K-Pop releases. Their music videos showcases this group’s unique style which runs the gamut from playful to glam to femme fatale.
Their 2016 single “Décalcomanie,” from their EP Memory, is a blend of dance with early 90’s R&B pop. The song starts off at a slow simmer and the music video for the track showcases the song’s evershifting tempo and mood.
It’s a video that has the four members of Mamamoo (Solar, Moonbyul, Wheein and Hwasa) dressed to the nines like femme fatales out of a classic noir tale. Even the set location speaks to an era of detectives, glamorous damsels and fierce femme fatales.
When the song’s music video was first released, there was a controversy involving a sequence in the video that some in South Korea (and many fans worldwide) saw as being borderline sexual assault (some even calling it as one outright). the video was quickly taken down with the controversial sequence removed with some clever editing.
Either way, the controversy doesn’t change the fact that “Décalcomanie” is a great addition to the group’s growing work. It’s a very good showcase to the group’s strong vocal talent and visual appeal. The choreography I not as energized as most K-pop videos, but the tone and theme of the video itself doesn’t need for high-energy dancing and movements. The movements and mood of the video speaks more to themes of danger and sensuality. These are themes well-established with noir stories and art.
If there was a song and video to introduce a newcomer to Mamamoo, “Décalcomanie” is more than deserving to be an introduction to the group.
Tis the season for Christmas music, and today we have New Wave rockers The Waitresses with their peppy little classic “Christmas Wrapping”:
The song first appeared on a ZE Records compilation album called “A Christmas Album” featuring artists like Suicide and Was (Not Was). Since it’s release, it’s become a Yuletide standard on Classic Rock Radio, featured in movies and ads, and covered by the likes of The Donnas, Kylie Minogue, Spice Girls, Bella Thorne, and the cast of GLEE. The Waitresses had another hit that still gets plenty of airplay, “I Know What Boys Like”:
The band was formed by Akron, Ohio’s Chris Butler, formerly of the punk group Tin Huey, and included the late Patty Donahue on lead vocals, Mars Williams (sax), Dan Klayman (keyboards), Dave Hofstra (bass), Ariel Warner (backup vocals), and ex-Television drummer Billy Ficca. The Waitresses also recorded the theme to the ahead-of-it’s-time sitcom SQUARE…
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For today’s music video of the day, we continue with the holiday theme that’s run through most of the recent music video posts. We also continue with the Lindsey Stirling theme. I wasn’t initially planning on making this Lindsey Stirling week on the Shattered Lens but, now that I think about it, why not?
This video finds Lindsey performing in the snow. There’s a chance that it might snow in my home state of Texas this weekend. I certainly hope so. Of course, when we say “it might snow” in Texas, what we actually mean is that it might sleet. And, if it does snow, we’ll probably get like an inch at most. But still …. snow is snow!
Enjoy!
I was planning on just picking Christmas videos up until the 25th of December but then I came across this video of Lindsey Stirling and Pete Hollens performing the main theme from Skyrim Elder Scrolls and I simply knew that I had to pick it.
This is for Arleigh.
Enjoy!
My love for music may not be on the same level as my love for film, but it’s up there in terms of the range of types of music that has appealed to my personal taste. Pop music may be a bad word for those who see themselves as gatekeepers of what’s good or bad music, but pop music has always been a major part of music throughout history. One can even say that the music that Mozart wrote a couple hundred years ago was a form of pop music for it’s time.
Even pop music has branched off into different subgenres. Every country which has its own music industry has their own take on what’s pop music. This is why there are such terms as J-pop (Japanese pop music), K-pop (South Korean pop music) and everything else pop in-between.
Fellow site contributor pantsukudasai56 knows all about J-pop (this type of pop music being a major contributor to all things anime), but he also knows that K-pop is right there just waiting in the wings to snatch the unwary with it’s brand of pop music. I am one such unwary music traveler who has fallen to dark side, as pantsukudasai56 has told me.
Yet, while I have begun to appreciate the merits of K-pop and the hard work and creativity which goes into the creation of K-pop groups, albums and music videos, I am still very conscious of which type of K-pop music I’m drawn to. While many K-pop fans love all types, I have been more drawn to K-pop that’s not as sugary and cute. I’ve enjoyed the more mature and different sounding K-pop which draws music influences outside of dance and electronic. Influences that ranges from soulful jazz to Middle-eastern.
One such K-pop group that has become a favorite of mine of recent is the girl group Red Velvet from S.M Entertainment (yes, these groups come out of production companies). They made their debut in 2014 and with each passing year they’ve continued to grow (both creatively and by adding a 5th member to what was a 4-girl team).
Their second single, “Be Natural,” is a departure from their debut single “Happiness.” This second offering is a cover of an earlier song from S.M.E. first girl group (S.E.S.) and is less to do with the catchy, dance pop of their debut single and more in line with the original S.E.S. track that was all soulful jazz with more than just a hint of sensuality dripping through every line of music.
I do love this song and the original it covers. The one part of the song that does break the mood for just a moment is the rap section in the song where the break would typically be. Other than that part the song is a major must-listen and the video itself is sensuality personified. Lisa Marie is probably a better judge on the video’s choreography and fashion style worn by the group’s four member (Irene, Seulgi, Wendy and Joy).
Above is the song without the rap section while below is the official music video. Unfortunately, the music video does still have the rap section instead of just an instrumental break. It would’ve been preferable to have either group member Irene or Seulgi handle the rap section. At least, the tone of the song would’ve kept the sensual nature intact.
Oh, if I have a bias from the group its a toss-up between Irene and Joy with Seulgi being my bias wrecker.
Through the Shattered Lens