Music Video of the Day: Come On Over by Jessica Simpson (2008, dir by Liz Friedlander)


Today’s music video of the day is both wholesome and rebellious.  It’s wholesome because it’s a Jessica Simpson video.  It’s rebellious because it’s Jessica finally calling the shots over her own life.

Take that, Nick Lachey!

Seriously, this feels like a nice revenge video.  It came out two years after Jessica and Nick divorced and it finds Jessica back on the ranch and waiting for a better lover and, even more importantly, doing it all on her own terms.  This is the type of video that Jessica’s management never would have allowed to happen in the days before she married Nick.  As such, this is not just a video about inviting over your lover.  This is a video growing up, maturing, and embracing what makes you happy.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Can I Go Now? by Jennifer Love Hewitt (2003, dir by Liz Friedlander)


Don’t mess with Jennifer Love Hewitt!

I’ve always liked Jennifer Love Hewitt, largely because we’re both Texas girls, we both have what others seem to consider to be an unusual sense of humor, and I imagine that we both share the same struggle when it comes to having to remind men that our eyes are up here.  Of course, for all that we have in common, a huge difference between the two of us is that Jennifer Love Hewitt can actually sing whereas I can barely carry a tune.  (That said, I’ve always felt that my karaoke version of All Time High was better than all the other karaoke versions.)  Jennifer Love Hewitt has released four albums, which is four more than I’ve released.

Can I Go Now? was the second single to be released from her 2003 album, BareNaked.  In the video, Jennifer fights with her boyfriend, she leaves her boyfriend, she returns to her boyfriend, she leaves her boyfriend …. it’s a never-ending cycle of coming and going so I guess the answer to the question is that you can really never leave.  At one point, she joins her boyfriend in the shower and he kind of gets weird about it.  I’m not really sure what to make of this guy, as he seems to be a little bit whiny and mopey.  The apartment’s a bit too cluttered for my tastes as well.  I’m just saying that I would definitely leave and not return until he found a place that had a wall between the kitchen and the living room.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Shadow by Ashlee Simpson (2004, dir by Liz Friedlander)


Poor Ashlee Simpson.  I mean, she danced one stupid jig on Saturday Night Live and the world has never let her forget it.  Of course, I would probably be more on Ashlee’s side if she hadn’t initially blamed her band for the screw-up.  That wasn’t nice but, at the time, Ashlee was only 19 and the amount of ridicule that was directed her way was more than a little over-the-top.  She probably handled it better than I would have at that age.

Today’s music video of the day comes to us from Ashlee Simpson.

In Shadow, Ashlee sings about existing in someone else’s shadow and the struggle to find your real identity.  Needless to say, it’s usually assumed that this song is about being the younger sister of Jessica Simpson but Ashlee has insisted that it’s just about finding yourself.  Personally, I think it can be both.  The video features a happy blonde Ashlee co-existing with an angrier brunette Ashlee.  It’s easy to see the blonde Ashlee as being a stand-in for Jessica, though I think blonde Ashlee is more meant to represent the pressure on Ashlee to be as popular as her sister.

If it sounds like I’ve given this video too much, all I can say is that I’ve got sisters and I can relate.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Miss Independent by Kelly Clarkson (2003, dir by Liz Friedlander)


Hearing this song transports me back to 2003, when life seemed so simple and the future seemed limitless… actually, that’s the way things still seem to me in 2018.  I guess I’m a born optimist!

Anyway, I always think of this as being a song of liberation but that’s mostly just because of the title.  The lyrics are actually about an independent woman finding the courage to let people into her life.  But, ultimately, what matters is how a song — any song — makes you feel.

As for the video, I would say it features just about the safest house party that I’ve ever seen.  Compare it to the video for Fiona Apple’s Criminal.

Enjoy!