ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
WEEK OF 8/28 - 9/4
11
Is the “Applause” louder than the “Roars?” Moriba Cummings Arts & Entertainment Editor moribacummings@yahoo.com
With the noticeable absence of most of popular music’s leading ladies, the competitive nature of the pop music circuit has been relatively dry at best. With the exceptions of a few casual single releases from Rihanna here and there and the unmastered leaking of Beyoncé’s “Grown Woman,” avid pop music listeners and critics alike have had it hard these past few months. However, with the recent back-to-back single releases from Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, a much needed revival is surely approaching, but the real question remains: Who’s winning the singles showdown? It seems as Mother Monster has some catching up to do as Katy has taken every chart by storm with the flagship single “Roar,” taken from her upcoming LP Prism. In the inspirational “never give up” anthem, the Cali native sings, “I got the eye of the tiger” before declaring that she’s a champion. Proving that those lyrics run deep, Katy’s “Roar” sold 557,000 digital copies, marking this the third-biggest debut for a digital song ever, right behind Flo Rida’s “Right Round” and Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and her biggest individual digital-sales week in her career (“Firework” once held the crown, moving 509,000 downloads). While Katy is on the road to making history with her newest offering, the overall reception of Gaga’s “Applause,” taken from her highly anticipated November release ARTPOP, has been lukewarm at best. Released the same week as “Roar,” and with the support of a music video that is still on the tongues of many, “Applause” succeeded in garnering the attention of pop music lovers but failed to attract their pockets. The upbeat number has sold less than half of the sales units pushed by “Roar,” totaling in
Moriba Cummings Arts & Entertainment Editor moribacummings@yahoo.com
Sex has been one of the main and most widely used marketing strategies employed by musicians for decades. In an industry that is famed for popularizing the notion that “sex sells,” the recent and highly rampant trend to up the ante – in terms of the “risqué factor” – in music videos is anything but surprising. With the controversially explicit visual releases of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Justin Timberlake’s “Tunnel Vision,” the question then arises: Where is the line drawn between explicitness and artistry? On top of supporters and the media alike constantly pitting them against each other due to their similar musical styles, Thicke and Timberlake have more in common than meets the eye. Both artists have recently been under heavy scrutiny after they both dropped music videos for their respective singles “Blurred Lines” and “Tunnel Vision.” The homogenous element in both videos is blatantly obvious: nude models. Almost immediately after the videos were made public, the criticisms came swarming in. With the primary common thread of the argument being the objectification of women, the debate of whether or not their approaches
218,000 digital downloads so far. The timely releases of each single has even caused a divide between Perry’s KatyCats and Gaga’s Monsters (the artists’ respective fan bases), prompting the creation of Twitter hashtags #TeamRoar and #TeamApplause, which trended all of last week, and introduced an interesting realization to the situation: Is this all a marketing strategy? Proving that this may be the case, both artists took to Twitter to show their support – and strategic marketing partnership – by exchanging a series of tweets that pleasantly took the music world by surprise. After addressing the “fortuitous” leak of both songs, Gaga mentioned Katy in a tweet, expressing her excitement for her chart rival’s upcoming single. “Wanna grab some shovels and f--k up some hackers? @katyperry exited to hear your ROAR, sorry to hear about your truck!,” she tweeted. Returning the favor, Katy replied, advocating for the support of both of their fan bases to come together. She even gave a nod to Gaga by mentioning some of the lyrics to “Applause” in her tweet: “@ladygaga what a WILD weekend so far... claws out, paws up! Looking forward to puttin my hands up & making them touch too!” The marketing brilliance does not end there! Both pop forces were seated front row and directly side-by-side at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, and in addition to their tactical seating arrangements, each artist was responsible for arguably the two most crucial moments in the show: Gaga opened the show with “Applause,” and Katy closed with “ROAR.” Coincidence? Not at all. This fall, will you be applauding for Gaga or roaring for Katy while pumping down Brown Street? If you’re still unsure, both singles are currently available on iTunes. Katy Perry’s Prism will be released on October 22, while Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP hits stores on November 11.
were ethically sound began. While the commonality remains for artists to remain mum on any subject that involves controversy, both artists actually responded to the criticism, with Timberlake even providing a disclaimer prior to his video’s official release. “Check out the new video for Tunnel Vision and be ready…it’s explicit. – team JT,” the former *NSCYNC front man tweeted. Taking a different approach, Robin Thicke decided to come to the defense of his video after experiencing the harsh backlash from critics first hand. Claiming that he is a gentleman, Paula Patton’s hubby explained that his famous wife encouraged him to release the explicit version over the clean version. “I don’t want to be sleazy. I’m a gentleman. I’ve been in love with the same woman since I’ve been a teenager,” Thicke told Rolling Stone magazine. “My initial response was I love the clothed version. I don’t think we should put out the naked version, and then I showed it to my wife and all of her girlfriends and they said, ‘You have to put this out, this is so sexy and so cool.’” Though the public’s conception is somewhat justified, upon closer assessment of both videos, it can be concluded that, in all regards, both were tastefully produced. While each of the visuals contains appearances from bare female “talent” throughout, that is as racy as it gets… well at least for one of them.
Though “Blurred Lines” is undoubtedly a visual masterpiece in most regards, the problem lies not in the visual representation of the track, but rather in the track itself. With lyrics such as “Let me be the one you back that a—to,” and “I’ll give you something to tear your a—in two” being thrown around nonchalantly, it may have been in the best interest of both Thicke and his camp to water down the sex dynamic in the supporting visual as the cut itself boasts already immensely sexually charged content. While, in a politically correct world –in dreamland, when you think about it – this would be the best approach, music, especially of this era, is charged with and flourishes on controversy and scandal. With examples like Rihanna’s “S&M,” and Ciara’s “Ride” scorching in comparison, the directions of Thicke and JT’s cuts may as well be synonymized with the innocence of nursery rhymes. With both of the aforementioned videos being banned from several public music broadcasting stations almost immediately following their publication, there must, therefore, be something not as culturally intrusive and insulting about “Lines” and “Vision.” With it all dwindling down to artistic approach, the bottom line remains that sexual content can and should only be distributed to the public in appropriate and sufficient doses. If doused down the throats of ill-equipped consumers, the public’s reception will be far from pretty.
The Recent Evolution of Black Film Fanon Brown Contributing Writer thenashadeen@gmail.com
Whether Madea is at your family reunion, at a court hearing, or ripping through the closet of her niece’s husband’s mistress, she will undoubtedly be loud, angry, and often offensive. It has been described by some as an “identity crisis,” a “mockery,” and is plainly “unreal” to many, but the fact of the matter is that Blacks in entertainment walk a fine line when it comes to how a piece of work will be interpreted. The outdated image of people of color as slaves, mammies, and dandies shucking and shouting obscenities long dominated the popularized entertainment industry, dating back to the early 19th century; and for many, the end of that sort of entertainment signaled a rise in the public’s opinion of as well as a form of respect for Blacks. However, for Tyler Perry, who made his entertainment debut in a platinum wig, a woman’s body suit and polyester dress, and makeup, that image is real and should not be shamed. Having worked his way up the ladder of popular-
ity, from the local urban stage-play circuit to big screens across the globe, the multifaceted entrepreneur defied the odds and garnered a following that often celebrates and enjoys the spectacle that is his infamous character, Madea. Additionally, Perry has continued his success and extended his productions beyond public arenas and into the households of millions with his acclaimed series Meet the Browns, House of Payne, and the newest The Haves and the Have Nots and Love Thy Neighbor on Oprah’s OWN channel. Seemingly, the Black man who built an empire of his own with little substantial backing becoming a multimillion dollar enterprise would be renowned in the community. Contrarily, Perry has found himself at the center of much in-house controversy as members of the Black community have deemed him a “sellout” and call his productions the new minstrels. Just three months ago, a woman named Eva Vega reportedly called Perry “malt liquor for the community” and started a petition on change.org calling for the removal of his programs from Oprah’s network. “His entertainment is hurtful to the Black community. He perpetuates stereotypes and has no place on OWN,” she continued. In response to his critics, Perry once stated,
“Somebody said to me about the House of Payne, ‘Why do you have fat Black people on television?’ --Because there are fat Black people in the world. It’s not a stereotype. This is who we are.” Other successful Black filmmakers like John Singleton, Spike Lee, Malcolm D. Lee, Allen and Albert Hughes, Debbie Allen, Kasi Lemmons, newcomer Ryan Coogler, and Lee Daniels, who currently has the no. 1 movie in America with The Butler, seem to have dodged such attacks from the community they represent. Each of these filmmakers too incorporate images of the real, unaltered everyday Black individual, sometimes represented by criminals, immature parents, delinquents, and rebels. This is all bold affirmation that subtleness is still in style. A people whose history is engrossed with abominable instances of the assertion of their assigned inferiority may not exactly appreciate seeing images that could even remotely lend themselves to past occurrences of lampooning, let alone with a modern twist. Undoubtedly, there are people of color who may identify with the characters of a Tyler Perry production, but the goal should be to properly balance the degrees of mockery with that of admirable representation summed into realistic portrayals.