damoonwalker
Proud Member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2011
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Love the video and loving the new mix.
100X better than the lousy hold my hand video!
100X better than the lousy hold my hand video!
1- not all mj's videos were "epic"
2- it is in the michael jackson style...there is the mj dance style and a story in this video...exactly like in mj's own videos...
3- about the girl stripping, you should read again the lyrics of the song...
Loka...some of these people are the VERY SAME ONES who trashed You rock my world when it came out. Michael Jackson HIMSELF got criticized by his fans..so don't bother making sense of anything.
Invincible was trashed BY FANS like no other record...and MJ was alive. So the estate executors should do like MJ, grow rhinoceros' skin, and quit listening to fans demanding untouched vocals.
.
Loka...some of these people are the VERY SAME ONES who trashed You rock my world when it came out. Michael Jackson HIMSELF got criticized by his fans..so don't bother making sense of anything.
Invincible was trashed BY FANS like no other record...and MJ was alive. So the estate executors should do like MJ, grow rhinoceros' skin, and quit listening to fans demanding untouched vocals.
These fans have no music / business experience. Most have never met MJ and doesn't know what he would have liked. They should continue to do the best they possibly can to protect his legacy by involving people he has long professional relationship with (except a few like Quincy Jones and other backstabbers).
Teddy Riley did a fantastic job to polish the demo...Sony/estate should have never listened to these fans and their constant whining and demands.
You can never please everyone, the estate has to understand nothing they do will ever please these fans..Just like MICHAEL JACKSON wasn't able to please all his fans. Accept that they are lost...so what ???
Trying to please all, will continue to result in failures and half-assed jobs, because they are letting a bunch of amateurs influence their decisions.
Yesterday Sony released the second promotional video from “Michael”, the 2010 posthumous studio album by Michael Jackson. The video was for “Hollywood Tonight”, the second single released from the album (depending on where you live). Although, to call it a single is a bit of a misnomer. According to Wikipedia:
The song was released to radio stations as a single first in Italy on February 11, 2011.[4] And it was listed on BBC Radio 2’s playlist A from February 12, 2011.[5] In Poland, the song was released on February 14, 2011.[6] In a later announcement from Jackson’ official website, “Behind the Mask” will be released as the radio single in countries including the United States, Canada, Japan and France. “Hollywood Tonight” will be the single released to radio in the rest of the world.[7]
As of yesterday, the date of the video’s premiere, I have yet to find a single source to purchase this so called single. In other words, Sony is now promoting a single you cannot actually go out and purchase. Perhaps they are simply trying to promote the album and encourage more people to go out and buy it (while official sale numbers are next to impossible to find at the moment it seems the album itself has gone platinum in several countries). Of course this is Sony, so the method behind their madness remains a mystery to just about everyone.
The video, however, is worth discussing for a couple of reasons. Much like the video for Hold My Hand that preceded it, this video does not feature Michael Jackson (albeit through a series of heavy handed and distracting references - more on this later), nor did he have any influence on the video itself. And it shows, it’s not a great music video. It’s not bad, it features a fantastic performance from its lead actress/dancer Sofia Boutella and does do a fairly good job of representing the story of the song (though I think the video doesn’t quite go as dark as it probably should have considering the subject matter). However it just feels too rushed, and unpolished. It doesn’t have that beautiful sheen that most of Jackson’s videos (short films) have. While I do appreciate their effort to continue his tradition of “short films” by giving this one a story, it’s so poorly executed, literal, and non-expansive (the video is shorter than the album version) that it simply doesn’t hold up against the Jackson back catalogue. It’s also not ground breaking in any way shape or form (despite being one of the only videos for a Michael Jackson song to have a somewhat more explicit sexual content - spoiler alert: she works as a stripper). Having said this, the choreography is fantastic, and the dancers are great. But of course, they’re no Michael Jackson.
Of course, making a music video for an artist who is no longer with us is tricky. Of course there are plenty of options to chose from: you could do a lyric video (which is very popular these days), you can do a montage video (of which several were made for Jackson songs in the past when he was still alive), or you can just make a normal video and just throw in a shit-load of references and clips from previous works by your missing artist. Sony, and director Wayne Isham (who, for the record, directed one of my all time least-favourite Jackson shorts “You Are Not Alone” opted for the third choice, and I have to say it doesn’t work for me. Unlike “Hold My Hand” which had some more subtle and more tasteful Jackson references (it is a power pop-ballad after all) this film is simply littered with out of place video clips of other (better) Michael Jackson videos on billboards, video screens, and even includes shameless self-promotion for the album. Tasteless? I think so. Surprising? Not at all. This is sony. Of course the problem with this is that by including clips from better videos you start to realize just how awful this one is, and more importantly, how much it suffers from not having Michael’s true presence in the video itself. It also features a sequence near the end of the video in which our lead actress dresses in Michael’s iconic “Billie Jean” outfit and performs a series of iconic Jackson choreographies with a bunch of other random dancers on the street. While it is slightly out of place (it doesn’t fit with the “story” of the video - if you can call it that) it does highlight the skills of the dancers, and reminds you of just how great all that choreo really is.
However, what makes the video most interesting, and the real reason I wanted to write about it is the special alternate version of the track used in the video itself. I will discuss this in a follow up post (since it’s what I’m most interested about).
All in all the video for Hollywood Tonight is just odd. We live in a weird time where the fact that people still make music videos is a bit strange. Barely any stations actually still run the videos, so when you get right down to it you’re really making them to live on YouTube, which is perhaps why the video itself doesn’t have that same grand feel as Michael’s past works. It’s clearly shot in HD video which gives it a glossy look, but not in a good way. Some of Jackson’s best “shorts” were shot on actual film, and some of those even had runs in movie theatres. To me the whole video just feels like a way to continue to cash in on Jackson’s image while at the same time disguising itself as a thinly veiled tribute to his legacy. The references are over the top, and not so much “references” as just throwing in Jackson content randomly to remind you, “despite the fact that he’s not in this, this really is a Michael Jackson video! Don’t worry guys!”. It doesn’t push boundaries. It’s choreography, while good (and better than what you might see in most videos these days) isn’t really anything new. The storyline is weak and not nearly dark enough considering what Jackson seemingly wanted the song to be about. The only real highlight of the video is the alternate mix used for the song, and even then it still feels somewhat out of place.
In the end its a fairly forgetable video. Hold My Hand wasn’t fantastic, but it at least seemed to be a touching and fitting tribute to the King of Pop, as well as all his fans. It had taste, and it had class (despite it also having Akon). This video, however, seems like nothing more than a glossy, hastily prepared, artless commercial for a single you can’t even buy in the stores.
Sony just doesn’t get it. And I’m not sure they ever will.
For what it is, I must say its a good effort. With that said.....
Its time we all deal with the reality that we are faced with, Michael is gone! (that hurts me just typing that). Nothing will be like it was before, and with that said, I just think we should stop having these high expectations 'cause guess what? none of these people will ever be able to 'do Michael Jackson', bottomline.
So whatever is released, you'll either like it or don't like it, but the constant negativity and complaining needs to stop.
Loka...some of these people are the VERY SAME ONES who trashed You rock my world when it came out. Michael Jackson HIMSELF got criticized by his fans..so don't bother making sense of anything.
Invincible was trashed BY FANS like no other record...and MJ was alive. So the estate executors should do like MJ, grow rhinoceros' skin, and quit listening to fans demanding untouched vocals.
These fans have no music / business experience. Most have never met MJ and doesn't know what he would have liked. They should continue to do the best they possibly can to protect his legacy by involving people he has long professional relationship with (except a few like Quincy Jones and other backstabbers).
Teddy Riley did a fantastic job to polish the demo...Sony/estate should have never listened to these fans and their constant whining and demands.
You can never please everyone, the estate has to understand nothing they do will ever please these fans..Just like MICHAEL JACKSON wasn't able to please all his fans. Accept that they are lost...so what ???
Trying to please all, will continue to result in failures and half-assed jobs, because they are letting a bunch of amateurs influence their decisions
Dirty Diana live TII :cheeky:
I also like the album version better, it sounds too much like Billie Jean. I liked the video until the stripper pole scene that is so not MJ I don't like it
:clapping::clapping:
You speak TRUTH.
I've suffered so much during Invincible times and post Invincible times.... Because of the hate and bashing toward Mike work, when he was still ALIVE!
( in an very old Board from History times, I don't remember its name I was new with internet lol,
I remember me ( on another board ) begging fans to STOP a bit, or cool down a bit... Think about poor Mike how much he might suffer... because he heard fans hated it, I am sure.... :no: I begged them to stop, and encourage Mike more, I wanted Mike to become free artist and with no tours. I've always thought at his health, and his wellness first, artistry was secondary for me.... For last years I feared for his life... it's like setting a karmic effect... all the pressure, all the dissatisfaction, nothing works well, till a critical point that might end in death.... How I wish for me to be wrong about this!
Agree. With Michael being gone no one can create the magic Michael did with his videos.
Amen!
Here's my thoughts on my blog:
http://adamschoales.tumblr.com/post/3785706147/shes-going-hollywood-tonight
Posting here as well (not that anyone will read). Note that this will end up unformatted so if you want it with nice formatting and links and such please see the blog post.
Were people upset about the prostitute in "Who Is It"? The guy got up out of his wheel chair to join her on the bed so I am not sure why the stripper is so offensive. I think it fits the song so I feel it is appropriate. I never thought of Michael as a prude.
I am not trying to be difficult here.