From Chronic to Kush... Although Dr. Dre has been fairly ubiquitous recently through his Beats By Dre audio empire, it's been over a decade since he last stepped out as a solo artist on The Chronic 2001. "Kush" is part retro and part futuristic: On the audio side, it reconnects Dre with Snoop Dogg, but also brings Dre into the auto-tune modernity of Akon. Videowise, Joseph Kahn spotlights a damn beautiful frozen-in-time effect, one that he first played with in his U2 + Lara Croft "Elevation" video, but takes to a whole other level here.
M.I.A. blesses this sunny video for protege Rye Rye, who shines through in a series of casual neigborhood set-ups on a street basketball court. Double-dutch and line dancing and more, all captured as if it were a home video by director Jess Holzworth. --> watch "Sunshine"
As if Eminem and Rihanna together wasn't enough star power for a music video, you also get Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan as the two attracting/opposing forces in a literally combustible relationship. Director Joseph Kahn oversees all this hotness, capturing the two lovers as they run very hot and very cold on their way to an incendiary finish. In a word: Hot. --> watch "Love The Way You Lie"
Any red-blooded male would be powerless to model/actress Anne Vyalitsyna, so Maroon 5 Adam Levine doesn't have a chance in this video for "Misery". Director Joseph Kahn depicts Vyalitsyna charms as literally dangerous, letting her kick Levine's ass again and again with increasingly lethal force.
What's the influence of the new Lady Gaga? Surely there's some Madonna in there, perhaps "Express Yourself" meets "La Isla Bonita"? I got a German Expressionism and Ingmar Bergman influence, but I don't know enough about either to tell you what or why. In fact, the first film reference that came to mind involved The Blue Oyster Club. And yes, I still get a Marilyn Manson vibe from Ms. Gaga, in terms of intent and influence.
The music starts and everything stops. Coffee cups fall to the group. So does the clothing. Men and women strip down and embrace out one another in the middle of a normal city day, all in celebration of pop icon Kylie Minogue and this pop-disco hit. More and more people converge, making for a pile of flesh that eventually grows into a tower of pansexual love to rise Kylie up to the heavens. Director Joseph Kahn's cinematography is sensuously perfect, accentuating various white elements — doves, horses — perhaps to reinforce the tidy whiteys that everyone keeps on. Yes, this video has no nudity. After all, a pop music video needs to make the airwaves, the popular parts of the web and the media; It can't just be a Spencer Tunick art piece.
