Inez & Vinoodh

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Chic "I'll Be There" (Inez & Vinoodh, dir.)

Supermodel, and Taylor Swift's best friend, Karlie Kloss tunes in and gets turned onto the disco majest of the legendary CHIC.

Niles Rodgers, CHIC: "I'll Be There is a moving concept for me about decisions we make in life. We've tried to capture all the nuances in the full length video and still keep it fun. Karlie Kloss connects the past and present. She sees the original group (who plays this track) on Soul Train. She, visualizes the past looking at old school vinyl — then gets dressed and goes out to a current party to meet up with Stephen Galloway and the current CHIC lineup happens to be playing live." via Facebook premiere

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Rihanna x Kanye West x Paul McCartney "FourFiveSeconds" (Inez & Vinoodh, dir.)

Another track from the Kanye and Paul McCartney collaboration drops, this time as the lead single for Rihanna's upcoming new album. Vertically constrained to just the center third of the screen, the focus of this silvery b/w clip is Rihanna's emotional performance, with Sir Paul and Yeezus in supportive mode. It's simple and effective, making clear that Rihanna can thrive with music as simple and easily stylist as a pair of blue jeans. (In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if a country cover of this becomes a hit.)

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The Trouble with Gaga

Enough with the thinkpieces about why Lady Gaga Artpop is a commercial disappointment: It debuted at #1 with over 200k sold, which is pretty damn good for an album which hasn't yet spawned a true hit single. And that's a key clause there: "Applause" got a golf clap, at best, and it remains to be seen if any of the other tracks thrown at the virtual wall will stick (I'd bet on the R. Kelly collabo "Do What U Want," especially if the video lives up to the single art). 

The other issue is that Lady Gaga has proven able to be an iconoclast, it feels like she's now trying awfully hard without any real focus. This brand new ARTPOP film feels like a demo reel of various guises she's trying out, from some Marilyn Manson mugging, monster mashing and other looks that veer heavily on the edge of wackiness.