Avril Lavigne returns from a five year break with a video inspired by the serious battle with Lyme Disease that nearly caused her to metaphorically drown.
The charge is that — wait for it it — some of the weddings in the video were set-ups, and not the surprise drop-ins as presented and that one of the brides in question might be America's Next Top Model contestant Raina Hein.
So, if music videos were the last place where you had a vestige of hope — I assume you gave up on the sanctity of marriage long ago — then you might be in for a letdown, even though it'd only be fair to note that Adam Levine has stated in interviews that the Grooms were in on the surprise, with each doing what they needed to do to facilitate the guest performances.
UPDATE: The floodgates are now open with lots of actors being recognized and/or admitting that they participated in staged marriages. Of course, anyone who's ever seen a typical wedding video can tell you the different between shooting video and shooting a music video. And "Sugar" is surely lit and blocked like a music video. (That said, is anyone really worked up about this? Will it crush you when I tell you that most artists don't live in the mansions you see in their videos, or that they're not surrounded by booty 24/7?)
Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine has clearly studied the rules of wedding crashers — and the credits, getting Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin on-board to lead the band through a series of gonzo wedding drop-ins across LA. It's a fun gambit, even if the goal is just to deliver a wedding band surprise and not to pick up drunk bridesmaids.
Can Robin Thicke ichat his way back into estranged wife Paula Patton's heart? Does looking battered and bruised and nude (from the waist up) in the video help the cause? What about the similarly naked woman that's here?
Such are the blurred lines in what's promised to be the opening salvo for new album Paula, which maybe you'll find to be the most romantic "I want her back" adventure since Lloyd Dobler held that Boombox aloft.
The Vegas odds on any artist scoring another smash like "Blurred Lines" are probably long, but Robin Thicke is clearly a gambling man. He hedges his bets on "Feel Good" by taking that "Blurred Lines" style and giving it a showgirl and Rat Pack twist in an over-the-top production that incorporates a massive video screen.
PS: Hopefully you didn't let it all ride on a return to NSFW territory, since Thicke and crew keep things clean here.
Alicia Keys is doubtlessly a music icon, but here she echoes some other classic performers, ranging from the bejweled showgirl poses of Josephine Baker to bravaura stage shows of Gladys Knight and her Pips.
