Fan Fare
Entertainment behind the scenes
Teen girl’s pop video mercilessly dissected by Internet masses
If you have trouble remembering the days of the week, a teen pop starlet named Rebecca Black has come to your rescue with an annoyingly catchy song that has quickly made her the hottest — and most lampooned — phenomenon on the Web. Black was a top-trending topic on Twitter on Tuesday, while her video for “Friday” racked up almost eight million page views in a matter of days.
The comments have been savage, ruthless dissections of the girl herself, her bubblegum pop song and the cheesy video. “Not joking. Worst lyrics I have ever heard. Ever. Yet so addictive,” was one of the kinder critiques.
The fresh-faced youngster sings over and over in a nasally twang, “It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday. Everybody’s looking forward to the weekend … Fun, fun, fun, fun. Looking forward to the weekend.”
The lyrics were so powerful that Bob Dylan rushed out a cover version. Well, not Dylan, but somebody who sounds like him. Black evidently took diction lessons from the tireless troubadour, though, turning “Friday” into “fry-eee-day” or possibly just “fried eggs.”
She goes educational, if grammatically awry, in the breakdown: “Yesterday was Thursday. Today it is Friday … We, we, we so excited .. we’re gonna have a ball today. Tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards.”
The video provoked much mirth. Why are underage kids riding in a convertible? Where are the seat belts? Why is a considerably older male African-American rapping about the excitement he feels when he drives past a school bus?
More to the point, who is Rebecca Black? According to her label, Los Angeles-based Ark Music Factory, she’s a 13-year-old girl who loves to perform. Her credits include a patriotic performing group, a Puzzlecraft commercial and the lead role in her school’s production of “Oklahoma!” She is clearly a Justin Bieber fan.
M.I.A. shocks fans with “Born Free” video
M.I.A.’s latest video “Born Free”, which features scenes of nudity and graphic violence, has fueled a raging Internet debate over the merits of the British-born rap artist’s latest politically-charged offering.
The nine-minute video, directed by Romain Gavaras, depicts American-flag clad commandos rounding up a ginger-haired minority, who are later executed or forced to run through a landmine-laden desert.
The disturbing video kicked up a fuss on YouTube and then ignited a tweet storm of opinion ranging from: the_real_amy, “I’m horrified! No words… #mia #bornfree” to this from angiewa, “Attaching a message to your art doesn’t make it pretentious; it makes you one the few pop ‘artist’ I’m interested in. #bornfree”
The video, which at one point on Tuesday appeared to have been pulled off YouTube but is now up and streaming again on the site, is also available to watch on M.I.A.’s website.
Best known “Paper Planes,” which was featured on the movie soundtracks of both “Pineapple Express” and “Slumdog Millionaire,” the hip-hop artist of Tamil descent has never shied from politicizing her music. But is she brow-beating her loyal followers, trying to assert she won’t water down her political leanings because she’s on the verge of becoming a household name? And if you clicked on the link above and watched the video, what do you think? Heavy handed or right on point?
The video is pretty cliche. Sort of gross too. Unless we understand the reason for the ginger hair round up and murder the point of the video seems to be about be provocative to sell records? The mural looked to imply IRA-like ‘oppression’, but that’s the only similarity. Then the kids with scarves (Beirut? Palestine?) – who were the bottle thrown at? But USA commandos? Not so sure. It looked too efficient for a government funded operation… The closest historic events are probably native American and Australian aboriginal experiences.
U2 played live for the world, were you listening?
U2 played live for the world on Sunday night via YouTube.com, and as they were in Hollywood, Bono gave the band a movie star sheen when he introduced each member. He compared drummer Larry Mullen Jr. to James Dean, bassist Adam Clayton to Clark Gable, The Edge to Mr. Spock of “Star Trek” and himself to a mix of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.
But if the setting was L.A. (Pasadena’s Rose Bowl to be exact), the show’s direction was aimed at a global audience. Before U2 performed “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” images flashed on the screen of green-glad protesters in Iran, some of them stained in blood. The crowd reacted with cheers of support for Iranian dissidents, just as they cheered on Bono’s rendition of “Walk On,” a tribute to Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, later on in the show.
“Thank you America, thank you everyone watching on YouTube on all seven continents,” Bono said at one point in the show, as he acknowledged the global audience that was tuned in for the live Web stream.
U2′s new concert contraption, The Claw, performed without flaw, transporting the band members around on giant moving bridges over the audience, with a huge video screen that slowly expanded and contracted like an accordion.
The big surprise of the show came during the opening act when the Black Eyed Peas brought on former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash to play “Sweet Child of Mine.” Fergie leaned on Slash’s shoulder during a solo, and Will.i.am moved his head to the beat. But anyone hoping to see The Edge and Slash trade licks on stage went home disappointed because that did not happen.
Bono said after U2 took the stage that having the Black Eyed Peas open for the band was like, “Xena the Warrior Princess joins Parliament-Funkadelic.”
The crowd of nearly 100,000 fans at the Rose Bowl sang to their favorite tunes and held up their cell phone lights when asked, first by Will.i.am and later by Bono. On that note, during the sound check a member of the stage crew who introduced himself as “nobody” told the crowd that the reason the live YouTube show was done from Los Angeles is because of the sing-along factor. ”L.A. sings U2 songs better than anyone except my bosses,” the purported U2 employee said. What would Paris or Rome think about that? Or Dublin for that matter?
I have to say that I stayed up for the You Tube webcast last night from Pasadena and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the proceedings. I am gone beyond lining up all day for live concerts, being manhandled by over zealous security people and then having drunken fans fall over themselves on the way to the can whilst one of your most favoured songs is in full throttle. That is why I swerved going to the summer gigs to see them in person. I also enjoyed rolling into bed a few seconds after the show rather than the dreaded trip home on either public transport or busy roads. What was amazing was that viewers on the website could share the experience, broadband internet connection accepted, for free. Pro Bono indeed, although how the impoverished kids in the African plains got on is debatable! The event will probably open up huge opportunities for pay per view webcasting in years to come. Would I have paid for it beforehand? Probably not. Would I pay for it now, having had the experience, most certainly yes. It occured to me that live football on the telly can be equally as exciting as been in a ground at the event. The sound and picture resolution on You Tube was mighty impressive and the site never stalled. What impressed me most was that they made a seemingly plain set of new songs sound richer in the live setting. Although the stage looked silly and the vastness of the platforms made them seem remote to the audience in the stadium it appeared a pretty flawless delivery (although there were technical problems in the stadium for thos who had shelled out up to $250 each) that will probably now help sell their poor selling album, which perhaps set the agenda for the redirected PR machine following poor performances in the charts.
Susan Boyle – Let the blame game commence
Susan Boyle has been admitted to a private clinic in London after suffering from exhaustion, and, according to the Sun tabloid, an “emotional breakdown”. After capturing people’s imagination the world over in April with her singing performance on “Britain’s Got Talent”, the 48-year-old Scot’s travails are headline news once again, at least in her home country. Predictably, the blame game has already begun, and following is a list of the main culprits in the whole saga, if press reports, commentators and pundits are to be believed:
1. The press: Some sections of the media, which had a big part in Boyle’s meteoric rise to fame, have apparently relished the chance to knock her off her perch. Those blaming the press point to reports late last week of Boyle throwing tantrums, of her threats to quit the show ahead of Saturday’s final and more generally of her inability to cope with the pressure.
2. The public: Rather like the press, the British public has also been blamed by some for wanting to bring Boyle down a peg or two. They did this in part by failing to vote for her on the night of the final, meaning she failed to win as expected.
3. The show: Should the show’s producers have seen this coming? Family members and others have criticised Britain’s Got Talent, aired on the commercial ITV channel, for not doing enough to support Boyle. According to Piers Morgan, one of the programme’s judges, Boyle had learning difficulties at school, which may have exacerbated the problem.
4. Susan Boyle: Britain’s Got Talent is a hugely successful format and anyone who enters the competition will know that they may be watched by millions of viewers and could become overnight stars. In her defence, however, Boyle’s trajectory has probably been unprecedented in terms of the number of people tuning in to watch her on the Internet and the global reach of that following.
Personally I think Susan should have dropped out early. The pressure of instant fame and celebrity is often too much to cope with. Add the expectation to perform well and win can push one over the edge. She reached the top and it was becoming obvious she wasn’t able to cope very well even with professional help. It was the right time to end her involvement in the show to keep her sanity. The press would have criticized her, but the story would have died in a few days.
Susan would have cashed in early and the pressure would have been off or lessened to manageable levels. Many enjoy her singing and story, so she could have a nice career. Hopefully she will recover fully and begin her new career or at least record one or two albums.
BGT certainly knew what talents they had from the auditions before the editing began. They could have easily moved Susan to one of the later audition shows. But the temptation to start off the season/series with a big bang to generate ratings for the show and network is too much to resist and frankly it was a good business decision. No one could have predicted what an international celebrity Susan would become and all the YouTube views of her audition.
Entering reality talent show like BGT is a big gamble if you are really talented. The exposure could be a big break or end up being a surreal existence where one isn’t in control of their lives anymore.
from UK News:
Grade struggling to find time for Susan Boyle
ITV executive chairman Michael Grade said he had only seen once before Thursday the clip of Susan Boyle singing on ITV show "Britain's Got Talent", that has received more than 100 million hits on YouTube, but has not yet netted the broadcaster revenue from the video-sharing site owned by Google.
"I've been incredibly busy over the last few weeks and I have only had one opportunity to view a piece of television that's taken the world by storm," he told the Voice of the Listener & Viewer Spring Conference in London.
"I'd like to have another look at Susan Boyle," he said, before playing the video.
ITV is reported to be in discussions with YouTube about monetising traffic generated by demand for the 47-year old Scottish church volunteer.
Grade, who last week announced he would step down as executive chairman of ITV, is reported to loathe YouTube, and has called it a parasite living off content created by broadcasters.
MTV resuscitates the video star
The old refrain was that “video killed the radio star,” but more recently it’s been commonly said that the “Internet killed the video star” by putting music clips a mouse click away on Web sites such as YouTube.com.
In the new media landscape, cable channel MTV, a unit of Viacom, has filled its schedule with reality television shows instead of the music videos it aired nonstop in the 1980s, when it revolutionized the music industry. On Monday, the company announced that it would go back to airing music videos, but only between 3 and 9 a.m., when few viewers are tuned in.
The news was reported in the New York Times. MTV canceled “Total Request Live,” a long-running video countdown, last fall. The show was the last bastion for music videos on the channel, but it performed badly in the ratings. Now, MTV says it will bring back music videos with a block called “AMTV,” in an effort to keep up with changing viewer patterns.
Airing the music videos in the morning is a relatively low-risk proposition for MTV, because those hours do not generate high advertising revenues anyway. Will MTV stick with the music videos that made it famous, or will “AMTV” go the way of “TRL”? Only your remote knows for sure.
Hulu gets social
Video streaming Web site Hulu.com marked its one-year anniversary on Thursday by announcing new social networking features, as the site seeks to gain ground on other Internet entertainment hubs. The Web site, a joint venture between General Electric Co.-owned NBC Universal and News Corp., launched “Hulu Friends” which integrates functions from social networking sites MySpace and Facebook, as well as e-mail providers Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail, and allows users to see what their friends are watching, share new videos and leave notes for each other. Hulu, which allows visitors to view television episodes and movies on their home computers, still has a long way to go if it hopes to catch up to video sharing giant YouTube.com. Internet tracking site comScore reported this month that YouTube accounted for about 43 percent of all videos viewed over the Internet in January. By comparison, Hulu.com had only a 1.7 percent share of all videos viewed. The Google-owned YouTube has reached out to mainstream entertainment companies, including Universal Music Group, as the site seeks to add more premium entertainment on its site. But unlike YouTube, which mostly has short video clips, Hulu allows users to view entire episodes, and it has positive trends in its favor.
Research firm Knowledge Networks reported in February that use of third-party video hosting sites such as Hulu to access network television shows doubled since 2007 among Internet video users age 13-54.
So, you want a spot on Hollywood’s Red Carpet?
Watch out all you Red Carpet pros on Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and other celebrity TV shows, this September there will be a new face on Tinseltown’s glamour scene. And although that amateur may not know what the heck they are doing, he or she just might be aiming for your job. Remember, it’s not hard losing a coveted slot on the Red Carpet. Just ask Joan Rivers.
People.com and YouTube are unveiling a new channel on the video Web site dedicated to celebrity content provided by People.com. To kick off the channel, People.com and YouTube, along with cosmetics company Revlon, are launching a contest where one ”Red Carpet Reporter” will be picked to interview celebrities at a star-filled event in September.
They promise the winner “a whirlwind two days in Los Angeles” with hair and makeup by Revlon, a clothing allowance and ”VIP entry into exclusive events,” according to a statement. And to wrap it all up, the winner has to work — on the glitzy Red Carpet, of course. Hey, it’s a tough job but somebody’s… Ahh, you know the rest.
The initial contest kicks off on July 10 and runs through July 21. Contestants must submit a two- to four-minute video of them interviewing their family or friends. Ten finalists will be picked, and People.com and YouTube users will vote for a winner who will be announced on Aug. 27.
The new People.com celebrity YouTube channel, which will feature video, photos and star interviews, can be found at www.youtube.com/people. Submissions for the contest can be made at www.youtube.com/redcarpetreporter or www.people.com/youtube.
Coldplay vs Creaky Boards in copycat claim
The little-known Creaky Boards just became a little less little known thanks to an accusation of copying against mega-band Coldplay via a Youtube posting.
The video cuts snippets from the Boards’ song “The Songs I Didn’t Write” (oh, the glorious irony of it all) with clips from Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”, the title track from the group’s new album which is selling fast in the UK. The posting even claims the band thought they spotted Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin in the crowd at a gig last year when they performed the song, hence making the link between the two.
The allegation prompted Coldplay to issue a blunt denial, saying that “Viva La Vida” was actually written seven months before the night in question.
The blogosphere has been busy with reactions to the accusations, with what seems to be a slight majority accusing the Boards of a cheap publicity stunt. Still, it may have worked. More than 320,000 visits have been made to the Youtube posting to date, about 1,000 times the number of clicks on other Creaky Boards’ contributions.
Juan, Andrew from Creaky Boards has admitted it wasn’t stolen from them and that it is all a coincidence. I found Daniel’s blog a little lenghty, but quite honest and informative.
Can you outstare Jessica Alba?
Jessica Alba has laid down a challenge — can you outstare her? Millions have tried to beat the actress since she joined a competition on video sharing Web site iBeat You (www.ibeatyou.com) about two weeks ago. She uploaded a video of herself staring into the camera without blinking for 1.5 minutes and submitted it to a “longest stare” competition. So far the video has received over 3.8 million views on YouTube. Why did she do it? Might have something to do with fact that the Web site was co-founded by her husband Cash Warren. The site is one of a number where people can compete against anyone in anything using photos, video and text.
Yes it’s a shame her official twitter page @REBECCAFANCLUB has not yet been popularized. One reason for this is @_REBECCABLACK_ has fooled people into thinking she’s the real Rebecca, and has reached 15,000+ followers.