Acapella was one of those songs I kept hearing on the radio and couldn’t get out of my head. When I finally tracked down the song video, I fell instantly in love with it. It really pops; the music, the dance, the film editing, the lighting, the wardrobe.

From what I’ve read, it’s a homage to the 90’s videos that the duo Karmin (Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan) grew up watching. Wiki cites  Busta Rhymes,Missy Elliott, TLC, Brandy and Destiny’s Child as their main influences and the clip is the end result of good choreography and a strong vision.

I can’t help but compare it to the DJ Havana Brown’s video for WARRIOR, which seems to have a muddy vision and some awkward costuming that does little to enhance the song. Have a look at both of them and tell me what you think. I’ll be interested to see what Karmin offer up next. 

• Songwriting – Amy Heidemann, Nick Noonan, Sam Hollander, Martin Johnson
• Production – Martin Johnson, additional by Kyle Moorman and Brandon Paddock
• Mixing – Serban Ghenea
• Engineering – Kyle Moorman, Brandon Paddock

Warrior by DJ Havana Brown

Done my hair up real big beauty queen style High heels off, I’m feeling alive ~Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey … so much written about her. So many opinions!

No one could possibly dispute though, that she has a spectacular voice. And as my blogs are about specific song videos, I’m not going to get into the whole “how dare she reinvent herself under a new name and abandon her original fans” – or some such twat! (though for the record I can’t possibly see why it would matter if she did. Just shows she’s smart and committed).

I think what really miffed some fans and critics is that she wasn’t a starving New York musican who done good but a girl from money, who used her means to help her achieve her goal.

Del Rey likes a certain kind of look to her vids and this one is no exception. Sepia toned, smoky, filtered and aged, she goes heavily for nostalgia and tragic romance. The clip is said to reflect the pain and sadness of not being able to spend your life with the person you love, and depicts suicide. It is a beautiful mood piece but like many clips, its real narrative is a little confused and takes a back seat to sultry set pieces of Del Rey and her actress friend, Jaime King.

In spite of that, viewed in isolation, the video clip is quite moving and lovely. However, if you’re familiar with Del Rey and her work, it may well be passed off (as some critics have) as being just another moody magazine spread of the singer in an array of diaphanous gowns. She does love girly and lacy! I dig her voice and her “thing”. She’s said to be going for a bad ass Nancy Sinatra look, and though I catch echoes of that, it is hard to see Del Rey as anything other than a true romantic.

Thumbs up for the sound and the look of Summertime Sadness, thumbs sideways for the clarity of the storytelling.

Here’s the clip, directed by Kyle Newman and Spencer Susser, Director of Photography: Morgan Susser, Editor: Spencer Susser, Producer: Tova Dann, Starring: Jaime King & Lana Del Rey

But even better is this vid of her version of Summer Wine by Nancy Sinatra

It’s. About. To. Go. Down. ~ Pitbull

With 39 million views on YouTube, Timber has well and truly gone down! This song is an irresistible dance track which brings some serious energy with it.

For the video though, they clearly couldn’t get Kesha and Pitbull in the same place to film. The outcome is an odd, mashed-together dance sequence. Kesha, posing in and around a saloon in her boots and best fingernails, supported by a cast of female dancers whose shorts got ravaged by werewolves.

And Pitbull, channelling Fred Astaire with a beautiful, adoring woman on an impossibly idyllic coral atoll, interspersed with dives into the water to swim among sharks.

Was that meant to be a sign of his daring and bravery, or did I miss some symbolism? (Oh, and there’s that random pig swimming by! What’s up with that?)

The whole thing is weirdly disjointed for sure, but I tell you what … the clip beats the hell out of Kayne’s catastrophic disaster, Bound 2 (which leaves me speechless) – aha, honey!

Despite it being only semi-original, I say thumbs up to the remix/reinvention of Timber, and the boot scooting. And thumbs down to the girls dressed in microdots, and the fact that the two singers couldn’t be arsed getting together to make a cohesive clip.

Wiki says: The song was produced by Dr. Luke, Cirkut, and Sermstyle, with additional production by Nick Seeley. The song interpolates “San Francisco Bay” (1979) by Danish harmonica player Lee Oskar, which was written by Lee Oskar, Keri Oskar, and Greg Errico. “Timber” features harmonica player Paul Harrington of Rockwall, Texas, who plays through the entire song.

And yes, I downloaded it!

Here’s the original harmonica by Lee Oskar that Pitbull had Harrington emulate in his song.