Like stages of grief, there are stages of processing an M.I.A. video. First there’s a kind of dumbfounded, eyebrow-raising befuddlement as you wonder whether you’re actually watching a music video or not. Then there’s the moment where you say to yourself, “I can’t believe this is M.I.A.’s new music video. I am surprised. It is not a traditional music video, that’s for sure.” Or something of that nature.
Then you feel weird because you realize you were talking to yourself out loud about M.I.A. videos when you were supposed to be working or studying or whatever.
Then! Then something strange happens. You become kind of intoxicated by M.I.A.‘s whole subversion of the generic music video, and eventually, whether you “like” it (because, in a way, M.I.A. doesn’t really care if you like it or not), you become sort of entranced by it.
So, here we have M.I.A.‘s video for “Story To Be Told,” from her recent album, ‘Born Free.’M.I.A. has been nice enough to set up a little website where the clip is streaming. What will you find there? Oh you know, the usual… Psychedelic, late-’90s Internet visuals that employ a similar motif to her album cover, and lyrics, rendered in the style of one of those Captcha identity certification programs. Totally normal. Just like making a video about rounding up and killing redheads (which was the theme of M.I.A.’s “Born Free” video).
Check out M.I.A.’s “Story To Be Told” video. (Warning; NSFW)
Your thoughts on M.I.A.’s new video? Are you feeling it? Let us know below.
Police in Sydney cancelled Bieber’s performance after a swarm of teenagers surged toward the venue in a frenzy! Ten girls had to be pulled from the crowd. Eight girls were taken to the hospital. One out the eight had fractured her knee cap, but most of them hyperventilated.
The commotion reportedly began because the doors were supposed to open at 5:00pm, but instead they opened at 3:00pm, leaving fans to believe the teen icon had arrived early. Police have stated that the station was prepared, but the frenzy got out of control. Many of the teenages were there without parents.
M.I.A.’s Violent Video Banned from YouTube
Due to graphic violence, you will not be able to find M.I.A‘s new video on YouTube.
Sources say M.I.A. tweeted this morning about her new single, “Born Free” being banned from YouTube.
“F*ck UMG who won’t show it on YouTube!” M.I.A. tweeted.
Then she later clarified that UMG was not at fault. The video was unveiled this morning on the singer’s official website.
Here’s the my brief re-cap of this years Grammy awards ceremony.
Performances:
* U2 kicks the show off with their newest single “Get On Your Boots”off of the new album No Line on the Horizon.
* Al Green, Keith Urban, Justin Timberlake and Boyz II Men perform together in place of Rihanna and Chris Brown.
* Coldplay performed “Lost+”. Set starts off with Chris Martin at piano solo and later joined by Jay-Z to spit his verse. Chris cuts that song and goes to the stage and the rest of the band appears and they perform “Viva La Vida”.
* Carrie Underwood performs.
* Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus perform together.
* Jonas Brothers perform with Stevie Wonder.
* One of the performances of the night for me was “Swagger Like Us” with T.I., Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z and a very pregnant M.I.A. The performance started off with M.I.A. doing a verse of “Paper Planes”, the sample of which “Swagger Like Us” came from. When she hit the words “…swagger like us”, out appeared the four gentlemen above. M.I.A.’s outfit was a bit out there, not my favorite, but I guess her style has always been out there that and add to the fact that she was due to give birth that very day.
* Paul McCartney featuring Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters on the drums. Performing The Beatles“I Saw Her Standing There”, but Ringo Starr was not to be found on stage.
* Radiohead performance with the USC Trojans Marching band backing, probably one of the better performances of the night for sure.
* T.I. and Justin Timberlake perform “Dead and Gone”
* The Grammys honor and remember Motown legendsThe Four Tops, doing a medley of songs were Smokie Robinson, Ne-Yo, Jamie Foxx and remaining member of The Four Tops,Duke Fakir.
Awards:
* Jennifer Hudson wins Best R&B album of the year. That was teary-eyed moment for me. She deserved it!
* Song of the year went to Coldplay for their song “Viva La Vida”.
* Best Pop collaboration went to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. WTF!!
* Blink 182 members come out together to announce they’re coming back to do work as well as presenting the Best Rock album, which went to Coldplay.
* Best New Artist award went to Adele.
* In another “WTF?” moment, Record of the year went to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. On the real, it beat out some deep competition.
* Best Rap Album went to Lil Wayne for Tha Carter III. Good for him, competition was a bit tough, I’m a fan of all the artists that were nominated under that category.
“One of my favorite moments was seeing M.I.A. perform on stage with T.I., Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne, and Jay-Z. I have to tell you that performance gave me the chills. I was waiting to see if M.I.A was going to stop her performance in the middle of it all and say she was in labor. As a mother myself, that performance was the best. She told E! news in an interview on the red carpet, that she was yet to know what the sex of her baby will be. I think it’s going to be a boy. What are your thoughts?”
Video Below: M I A, T I , Lil Wayne, Jay Z, & Kanye West Perform “Swagga Like Us” At The 51st Annual Grammy Awards
JNEL & J. Magazine 