All the ingreadients are there...what is it about it that doesn't add up?
By Monica Gaza, Entertainment News Editor
6th of September 2007, 15:01 GMT
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Only last week news came of Jennifer Lopez and what was deemed an exciting new video for her new single "Do It Well" directed by none other than famous (and controversial) David LaChapelle. Well, it's finally here and you can watch it below - and really, I would be very curious to know what you make of it, 'cause I for once am at a loss.
It looks like someone - might have been LaChapelle, might have been someone else - took a bunch of stereotypes from other music videos, mixed them together with some more (sado-masochistic) cliches, blended in some (more) sweaty nude guys and girls, wrapped it all together and served it to J-Lo on a silver platter.
First of all, I simply don't understand the whole "mother storming a S&M nightclub to rescue her son" thing. Maybe it's just some very deep, abstract artistic stuff that my mundane mind simply can't penetrate, but I see no link between this and the song, which is all about how Jennifer is in love with a guy who can "do it well". They don't make any specifications, but I can guess it's probably not about cooking dinner and washing the dishes after that.
Secondly, I can understand aggressive promotion - making Lopez look like a strong, determined woman, half action-hero, half self-conscious, slutty-looking supermodel, but there's a little too much of her beating up guys, pushing them up and down the stairs and "looking fiercely determined" for the whole thing to add up. She looks good - great, in fact I'd say - and the song itself sounds good, there's a powerful beat and rhythm to it, but the combination of music plus video simply doesn't click.
And while I'm sure it's very interesting to witness all that impressive display of S&M goodies (although the shot with the guy in the mouse mask lying on what looks like a bed shaped like a giant mousetrap is trademark LaChapelle - that is, downright bizarre), I definitely think that everything - the music, the choreography, Jennifer's outfits and the "mommy to the rescue" theme are overdone and lack (any) coherence and (at least some) continuity.
Well, that being said, I want to ask you to watch the infamous video and give me your thoughts - does it work for you? Do you like it? Is it trying to communicate some subtle message? It may be, and maybe it needs a certain outlook- or a certain state of mind to perceive. There's also the possibility that it's all one big mistake that both Lopez and LaChapelle will live to regret, but who knows? In the end, they're the stars, they should know best.
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