Double Feature Review: "Love the Way You Lie" + "Power"

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW

by Shardae Jobson

"But you lied again, now you get to watch her leave out the window, guess that's why they call it window pane".

"Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem by Rihanna

The entertainment magazine news-show Showbiz Tonight, asked the question if Rihanna was "out of line" for singing the chorus on Eminem's domestic abuse tale "Love the Way You Lie". It should be noted that only she could be the one to make that decision. Would it be healthier for her to just completely ignore what happened to her and not discuss in some form? Absolutely not, and the result is one of Eminem's most powerful released singles and (Joseph Kahn directed) video(s) as well. The song and video are controversial not necessarily just because of the subject matter, but more so because of it is Rihanna that sings the hook as a year and half later, the tribulation between her and Chris Brown haunts her like a bad tattoo decision. What is highly certifiable about her appearance is that her cameo is not for a flashy or haughty purpose, as was her role in T.I.'s "Live Your Life". By obvious circumstance of her own sudden and short-lived experience with domestic violence, the timing and delivery of her vocals are purely apt and affecting. The media wants to make it all about her situation with Brown, when the song is based upon the publicized in lyrics relationship Eminem had with the turbulent love of his life and mother of his only child, Kim.

"Love the Way You Lie", produced by Alex da Kid, is cinematic from every end because of the singers on the track, and the lyrics that swerve from ballistic animosity to downtrodden heartbreak, and this is reflected in the music video starring Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan (of Lost). Again, the mainstream media was quick to borderline denounce and question the video for somehow and oddly advocating domestic abuse, using the superfluous and unnecessary adjective "glamorize". It is evident that from Rihanna, Eminem, to the actors in the video, what Kahn filmed for the clip shows that a relationship full of volatility is anything but cute. To "glamorize" is to suggest that there is something funny and worthwhile about the subject at hand--and there is none of that to be found by any means.

On Showbiz Tonight, one commenter made a great point in that the characters Fox and Monaghan play seem to feed off each other's precarious and perilous nature, and while this is true to the storyline, it shouldn't be written off that the characters are two of a kind based upon situation that are in a rut simply because life and love are not easy. Such a relationship is not ideal, and Monahgan even stated that the video shows that Eminem himself beliefs he should've left the obstacles he was facing with Kim sooner than later.

The music video was shot very well with sensitivity and reality given to the song. Fox finally shows some depth to her otherwise blase acting ability, and Mohaghan is a scary version of Slim Shady. The shots are smooth with trepidation, as the most accomplished scene is towards the end during the middle of Eminem's last verse where Fox looks at Monaghan in a forlorn glance, and starts to walk away as the camera pans from a distance a showing of room to room in the small, broken down house they live in. Mohaghan is not bemuse to Fox's sudden run away from him, and throws his bag to the side, and an object as Fox locks herself in the bathroom.

Eminem and Rihanna mostly have scenes alone, but are together in the end in front of a burning house, as neither are particularly trying to look attractive or tepid, and convey emotional deliveries through the lyrics. The most harrowing lyrics to some seem to be the second sentence of the chorus where Rihanna sings (with a sneer), "That's alright because I like the way it hurts" which is both moronic and an anomaly to think that those words somehow excuse the abuse, which if anything is a jarring way of using sarcasm in that the other victim is not diluted to the issue's love/hate dynamic that is thoroughly exhausting.

The video has already received 22 million views on YouTube since its Thursday debut. Here's hoping that someone watching will be encourage to receive the help they need if they are in similar situation or find themselves to be in the future. Domestic abuse is not a game of childhood, flighty fancy.

"You got the power to let power go?"

"Power" by Kanye West

Another pop-culture moment of 2009, though more on the ludicrous end of it, was the Kanye West bumrush at the MTV Video Music Awards, which has come to determine whether or not West can apparently make a comeback to the music scene in a big way, though he never really left in the first place aside from a hiatus following that last September. His new album, slated for release later this year, is titled Good Ass Job, and the first single "Power" is a emphatic, thumping, New Testament-lite joint of what he's been through and witnessed the past years, especially since the death of his mother. While the song is not entirely spectacular lyrically, sonically it is contagious, especially its background of pyrrhic choir chants. The music video for the song is actually kind of remarkable despite itself and Kanye's arrogance.

Directed by Marco Brambilla, the music video is a behemoth of religious, sexual and Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman imagery, with West as the sole reminder of black power among the peach angel wings and sheets, and darkened cornflower blue sky with charcoal pillars surrounding him. The video is essentially a moving image that expands to expose frame by frame the consequential happenings of "Power" which precisely makes it hard to turn your eyes away from it. Purposely made to retain its curious appeal, the video is only a minute and forty-three seconds long. The Freemason theme of redemption is something that's been hinted to come to us from West, and arrived in full throttle in his newest video's premiere.

The oil-painting look of the bedlam that is "Power" gives a lot to comment on, depending on what you choose to focus on to say the least. From the Freemason suggestion, to West subconsciously comparing himself to a figure among the lines of Jesus, West in the video with his glowing pale eyes demanding a second degree burn into your mind, is both possessed and delusional as the main focus. When first viewing it, by the time it finishes, your mind is just starting to absorb it all, and you still finding yourself asking what kind of point was West trying to make? He doesn't seem to apologizing for anything, yet is cajoling for a kind of understanding of his point of view on the apocalyptic state of the world hidden behind the shield of flashing lights and the not so esoteric conundrums of the power struggle among genders, race, and pseudo politically correct agendas. Kanye West has seemingly gone out of his way to be a man of an admirable resume of work, and a big mouth for outrageous statements. "Power" is rather large statement for him carry, as while it wasn't created alone, he alone will take responsibility for.

Unlike on 2007's "Stronger", which is similar to "Power" in concept, West sounded fragile. On "Power" he is more convincingly resilient, unleashing one of the more progressive singles of the year. The beautifully done music video is in a league of its own as it ends with two men, coming from the left and right, flying in the air aiming towards each other with swords in tow above West's hyperbolic stance as a victim to the pressure of something of great magnitude, we can only assume based upon the allegorical symbolism about him is possibly success. Maybe illuminati tendencies are not as rewarding as we may had assumed.