So, back in May, I wrote about this song, "Silly Boy," that was getting circulated as a Rihanna-Lady Gaga collaboration dissing Chris Brown. Turns out the song is actually the debut track of a singer named Eva Simons, who has released a kind of magnetically strange video for the song, featuring a Delorean, a mirrored dress that echoes some of Lady Gaga's duds, and hair that makes Rihanna's trend-setting locks look positively tame:
Both the song and the video are really growing on me. I like the strobe-light nature of the choreography a lot, and the slightly sci-fi elements of the visuals, particularly the dress made of white tubes that seems to fly off of Simon's body at one point. Though they're totally sonically different, the "Silly Boy" video reminds me a little bit of Janelle Monae's gorgeous and insane short-film video for "Many Moons," which is simultaneously a robot fashion show, a terrific advertisement for adapting Fifties men's fashions for women (I really think I may need to go back and get a pair of saddle shoes), and a mini-narrative about law enforcement and art:
I really think there's something fascinating going on in videos by women artists that grapple with robotics and the nature of humanity, but I haven't quite put my finger on it yet. If I do, I'll let you know.
P.S. For those of you not up on Janelle Monae, what are you waiting for? Her duet with Big Boi on "Call the Law" from OutKast's Idlewild album is haunting.