Around the internet, folks have been buzzing about Erykah Badu's latest video "Window Seat," in which the singer strips naked as she strolls through downtown Dallas. And the reviews, from what I've seen, have been mostly positive, with many people praising Badu for her bravery.
It was riveting to see this black woman's progress down a Dallas street. The gauzy, Zapruder-style filmmaking gave it a languid, dreamlike quality that had the effect of transporting me. Honestly, I, too, wanted to see if she'd go all the way. I wasn't titillated, I was just aware that she was approaching a societal line. Would she actually cross it? My hat's off to her because, seriously, you're not getting me to walk naked down anybody's street.
But then again, I don't have a new album to sell.
We are asked to take this video very seriously. But what's it really about? Is it about freedom of expression? Stripping away pretense? A wake-up call for each of us to be ourselves? Fine. But why the conflation with Kennedy? Because Erykah sees herself on that level. JFK. Badu. Y'all get the connection, right? I don't. When you look at the Matt and Kim video that inspired "Window Seat," you can see that it was fun. They were really trying to see how long they could go before the cops showed up. As is often the case, it's tough to make a message video and do great art, and it's usually the art that suffers.
Erykah tweeted: "funny thing is, the physical nudity is nothing lol . i been naked all along in my words actions and deeds . thats the real vulnerable place".
So there was no real risk for Erykah. And if she's not risking anything emotionally, physically or artistically, then what are we applauding? Holla atcha boy after you rip up the picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live.
The video is an ingenious marketing tool. She even hoped to get arrested during the shoot in order to generate more controversy. So, yes, we're talking about the video, but it's all crass calculation. Why should we respect and laud that?
I'll be honest: I've been sour on Erykah since "Mama's Gun," which I found unlistenable at the time. It didn't help to see her act like a diva at the Essence Music Festival in 2003. From the start of her set, she demanded more energy than the crowd in the Superdome was willing to give. Her response was to become more petulant. Folks wanted to hear "Tyrone". She didn't want to do it. She even insulted some guy in the front row, telling him, "You too old to be at my show." It was like she wanted to take her marbles and go home. It seemed lost on her that the show was running late and people were waiting in anticipation for Chaka and Stevie.
Perhaps not much has changed in all these years. Even the chorus to "Window Seat" is telling:
but I need you to want me
I need you to miss me
I need your attention, yes
I need you next me
I need someone to clap for me
I need your direction
somebody say come back
come back baby come back
I want you to need me
I don't think she's talking to a significant other. I think she's really talking to the audience. She's demanding the validation that only a diva expects and an adoring crowd can give. And the "direction" she's asking for? Translation: Prove to me that you really want me or I really will hop in that hovercraft with Bjork and leave y'all.
I, too, want an artist like Erykah to succeed. Given how women tend to be portrayed in commercial hip hop and R&B--the scorned woman, the big butt and the smile--it's great to see someone who's at once high priestess, earth mother, around the way girl, Harriett Tubman and Angela Davis all rolled into one. See, she's presented herself as this conscious, progressive artist, but maybe it's all a pose, a scam. Erykah knows she's got a wide open field and she plays to that dearth. Perhaps that's why she feels she can start shows 90 minutes late.
It's unfortunate that self-importance oozes from "Window Seat". A rampant ego is at play, and as much as I can't stand it in Kanye, I can't stand it in Erykah, either. Both of them would do well to remember that humility is always a good look.
The video isn't deep. It's clever, but any hoodwinking that's going on is partly our responsibility. As African Americans, we are so hungry to see our images reflected on the screen. Broadly speaking, we accept narrative that either has significant holes (Precious) or work that is so "on the nose" (Tyler Perry) that it's not artful. Case in point is the horrendous voice-over at the end of "Window Seat". I can't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if she or someone in her camp said, "After all, we gotta be sure folks get it."
And that's the problem with putting yourself on a pedestal: You've got to come down and talk to us little people. Unfortunately, that plays into the ways that so much of commercial black music infantilizes audiences, especially black ones. On one hand, I can only imagine the intense pressure she must be under to make this album a commercial success. She's 39 and while that's not old by any stretch of the imagination, she's hardly the new kid on the block. I can only assume that all the people around her are telling her how much she needs this album to be a hit. As is the case with Usher, now 31, who's been directed to recapture the sound he had at 25, there's an implicit and disheartening assumption that the black audience won't grow with an artist.
Believe me, nobody's telling The White Stripes or Radiohead to go back to what they were doing six years ago, just so they can sell more albums.
So, let me see if I've got this video straight: Not original. Calculated. No risk. Hoping to get arrested so that the controversy will gin up sales (she may get her wish here). Oozing ego. Purporting to be about more than it really is.
This video isn't art. It's eye candy.
I can only hope the album offers more in the way of substance.
Follow Rob Fields on Twitter: www.twitter.com/robfields
The next submission goes to Jolene
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Make no mistake about it, every black person in this newsgroup would be outraged if Madonna went to MLK's or Malcolm's death side and paraded her bare ass in front of children.
This is why those calling this Badu's DERANGED behavior "powerful", "art", "courageous" are so incredibly irresponsible.
If a stranger went to your kid's school and paraded his bare ass in front of the kids, would you call that "art" too? Would you call it "courageous"?
Honestly, I don't understand the kind of irresponsibility I'm seeing here.
Had Badu dropped to the ground and begin copulating with some guy from the crowd, would you be applauding that too?
Where do you people draw the line?
Do you think there even should be a line?
Who are you people and what is your culture?
My culture makes a distinct difference between normal and deranged behavior -- there's no gray area.
In other words, the really troubling thing here is not what this brainless pean to idiocy did, but that there are black people here defending her.
All of which explains why a black child coming into this world doesn't stand a chance.
It's not racism that will hold him back; it's his parents -- adults with the discernment of children; adults who see a woman parading her bare ass in front of children to show-off her tattoos and call what she's doing "advancing the race."
And we have a history of this don't we?
We have a history of supporting drug-fueled, psychotic behavior.
Then when our children become drug heads and psychos we're perfectly amazed at how this could be. We blame racism -- everything but ourselves.
Badu has a history of letting drug-addled rappers use her as a floor-mat. She has three kids by rappers who dumped her.
She's not clever. She has issues.
Badu's video . . . 2 words . . . naked truth.
What "naked truth" did you get from the video?
1) She grabbed your attention(ohhh nooo, say it ain't true!)
2) She took you back to Daley Plaza(where we 'violently' lost the last president who tried to 'change' America!)
3) ....and she used her talent and her body to do it(it is what it is!)
Now that may not be "art". but it beats the hell out of a 'can of soup'!
When you think you have all the answers to what happened that day in Dallas then it may be 'once too many', but until then more "artists" need to show their wares and demand the 'naked truth'.
Hahahahahahahahaahah..
Do you have any idea how ridiculous that interpretation is?
Paraphrasing an earlier poster, Badu could be a starving "artist" somewhere all alone and she would still be judged by the masses (e,g, Badu has really fallen off, where is she now?) so why not make an honest living be judged.
BTW, the author lost me when he stated that Tyler Perry is an "on the nose" depiction of African Americans; I mean, how can anyone give voice to that and still want their opinions to be taken seriously?
Second thought, maybe he said it to draw a reaction?
Your question is a strawman that has nothing to do with Badu's senseless and criminal exhibition.
How many of the people you mention take off their clothes and go parading down the street in front of children?
what is an artist?
can you please sight some examples of who you think is a good artist.
Sting
Bruce Springsteen
Stevie Wonder
Michael Jackson
Prince
Beyonce
James Taylor
Carly Simon
Pul Simon
Usher
There are many. But there are many more SINGERS not deserving of the moniker "Artist." Singing a sone doesn't make you an artist. I can drive a truck, but that doesn't make me a Truck Driver. I can throw paint on a canvas, but that makes me a painter, not an artist.
A musical artist is someone whose music transcends time. They can write their own lyrics and possibly play an instrument. They KNOW music. They are trained vocalists, musicans. Not just singing what someone played for them to sing to. Anyone can do that. just look at American Idol. There are a handful that can play an instrument and have talent. But the people that get voted off first, are typically, SINGERS.
If you have to do videos like this to get attention for your upcoming album, then the album can't be that great, if it can't stand on it's own. This goes for the moderately talented Lady Gaga. Music is supposed ot be about the music, not how outrageous you have to behave and look to gin up attention to sell a song.
And "artist?" This word is sooooo overused and underserved. Stevie Wonder is an artist. Sting is an artist. Prince is an artist.
Erykah Badu is a singer. And not a very good one. Never got her music and this won't make me a fan either. This is whythe music industry is circling the drain. Too many SINGERS, few ARTISTS.
Ms Badu is just more rubbish.
the name of the greed game will always be shame
the way to make a person give of there power is to make them feel shame
superstition, alienation. a soul singer by the name of bettye la vette took off her top for a nude shot.
you couldn't see her breasts cause she was straddling a chair and yet at 60 she got a lot of negative criticism. "oh she's too old. she should be ashamed of herself. " in a society where vanities desperation leads to mutilation (plastic surgery) have you ever considered to think how painful and empty our messages of love has become. we are a warrior nation. this is a culture in itself dictating what beauty is and i'm afraid you beauty mr. field has gotten mixed up with your vanity.
this is a POLITICAL STATEMENT. she is an artist who just happens to be in the sphere mainstream popular culture, but this makes her powerful statements known to all & of course baffling to many who choose not to look deeper.
What I find bothersome is a level of dishonesty on her part. The video is clearly not an original idea. You shouldn't get points for recycling someone else's idea. It's not now, nor has it ever been about freedom of expression. It's been about manufacturing controversy in order to move units (of albums). Everyone involved should just say that, so we can all stop acting like there's some deep ish going on here.
She wasn't equating herself with Kennedy. She was making a parallel reference- equating her death with the death of hopes and optimism we suffered when Kennedy was assassinated. It shocked and changed our nation. As such she used that symbolism for herself as an individual.