Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys: Empire State of Mind

When Billy Joel wrote “New York State of Mind,” he indeed meant the whole state, name-checking the Hudson River Greyhound and Riverside. As his “Empire State of Mind” video makes clear though, Jay-Z couldn’t care less about the rest of the state. It’s NYC, baby.

The third video for The Blueprint 3, “Empire State of Mind” ignores the gritty reality of Jay’s Brooklyn upbringing, using black and white cinematography to recall the glamour of ‘40s Hollywood. Times Square, the skyline, the Statue of Liberty…this is the Big Apple as only a tourist would envision it.

Joining the Jigga man in the Hype Williams- directed clip is fellow New York local Alicia Keys (as Bob Dylan sang in “Thunder on the Mountain,” “I was thinking ‘bout Alicia keys, couldn’t keep from crying / When she was born in Hell’s Kitchen, I was living down the line”). In the “Empire State” video though, Keys doesn’t venture far from the Naked Cowboy’s Times Square intersection, pounding on a NY-themed piano like a hotter Jerry Lee Lewis.

"It is a masterpiece video," Keys said in an interview with MTV News. "The way it's put together, it is so New York. You totally get it and understand it. It's artistic. It's hard. It's beautiful. And definitely getting to be in the middle of Times Square on my piano [with] Jay, representing our home city is a triumph. It was unbelievable."

While no one disputes that it was fun to film, constant swooping shots over the city come off like a Department of Tourism promo. Plus, Jay-Z raps in the New York streets in every video he does. For longtime NYC residents Jay may invoke a flicker of pride, but outsiders curious about the city would be better off watching a Woody Allen movie.

Verdict: 2/5 stars

Britney Spears: 3

It takes a special kind of music video to make the prospect of having a threesome with Britney Spears seem unappealing. Yet try as she might to seduce in her just-released clip for “3," the viewer can't help but wonder what's on TV instead.

The video’s back-to-basics approach seemed to have potential director Diane Martel told Life & Style magazine about it two weeks ago. “I think it’s her next sexy video,” Martel said. “It’s a very simple video for her — I don’t think you’ve seen her this much under a magnifying glass. Everything’s really strong and playful.”

Simple, yes; playful, not quite. Zoom-in shots of Britney’s robo-perfect face alternate with vague movements that suggest trying to dance after taking too much NyQuil. The long pull-up bar she hangs off could have immortalized a prop like “Stronger”’s innovative chair sequence did, but instead Brit listlessly dangles while a few other dancers half-heartedly thrust in random directions.

On the other hand, the yawn-inducing video matches the sex-less lyrics of this tune promoting her Singles Collection compilation. “1, 2, 3 / Peter, Paul & Mary”? Out of all the sexy trios in entertainment (Destiny’s Child, Charlie’s Angels), songwriters Max Martin, Shellback, Tiffany Amber decided on the aging family-friendly folkies? That’s like using Bob Dylan to sell lingerie.

If the video displays a lack of imagination, however, the Twitter-ific promo leading up to it is marketing gold. By tweeting out still photos and five-second clips in the weeks leading up to the release, the Spears team generated hype unseen since the days when people actually cared about music videos. If only the end result had matched up.

Verdict: 1/5 stars

N'fa: Cause an Effect

When Heath Ledger died last year, no one disputed his claims as a great actor. Since his passing though, he’s established a reputation as a top-notch music video director as well. His anti-whaling video for Modest Mouse's "King Rat" debuted in August and now he’s back from the grave again with a hip-hop clip for N’fa’s “Cause an Effect.”

While “Cause an Effect” lacks the overt social cause of the Modest Mouse tune, Ledger clearly goes for the activist tunes. “I represent those struggling to pay tax, struggling to eat,” N’fa raps. “Amidst fat aristocrats we can’t make ends meet / I represent the lonely working, searching for more / Suffering at the bottom. I’m here to settle the score.”

The angry outsider rant gets an appropriately aggressive video, with N’fa layered in layers of face paint that can’t help but recall Ledger’s own Joker, with just a hint of S&M on the side. Formerly of Australian hip-hop trio 1200 Techniques, N’fa (short for No Fixed Abode) discussed working with Ledger in a making-of clip he posted on his MySpace page.

"Every day I count my blessings that I got to have him direct this piece of art," N’fa says. "For a song I was very proud to have written but I never expected to have such an immense video made for it. Since I'd known Heath since we were very young, he’s always been a creative kind of guy and, in many ways, ahead of the curve. When he had the idea to do this video, [there was] no question."

The video was shot in the summer of 2006 to promote N’fa’s Cause an Effect LP so the duo made ample use of the Sydney waterfront. Even palling around with his friend down under though, Ledger couldn’t escape the dark underbelly of fame.

“We spent a lot of time…going down the beach, having fun and often getting snapped by paparazzi” N’fa says. “It wasn’t really one of the things he was into.”

Ledger was into the challenge of coming up with a creative way to memorialize N’fa’s call to action on the cheap though.

"We tried to do something on the shoestring budget we had" the rapper said. "The day before we found a few different ideas for clothing, a massive sheet and black curtain, and got in touch with two really good makeup artists… and shot it all in his garage.”

The clip just debuted at the Rome Film Festival this past weekend, but it was worth the wait. The sad fact is that it’s perfectly feasible this may be the second-to-last new Heath Ledger work we see (his final film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus comes out in December). So enjoy it.

Verdict: 4/5 stars

Basement Jaxx: My Turn (ft. Lightspeed Champion)

Kanye West seemed to have the cute hip-hop bear thing locked down, but in Basement Jaxx’s new “My Turn” video the DJ duo create their own memorable mammal who doesn’t drop out, register late, or graduate. Instead, he’s some sort of swimming miner, like the seven dwarves meets Michael Phelps.

Lightspeed Champion – Devonte Hynes to his mother – did the soulful vocals on the third Scars single. In the clip a dapper-dressing Hynes pours out his heart alongside the bears, sometimes literally. The neon tears and hearts that litter the jet-black background suggest the work of an animation grad student on speed, but director Tomek Ducki is no amateur.

“It was a heavy week of working to transform the idea from a live visual to a video promo,” Ducki wrote on his website. “Lightspeed Champion had to be included, so [I] needed to find a way to work together the animation and the live action part.”

The end result is certainly endearing, but the behind-the-scenes green-screen video Ducki created last week might be even better. If dancing wizards surrounded by awkward cinematographers is your thing, of course. The wizard only shows up in the final version for about half a second (don’t blink or you’ll miss it), so the two clips could be seen as hi/low-tech companion pieces.

It’s tough to beat a goggled bear wielding dynamite though, so first check out the official vid below.

Verdict: 3/5 stars

Norah Jones: Chasing Pirates

Q: Who’s a pirate’s favorite young jazz singer?
A: Naaaarrrrrrrrrah Jones!

Turns out, Norah Jones likes pirates just as much. On her new video for “Chasing Pirates,” she stops just short of an eye patch and peg leg in her attempt to be the cutest terror the seven seas have known. To helm her swashbuckling adventure Jones enlisted Pirates of the Caribbean special effects man Rich Lee as director. Showcasing the creativity that earns him the big bucks, Lee made the bold choice of dressing Jones up as – get ready for it – a pirate!

“The concept is sort of this fantasy,” Lee says in a making-of video. “It’s like this little escapism dream she has about sailing her building out of the city.”

If sailing a building sounds like a shaky premise, the rooftop-as-ship motif becomes even more questionable in execution. Admittedly, any video where Jones spends so much time batting her eyelashes at the camera can’t be all bad, but what really stings is learning that this silly urban-voyager theme beat out better ideas.

“The first idea we had for this video was to have me go around stalking Johnny Depp…dressed as a pirate,” Jones revealed. “Obviously it was impossible to get a hold of Johnny Depp so we decided to put a ‘Johnny Forever’ tattoo on my arm.”

Surely a Depp look-alike would have sufficed – after all, Lily Allen made excellent use of an Elton John double last week. Truly, stalker-fan Norah sounds more compelling than wistful-urbanite Norah. It all comes off a bit dreary, so perhaps we should end with another pirate joke.

Q: When the pirate killed the jazz fan, where did he send him?
A: Norah Jones’ locker!

Verdict: 1/5 stars

(Via VH1)

Chris Brown: I Can Transform Ya (ft. Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz)

Chris Brown’s year got off to a rocky start when an argument with the-girlfriend Rihanna turned violent. Ever since he’s been doing his time - legally, professionally and publicly. While it remains unclear whether he'll ever fully drop his domestic-abuse baggage, his “I Can Transform Ya” video presents Brown finally trying to put his past behind him with a silly robo-danceathon.

Any doubt that “I Can Transform Ya” was inspired by the recent Transformers blockbusters disappears in the opening shot, when a zooming hotrod car transforms into Brown himself. If this is all just a brazen pitch for inclusion on the Transformers 3 soundtrack though, it’s a well-executed one.

Lil Wayne makes the scene early on, rapping “I can turn you from a human to a Carter” over Swizz Beatz’ layered production. Dance troupe Rej3ctz also adds extra spice, doing the twenty-first century robot all over a blank space that creates a hyper-masculine version of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” dancing. Brown is clearly looking to wow with slick dance moves and CGI splendor, hoping to sidestep journalistic naval-gazing trying to somehow tie this to Rihanna. The connection ain’t there.

Joseph Kahn took the directorial helm for “I Can Transform Ya,” the first single from Brown’s upcoming Graffiti (out Dec. 15). Kahn continues his string of 2009 hits like Lady GaGa’s ”LoveGame” and Eminem’s “We Made You.” He previously worked with Brown during the happier times of 2008 for “Forever.”

Verdict: 4/5 stars

Tegan and Sara: Hell

Sharing a hotel room with siblings is never easy. As Tegan and Sara show us in their new video for “Hell” though, having your own room can be no better.

“I’ve always wanted to shoot in a motel,” director Jamie Travis says in a making-of video for the Sainthood single. “We were originally going to build a set [but] this location lent itself to doing something in a set-like fashion with the wall in the middle. I’ve always liked the idea of Tegan and Sara having a tug-of-war.”

The tug-of-war takes place through the wall with rope provided by a flower-clad mirror monster. Yes, it’s a trifle confusing, but the twins’ new-wave Elvis hair couldn’t be more right.

“I haven’t had so many bobby-pins in my hair since prom,” Sara wrote on the band’s website. She added that Travis “has a head chock full of absurd and wonderful ideas. Ropes, fortune tellers, paper cuts and pompadours.”

Tegan puts it more simply in the making-of: “I can’t even really tell you what the hell it’s about. It isn’t about anything, it feels like.”

She's right. Unlike Friday’s intricately-crafted “Charlie Darwin” video, plot seems to be a foreign concept here. While it’s tough not to enjoy video of Tegan Sara acting their silly selves, this series of random images seems to form no coherent whole, for the viewer or the artists.

“The video will probably be studied for decades in film school,” Tegan said, “but no one who sees it on the internet will understand it.” She may be on to something.

Verdict: 2/5 stars