Friday, 19 September 2014

Jennifer Lopez - Booty ft. Iggy Azalea [+ Review]


NEWSFLASH: Jennifer Lopez has a new music video out featuring Iggy Azalea and it contains a significant amount of booty. Aptly titled 'Booty' the song does exactly what it says on the proverbial tin. There's booty, it's about booty and don't expect to see anything less. When it comes to reviewing the song, it's relatively easy - however, the music video has caused a usual stir because of the amount of female sexuality in it (surprising, no?). Apparently, anything with a butt in it nowadays is a no-go, and it particular Nicki Minaj 'Anaconda' style, the duo have divided viewers with their booty-filled music video. But what people don't seem to be noticing is the song itself. Is it an indicator of our society when we can only seem to notice something right in front of our faces but not listen to the actual lyrics? 

I'll be discussing the song first, so that those of you who perhaps don't want to hear this site's thoughts on the video can skip down to the video after the music review (although we really hope you don't!). The track itself is pretty standard in its construction, Lopez's sings out her verses in typical fashion, but nothing is particularly hard-hitting, and the hook isn't as addictive as previous songs we've heard. The instrumentals of the track also sound a bit similar to Lopez's previous song 'On the Floor' in particular areas and 'Papi' in others. Azalea's verses are more solidly constructed, and she seems to be more confident singing her segment, although it is a little short compared to other tracks like 'Problem'. 


The break-down in the track towards the end is a little bewildering, and doesn't really fit in with the rest of the song. Clearly aspiring to be more of a club anthem, it falls a little short in terms of what's required, and it doesn't seem to have the same sort of edgy nature like 'Anaconda', which is disappointing. However, this particularly remix with Azalea propels the original version to new booty-full heights, and her verses add a bit more life into the track which originally featured Pitbull. Azalea shows more dominance in her lyrics with 'They begging me to drop down on 'em but, right now, Iggy on the top/ The last time the world seen a booty this good it was on Jenny from the block' which is distinctly more edgy with its clever little reference to J-Lo's previous nickname and song. 

The addition of Azalea to the remix definitely helps the track become more current, considering Azalea's recent success with hit 'Fancy', the featured-spot on Grande's hit 'Problem' and her dynamite pairing on 'Black Widow' with Rita Ora, not to mention her successful album, The New Classic. Now on to the video itself. When we went in to watch the video I thought it might be a bit racy, but it was (fairly) tame compared to other stuff out there, and yet people in the comments section were acting like it was the worst thing ever (newsflash: it's not). You can argue morality and 'what about the children' until the day goes long, but the video is essentially two women singing a song about 'the booty' and providing some visual accompaniment that ties in with the song. All in all, it's pretty much what you'd expect. 

Butts in music videos are nothing new, but it seems to be that people face the most backlash about perceived sexual parts when the main (singer) individual is female. There are a multitude of music videos (particularly rap/r'n'b/some pop) that feature women, scantily clad in particularly sexual positions. But the most notable difference in those videos is the women has no spoken word. She is simply something to look at in the video and nothing more. In music videos for Minaj's 'Anaconda' or Rihanna's videos, the women is in control, and perhaps this is something that is unsettling for some people - to see a women expressing her sexuality (which she is, of course, entitled to do) in a similar fashion to how females are portrayed in other videos, except that she has a voice and is in control. She is not decoration and maybe this is unsettling for some people. 

Regardless, it seems that videos feature female music artists' sexuality seem to be a taboo subject; one that causes numerous emotions ranging from awkwardness to outright spitefulness and hate messages. Whilst this is not an essay on female sexuality, it might be prudent to question the emotions and thoughts you have about the video. Feel free to watch the curvy video below, and share with us your thoughts on the video in the comment section: 

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