Now that the GMAT is over, I finally have time to rant about analyze music videos again. It takes a lot of time to properly put a video in its place, believe me. Today I’ll discuss Cassie’s new joint Official Girl, featuring Lil Wayne, which premiered last week on FNMTV. As you may know, Cassie is a model who got a record deal with Bad Boy after catching the eye of producer Ryan Leslie, or something like that. I’m a bit fuzzy on the details. Anyway, after a year or so hiatus she’s back on the block. I’ll address both the track and the video.
The Track: The beat is courtesy of Danja and smacks of his mentor Timbaland - that is definitely a good thing. The song is basically Cassie saying ‘i don’t want to be a jumpoff, I want to be your girl for reals,’ but it’s insincere and pushy. If she’s so tired, why doesn’t she just leave? Even Keri Hilson (who belongs to the production team that wrote the song) knows the energy isn’t worth it.
It is by ‘label magic’ alone that the super busy Lil Wayne found time to record a verse. It’s not like he even needs the cash right now. (This has seriously been the year of Weezy F Baby) Sadly, if there was any chance of this song being salvageable, the vocoder towards the end crushes it like a boulder.
The Video: After about 20 seconds you will inevitably make the Aaliyah connection. I mean come on,The bikini top with the hair and the jacket and the black pants, who are you trying to fool Cassie? This isn’t an homage - it’s cheap imitation. The director, Chris Robinson has actually worked with Aaliyah before, so I’m a little surprised. Additionally, Cassie says in an interview “I’ve never seen myself dance like this before.” What I infer from this is that you really stepped up your dancing game.
But I call bullshit. I’ve seen your other videos, so I have a good baseline. Dancing wise, the video doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s the same old moves from the same old Aaliyah videos of yore. If this is a ‘new level’ for you, I’m surprised Diddy didn’t bounce your ass like he did half the girls from Making The Band 3! Lastly, the white bikini. Totally gratuitous! It comes out of nowhere and has no relevance to the rest of the video. You aren’t near a pool, the beach, or even outside.
The Bottomline: Hear me out Cassie. You are a beautiful girl - but if you want to stay in the game, you need to learn to sing, act, or at least dance. They call you a ‘triple threat’ in Step Up 2 - but where is the supporting evidence?
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