There was a lot of talk a few weeks ago regarding the new music videos released by Raheem DeVaughn and Keri Hilson. They are featured below for you to check out if you haven’t seen them. (Warning, you may not want to watch on your work computer).
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njkvkD-L6WA
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUAl1H9_-G0
These artists didn’t leave much to the imagination which caused the blogosphere to go crazy; I’m assuming this is the reaction they were hoping for since one has a mixtape and the other has an album coming out soon. I mean, all publicity is good publicity right?
Has music these days become overly sexualized? Are artist that desperate to sell records that they’ll lose themselves artistically to do so? I’m not saying that I know who Raheem DeVaughn and Keri Hilson are artistically, but “She Single” is definitely not the Raheem DeVaughn the world became accustomed to when he first appeared on the music scene. He was introduced as the R&B singer that could use words to have your imagination run wild; visual representation wasn’t really necessary. He reminded us of the 90s R&B music that we are oh so definitely missing these days. This latest attempt to catch our attention was a little much. It wasn’t a trashy video, but I’m not interested in seeing Raheem DeVaughn literally have sex with a chick in a video. I’m just sayin….
And then there’s Keri Hilson. I’m not sure she knows her identity as a musical artist. I know I know, she should be able to express herself anyway she wants, but has she not taken any notes from other artist? Artists who have changed their image over time slowly transitioned. For example, Rihanna was the long haired girl from Barbados singing “If It’s Lovin That You Want” and “S.O.S.” She slowly transitioned to a “bad girl;” her hair cut kept getting shorter and shorter and over time the music became edgier and edgier. She didn’t just throw her rockstyle lifestyle at us. The transition allowed fans to transition with her so her new style and music became acceptable.
I also think Keri Hilson’s timing was just WRONG! How do you go from Black Girls Rock and “Pretty Girls Rock” to talking about your goodies will keep your man at home?! *Side eye* There’s a way to be sexual and confident without literally throwing your goodies at the screen (although, I know the fellas watching the video didn’t’ mind).
Are artist afraid these days that their natural talent will keep them from selling records or is their natural talent not good enough to attract and keep our attention? Has the need to sell sex a reflection of our society? For me personally, a sex music video is not going to make me want to go out and purchase an album. If the music is horrible, there’s nothing the artist can do to would convince me to purchase their music!
I’m going to need artist like Avant, Tamia, Brian McKnight, Babyface (90s R&B artists) to come out of retirement so we can go back to some real R&B music! These artists didn’t need to sell sex in videos to have people pay attention to their music.
