Baeble Blog: FKA Twigs alt 20 min art video

NB: The video explores sexual themes (especially in the 2nd piece), though without nudity, and does have 1 instance of swearing about 14 mins in.

The Baeble blog is a good place to look for examples of unconventional work for inspiration, ideas or simply to help evidence and justify some of your own whackier ideas as having antecedents in the diverse field if music video.

FKA Twigs has created a long form video to promote an EP, adopting a style that edges more towards art gallery installation than typical small screen fare.

Link below, but note content warning.

Chris Cunningham would be the most obvious influence, though David Lynch equally came to mind for the horror-tinged elements and general oddness. Some more conventional tropes are present and the final piece recalls Janet Jackson, Madonna and that modern-day mini-Madge, Gaga. 

Whilst somewhat challenging, the second piece, wherein Twigs becomes a literal doll, plaything, is an intriguing exploration (perhaps plain denunciation?) of the male gaze and its impact. 

I'd be curious to see how the BBFC might rate that piece alone; nothing explicit but clearly dark (so arguably disturbing) themes and tone, a borderline 12/15? The one swear word later on would not automatically disbar a 12 by the way.

Noting the content warnings, you can read the article here, or view the video below.

Its clearly been a successful campaign:

Heading towards 3m views (screenshot Dec 6th 2015)

WEB 2.0 MARKETING Britney Spears mints new marketing concept

The small scale of this clearly indicates a reliance on media coverage and social media sharing to be an effective campaign, which it seems to have achieved.

Pretty Girls – a new Britney Spears song featuring Iggy Azalea – premiered on Sunday, and who nabbed the world’s first listen? Not radio, not even online, but a handful of Uber cab riders.

A limited number of Britney-branded SUVs decorated in black and yellow bee print drove around Los Angeles at the request of fans, who could book the cars for up to 30 minutes to hear the song.

Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea marked a duet single by premiering the track through branded Uber taxis, requiring a 30 minute booking (30 minutes of Spears singing - I know taxi journeys can be torture but come on!).

Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea debut new track Pretty Girls to Uber riders.

 

Turns out that without a more traditional promo campaign, including TV appearances (there was a music video), it wasn't terribly successful, leading to a bit of a twitter flame war between the two.

Pretty Girls throw shade: Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea clash over 'flop'.

Only, no there wasn't, actually, it was the media inventing beef and wanting only to sexualise the pair's relationship, apparently ...

Iggy Azalea criticises press for stirring row with Britney Spears.