Beyonce released her newest video today, for the song “Video Phone.” It is intensely bizarre. So much so that I’m wondering if other people are going to be creeped out by it or if I’m just out of touch. It just really, really doesn’t do it for me. I’m all for doing something unique and creative, and that means taking risks. To me, it doesn’t really work, but I applaud the effort. The video also stars Lady Gaga, who helps out Beyonce during the second half of the song. I found her part of the song and the video better… but mostly because the creepy dancing cameras weren’t grinding against Beyonce anymore.
Trust us: Beyoncé and Lady Gaga will make you wish you owned a video phone.
The longtime pop-tune heavyweight and the latest hot thing on a microphone have joined musical forces for the frenetically-paced “Video Phone,” which premiered on MTV and VH1 at midnight on Tuesday.
The gun-wielding pair take on paps, voyeurs and camera-headed guys in suits (no, really) as they make apparent nods to Betty Page and the wartime flag of Japan. Take a look-see and find out for yourself.
[From People]
I found it mostly unbearable, but both Beyonce and Lady Gaga are really hit-or-miss for me. I cannot shake those camera-headed guys. It’s a combination of the slithery way they were dancing and that weird thrusting thing they were doing with their heads. Oh and the fact that they were camera heads. Looked like some messed-up wonky Alice in Wonderland sh*t.
In other Lady Gaga news, she had her “Gossip Girl” cameo this week and sang “Bad Romance.” It was one of those blink-and-you-miss-it performances, but Gaga still got all overly-intense and quasi-pompous about it.
Emerging from behind two doors, Gaga hunched over in her red gown and, surrounded by beefy male dancers, kind of floated around the stage and climbed a ladder while singing her new single. Then the show resumed its threesome storyline from last week.
When Gaga recently spoke to MTV News about the performance, she said that she wanted to use it to take her sometimes outside-of-the-box persona and bring it to the mainstream. “I really sat down with the writers,” she said. “I was, like, ‘Look, I want to do this, and the reason I want to do this is because I am trying to say something that is not mainstream in a mainstream capacity. So, if I can say it on your show, that would be a real coup d’état for me as a performance artist.’ “
[From MTV]
Wow. I’m not even sure how to respond to that. It’s so ostentatious, and we’re talking about “Gossip Girl.” How can you make that sound like art? To be fair, Lady Gaga didn’t make it sound like art, it’s just clear that she’s really trying to. For some reason I tend to give her more leeway in terms of her bizarre behavior, but it’s hard for me to say, “Oh she’s just serious and professional about everything she does.” It’s on the CW. No points for artistic greatness.
Here’s Lady Gaga at LAX on November 10th. Images thanks to WENN.com .
The hell ! They should put a epilepsy warning on that damn video….
Lady Hipster takes herself way too seriously.
Ugh, it’s like B is trying to stay hot by singing with and emulating other hot talent, like GaGa, Rihanna, and Shakira.
B! YOU ARE TALENTED IN YOUR OWN RIGHT. STOP THIS SH*T.
And Beyonce’s new “song” sucks.
Amen, Betty.
Dumbest. Song. Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I watched this crapfest once, there’s no way I’m clicking on the play button again.
I thought this was a joke. Beyonce looks like she could eat GaGa, she’s so much bigger than her. Ugh, even Beyonce dances like she’s got a cattle prod up her rear in this one.
@seven That was my first thought as well, that the strobe-light/flashlight effect can induce seizures and bring on migraines.
On a more superficial level; this video is crap!
You would think that with all the money they spent on this video (and you just KNOW it was at least hundreds of thousands) they could have gotten Lady GaGa a better weave??? Disgraceful!
I like Lady GaGa. There I said it. I am a recent convert because her music is fun, I like her unique vocals, she is a talented songwriter/musician and she doesn’t take herself seriously. This whole campy persona is quirky and I like it. Plus she is marketing herself very well; because those of you who hate her still remember who she is/what she was wearing or hum her catchy song.
Beyonce, on the other hand, although undeniably talented has resorted to this ‘look at me, I can writhe my body and shake my ass while wearing a bodysuit’ shtick for the past few years and I think everyone is just sick of it! The Single Ladies video was catchy, the first few times we saw it, but enough is enough!
umm can Beyonce do anything other than gyrate and make s3x noises?
‘Look, I want to do this, and the reason I want to do this is because I am trying to say something that is not mainstream in a mainstream capacity.’ -Gaga
Okay, can one of her fans explain what she is trying to say? It’s something not mainstream, I gather, but it sounds a lot like ‘lookatmelookatmelookatme’… which is actually pretty commonplace (Kardashian, Spencer-Pratt, Lohan, etc). Really, does she have a message to impart? Because all I get from her is that she thinks she’s so artistic and original.
I’m glad she admits that she’s a performance artist, though. Because I have hated every single one I’ve had to study, they are invariably self-absorbed, so it makes so much more sense than her being a pop star.
Why does Beyonce always dance like she’s having a seizure?
What a f-in horrible song.
I like Gaga’s schtick too, but next to Beyonce you realize that she really needs to eat a sandwich (I think Beyonce looks great, btw, but thumbs down on the song).
I have to say, LolaBella, I agree on both the GaGa points and the Beyonce points. I wish B would go sit somewhere honestly.
AT this point I don’t know why Beyonce even bothers with the bikini. Every other time you see her or Rihanna they are not half naked or 60% naked but 95% naked.
Did Diana Ross or Dionne Warwick or Barbera Streisand feel the need to gyrate pretty much naked like a stripper to sell records?
Have you watched the videos for female singers lately. ALL of them are pretty much bordering on soft porn others aren’t even pretending to be anything different.
Remember when people were up in arms cause underage Britney had a kinda sexy school girl outfit on in her first video? People wouldn’t even bat an eyelash now.
If I had a daughter I don’t know how I could explain to her why these women who sing about being strong but behave like to bit hookers are her only role models on tv these days in the music industry.
very sad
I would actually really like this video if there was no song and no Beyonce. She dances weird and I HATE every one of her outfits.
I think I just threw up in my mouth….
The crap that passes for talents these days is despicable.
I couldn’t even watch the whole thing.
I made it to the 3 minute mark before I had to take it off. Gaga looks horrible! Why doesn’t she wear less makeup? She is so pretty with light makeup in the close-ups of her Bad Romance video.
And Beyonce. I have so much respect for this woman because she can really sing and dance and her videos are creative, entertaining, and conceptual. But this is trash. Shaking her ass, grabbing her boobs; its too raunchy. I lose respect for her when she does stuff like this. And its not even a good song!
Beyonce, you don’t need to do this stuff anymore. We get it. You’re sexy. You did Sports Illustrated. Enough. And I was so excited when I saw her Kill Bill inspired intro. Only to see her objectify herself in the end. The two parts are totally incongruous. Kill Bill is about a woman kicking ass. Beyonce is the ass in the video.
every time i look at Lady Gaga there’s only one thing that comes to my mind: Marilyn Manson.
they look like brothers ewww
the outfits, makeup, crazyness… bizarre and boring people bah
I, too, feared that I might suffer a seizure while watching this, and stopped it after a very short while.
crap, crap, and more crap.
I love a repetitive hook as much as the next person, but this one was not worth hearing over and over. And I know these girls know how to write a hook or at least how to hire someone to make one work. Disappointing from these two titans.
Re Gossip Girl. I get what Gaga’s saying. She’s taking an atypical aesthetic to a pedestrian context and wants to make sure she’s able to control the content so the performance expresses Gaga more than GG.
my eyes my eyes…somebody stab my eyes with a fork…
Wow, she looked like Marilyn Manson in that video.
In some shots she looks like Ciara and others Kim Kardashian… weird.
She now only represents herself as a Vagina. Way to go B! And your man thinks this is OK?! You two have a lot of growing up to do. You, and all involved in making this video are deplorable degenerates for doing this to children and anyone else who will misguidedly watch this video.
@Firestarter
Totally off-topic, but someone commented on the Snake-Jewelry post saying that it was normal of J to be mentioned. I defended you but I don’t think my comment will be accepted 🙁
And Jaybird, I completely agree. It’s the CW. And GG has been jumping shark since the 2nd season, it’ll be gone in a couple years time.
I saw the “performance” and it was nothing to fawn over.
Maybe next time, Gaga.
Nice metallic diaper, B.
I actually love Lady GaGa’s music and her advocacy for equal rights concerning gay marriage.
This song. I hate. HATE. I’ve been over Beyonce for so long.
great vid worst song ever.
Yikes, looks like somebody slapped Lady Gaga and Rihanna together. And what’s with the Vulcan eyebrows?
Beyoncé looks like she’s trying, visually, to be a black, consumer-friendly version of Lady Gaga. I’m sure her fans are delighted with everything B touches, but it ain’t working for me. Lady Gaga is really batshit and that’s what makes her so cool. Beyoncé? Not so much.
this is crap, i wonder why b has to constantly spread her legs and show her lady garden lol. this is an act of desperation from b. lady gaga her nose is so so so so big. didnt see that before
lady gaga kinda ruined it for me….i like her but not in this video.
lady caca go eat something pleeze and because both of them being literally naked: thats what their producers tell them. Go naked in a video and it is going to sell. like that rihanna vid umbrella: great song. a nice decent video would have been enough. but: shes like naked the whole song and dances like a stripper.
*sigh*
While I didn’t find the video “disturbing”, it is inexcusably trite. Beyonce booty-shaking in a series of occularly offensive get-ups….
It was interesting when it was a novelty. 6 years ago. She’s knocking the mess out of 30 and her evolution as an entertainer has plateaued. Both she and her team don’t seem to have the creative fortitude to reinvent her. Furthermore, even though this is Beyonce’s song (and a weak one at that) it seems as though the director(Hype Williams) intentionally tried white-wash Gaga(pun intended). There is little to no attempt to make Gaga look suitably attractive in this video. Gaga in this vid is a pasty pale fair-skinned woman with platinum blonde hair and they put her in a white outfit with yellow heels against a white backdrop, replete with vampire tranny makeup that “reads” like death against the bold vibrant coloring of the rest of the video. Foul.
It seems that this is her camp’s strategy when someone threatens the throne of Queen B. Beyonce is a spirited performer in her own right and the intention on the part of anyone to undermine others in order to make Beyonce look good is cheap and petty.
The only way I’ll watch another Lady Caca video again is if Alexander Skarsgard is in it!
Who’s with me ladies? *swoon*
@ princess pea
No, Gaga has no message to impart. The irony, therein, is that that’s the point. Though many will cry foul and decry its vapidity, this has precedence: vacancy in art was taken up by the French Aesthetes and the Dadaists in the late 19th century and early 20th century, respectively, with artists like Marcel Duchamp. It was later revisted by the likes of Andy Warhol in the 60s with a marked difference: the original Dada movement attempted to be critical of this inaneness. Warhol (who has got to be the most overrated “artist” of the 20th century), praised it, and it’s this worship of pop culture that has informed the present day. The function of it was that it had no function, and acted as an existential crititique. It has become primarially about ego expression. So, to say it seems like “lookatmelookatme” is spot on. This is not necessarily bad, however. Performance, in the Western sense, IS ego expression. In this need to express the totality of self you have unconventional perfomers (i.e. burlesque and drag queen acts) who have always existed on the periphery whose sensibilities are grandiose and larger than life. They created a space in which they could freely do what they wanted with social restrictions. It’s also about the process of creation, the satistfaction that comes to giving birth to something and forming it into a factual reality. When Gaga speaks about bringing some unspecified thing to the mainsream, it is this unadulterated, vacuous, exaggerrated spectacle to which she refers. This is the kind of ferocity of expression that comes from people who have historically been marginalized and have operated on the fringes on “respectable” society. Art can serve many purposes and doesn’t have to be (shouldn’t be, in my opinion) a vehicle for morality.
With that said, it faces the problem of too much penetration, and enjoys a saturation has it has never before experienced as a result of the information age. Too many people look at it and take it seriously, sometimes the “artists” themselves. Plus, you get these 3rd rate celebrities who think they are doing anything worth note and they aren’t. At least Gaga is reared in stage performance and has some musical skill at her disposal, which can’t be said for MOST pop acts currently out there. Also, MOST people are not thinking about it this hard. All they see is evocative imagery, and they get trapped by its glittery bankruptcy which they could avoid if they thought about it more. Lady Gaga actually expresses the vapidity of it in her music….she also indulges in it. Like many of us, I suppose.
I’m surprised that no one got the concept of Beyonce being dressed as Betty Page in the swimsuit. I’m kind of sad that Lady Gaga’s part was short and not super creative.
I like the original song more than the remix though.
When I saw that video and the hairstyle I thought Beyonce was trying to be like Rihanna.
I am probably the only one…but Beyonce’s body grosses me out. I can’t really explain it. I don’t think she’s fat…just gross!
What exactly is a videophone?
I just expected so much more out of Gaga.
“sorry, we’re unable to offer this video to users in your region”
That was vile. Thanks for your benevolent work helping women to be seen as nothing but stanky sex dolls, ladies. Why isn’t Pete Burns in this video too?
Somebody should offer a vaccine against that shite. Plus, they look silly together and looks like Gaga’s not eaten a meal in a month.
It’s obvious that Beyonce and GaGa are oblivious of the ‘less is more’ adage. Whatever happened to talent outshining body parts. I’m over watching Beyonce shaking her ample posterior.Yes, Beyonce we know you have a behind. So what?
lol, it wasn’t THAT bad… I mean the camera heads weren’t really grinding her they were just dancing next to her…
nonetheless, can this woman TRY any harder to be sexualized? I mean there’s intense gyranting, leg spreading, moaning, skimpy outfits galore, lip licking, booty shaking, grinding… why not just get a dildo and do yourself… I mean seriously… this is way past subtlety…
damn I must be getting old lol
That’s dancing? That’s singing?
I actually kind of like the cameraheads… I like their dancing… how they go from a slow move into a fast move… and they actually have clothes on! that’s refreshing lol… she should have featured them longer in her video instead of the lame ass gyrating she calls “dancing”. Jeez, I really feel unclean after watching that :X
@Laura- Thanks! : )
I like it so much. I’m really surprised. Don’t like Beyoncé too much. But sometimes showing the blue head sacks of the dancers and the green unedited background? The random fake shooting? Wonderful deconstruction of clichés in this vid! I take it as very humorous.
I am positive this song was written to be part of some Verizon or iPhone campaign – it’s just a crappy commercial jingle waiting to happen!
There are no decent songwriters left anymore.
This song is awful. The video is awful. Yes gaga makes B look huge. Terrible!! I first saw this on dlisted and could not bring myself to watch it again. Very glad I do not listen to commercial radio so hopefully I will never hear it again, yay! I’m at a loss as to how they made B look so awful in every setting.. She is gorgeous usually, you can be edgy without looking ugly..
@fizXgirl314 – lol. agree. utterly awful.
@ seven- took the words right oput of my mouth. video from hell, but dont tell kanye i said that!
Serious decline from “Single Ladies”. And a serious decline for Gaga from “Bad Romance”
Oh well. Artists can’t be great 100%. These girls are busy as f**k. You make a lot of soup, you spill a lot of soup. Ya know?
😆 @ Trillion. Love that saying.
I feel so sorry for myself that I clicked Play and watch that horrendous vid.
This music video is weirder than anything i have ever scene… ha! I don’t understand what they are trying to get at in this video? That girls are being dumb by posing for videos? Political statement?? i don’t understand. It’s amazing how Beyonce can have such an empower woman song on her album and then sell out by having this “sexy” song that is her basically selling out to men!!
the video sucks big time, beyoncé wants attention
I dont know y beyonce has to open her legs for everything. honestly if she wouldnt be so sexual on everything she would not sell as much as she do. in concerts i have never seen B wear pants! the video it was to much for my little girl to watch. n I liked B music but now she to sexual and what can young girls look at or listen to nothing everything is sex. but now my daughter cant even watch B anymore on tv. any time i see B videos i turn the chanel or the station. it sadden me cuz i liked B music bt now its a disgrace to women and young girls. women has come to far to be disgraced but honestly shes disgracing herself. very talented but she dnt have to do what she do just to sell records.
did anyone see beyonce’s butt pads? lol so funny. i saw it when she and lady ga ga had on the white swimsuits and were standing and dancing arond. poor girl she must have forgot that she had it on. look close and you’ll see it poking out a bit. ya know at first i thought people were lying about fake butt fake breast and nose but they were right about one that now i know for sure and thats the butt pads she wore and wear!!!lol so funny. i feel bad for her shes a beauty the way she is without all that fake crap!o.m.g!
This video royally sucks!
well i think the video is neat. it’s really fun. the lyrics maybe suggestive, but they were at least having fun!
I love both lady gaga and beyonce. both look great!