During my job in the BJ's, I hear a lot of music on loop and a lot of it is good and some of it is very awful, IMO (My opinion of Sheryl Crow is now that she deserved Lance Armstrong for the music she made in the early 2000s. In fact, Lance wasn't enough for that drivel).
However,this particular song that I am pontificating about today has been one that I have heard and thought it was okay. It's a child pop like song about boys and girls and wishing them well in life and in future (In fact, I thought the lyric was "with more to come". Thanks garbled PA system!)
Now having seen the video accompanying the song, I wish I had been correct because this is pretty bad.
Not that I don't appreciate the message of the song and the video but it is carried out in such a heavy handed and cliche way that it makes it look absolutely ridiculous.
Let's start with the locker girl (0:13-0:27) (who obviously has been cutting herself which should not be made light of in any way). They call her "vampire girl" WHY? She's a goth, or even emo. Not "vampire" Nobody uses the term "vampire" to describe a goth. They use the terms goth or emo. And then this little douchebag stuffs paper bats into her locker, and makes a vampire pose at her. By doing this, the boy has made himself look more nerdy than the object of his ridicule. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the girls who are alongside him are secretly thinking "We're not getting paid enough to be this guy's wing women". Shame on the concept.
Now to the next problem; the dancer (0:35-0:50). Have these football players ever hear of Lynn Swann, the HOF WR with the Pittsburgh Steelers? HE TOOK BALLET AND THAT MADE HIM A BETTER PLAYER. So not only are these guys erroneously making fun of a guy dancing, BUT THEY'RE FUCKING FRAUDS WHO DON'T KNOW FOOTBALL HISTORY. Shame on them. I hope they feel better during their 10 game losing streak when they are facing teams of guys that take ballet. DUMBASSES.
Now to the next three bits starting at 1:03.
The bulimic: The girl has bulimia and is being made fun of. That's not the bad part. The bad part is at 1:38 where it can be interpreted as if the song is saying "It's okay to have bulimia" NO IT'S NOT. BULIMIA IS A DISEASE THAT CAN KILL!!!!!! SHE NEEDS HELP. So the video is completely off the message
The skateboarder: NO COP IN TODAY'S WORLD WOULD BREAK A SKATEBOARD!. The cop would just tell her to go home if there's a curfew. And then they would probably guide the teenager home. NOT BREAK PERSONAL PROPERTY FOR WHICH THEY COULD GET SUED. Especially in a world where police brutality is such an issue. That is dumb.
The mophead: Probably the most normal of these situations, except for this. The boys are standing in front of an easel in the middle of the gym, probably a list of who made the team and who didn't. Why are the boys wearing jerseys? When did they get them? How can they have jerseys when they are just finding out that they are on the team? When that sort of mental lapse is the least of the mistakes, then you have found a massive piece of shit.
The rest of the video is fluff, apart from the weird shaped crown that looks like a model piece for animators of "Frozen". But these earlier setups are horrifically bad. What type of person or genre would allow that type of smack in your face messaging involving errors about modern culture and and behaviors?
Sparrow Records, who helped produce it, is a Christian music label.
Britt Nicole, a Christian singer, used this as her first mainstream single. It finished at #83 on the Billboard Hot #100.
Christian Pop. As Hercule Poirot would say "But of course."
My advice for the people looking for the message. Go watch Fred Rogers. He did it with more dignity and much much fewer errors.
