Inna - Hot

February 11, 2016 Critic Jonni 0 Comments



Almost six years old now, in the UK, and I cannot believe I haven't reviewed it until now. I have been a fan of Inna since this music video was released on the music channels and radio picked up the song. To date, this is Inna's highest charting single on the UK chart, although many of her most recent singles are worthy of that claim, however she is not promoted much, if at all, in the UK and so her music isn't widely popular here, not yet anyway. Inna looks fly and hot and sexy in this music video, with a passionate love story narrative infused.

Inna, real name Elena Apostoleanu, is one of the biggest artists to come out of Romania, if not the biggest, she holds the title as the richest Romanian and Eastern European artist as of the end of 2011, I presume this still stands. This is her debut single, that shot all across the globe, peaking at number six on the UK Singles Chart, I remember when and where I bought this single, surprisingly. I was in Wales on a family holiday, and as soon as it was released in HMV, I begged my dad to let me go inside and buy this one CD. I still have it today in my bedroom. It was written by Sebastian Barac, Radu Bolfea and Marcel Botezan. The title of the song is not listed in the lyrics, it was originally going to be called 'Fly', however they chose 'Hot' instead as it relates and describes a certain type of relationship.

There are actually two music videos for this song, which I only just found out today. I will be focusing on this one alone, and might review the other one in the future. This is the one I know and love, the other one is a complete mess, and I'll only ever review it if I need to.

This video is both performance and narrative. Inna is looking sexy and sultry, not giving too much away as she performs. The scenes are beautifully subtle and works well with her looks. We know she can perform better than this, however there's something simple and relaxed about this, as she floods the song with emotion.

The narrative follows a blonde girl in the backstage dressing room, getting ready. She receives a bunch of roses with a card that says in Romanian: 'Un admirator...' which means in English: 'An admirer...' We then see scenes of her doing her job as a stage dancer. We then are cut to a scene of her at home, arguing with her lover in front of her daughter. She walks out and the father comforts the child.

She receives another bouquet of roses, and the card reads, in Romanian: 'Un admirator care te adora...' which means in English: 'A fan who loves you...' A few scenes of her stage dancing and being with her friends are included and in the morning another fight ensues at home, where she inevitably packs her bags and leaves.

When she returns backstage there is another set of roses. This card says in Romania: 'In seara asta vreau sa ne cunoastem. Te astept ,dupa program ,in fatza clubului' which basically means in English: 'Tonight I want to meet you. I will wait after work', the end bit doesn't directly translate, I'm presuming it means outside the club, or round the back of the club, or somewhere specific in the club. When she goes to meet him, it turns out that the guy who we've seen clips of is actually her lover. He takes his sunglasses off and his ring (which doesn't make sense to me), and they hug and make up.

Overall a perfect video that can't be faulted, a perfect narrative that is totally related to the song. The performance piece could've been better, but Inna has released much worse performance pieces in her music videos, and yet a quick look at any of her live sessions proves that not only does she have an amazing voice, but she has a brilliant on-stage presence that is filled with performance vibes, this video slightly shows that, but the narrative is so thought out and special, it makes the video complete.
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