Please remember this blog has been backdated to 19 February 2018; so imagine how happy I am to finally review this music video because Drake's "God's Plan" has been number one for a few weeks without a music video, but he finally dropped one on 16 February 2018, which subsequently makes me review it the following Monday (the backdated Monday), as it is number one on the UK Chart for this backdated date - gosh I need to catch up on my blog asap so I don't have to try to explain this every single time. This is one of the most inspiring music videos but it isn't unique as it has been done a few times before, most notably by Blink-182 for their song "The Rock Show". Watch Drake take the budget for his music video and spend that money by giving it to people in need so that they can follow their dreams and feel supported in this music video for "God's Plan".
Drake, real name Aubrey Drake Graham, is a Canadian rapper who is most definitely one of the biggest male artists in the whole world at this very moment. Every single track he releases ends up being a hit. He is currently working on his fifth studio album which he is just finishing up. This single is taken from his EP Scary Hours but I reckon it'll be included in his new album since it has been such a hit. The song has charted at number one in various countries all around the world, further allowing Drake to prove that he's one of the most popular rappers around and that he's on top form. "God's Plan" was written by Aubrey Graham, Ronald LaTour, Daveon Jackson, Matthew Samuels, and Noah Shebib.
Directed by Karena Evans, the music video sees Drake give away the music video's budget to various people and businesses. The budget was a total of $996,631.90 and the video was filmed in Miami. It has received a lot of comparisons to Blink-182's "The Rock Show" as they too did a similar thing. I believe this concept has been done a few times over, so it's nothing new.
Unlike Blink-182, Drake decides to actually donate the money rather than have fun and smash things up. We see him pay for strangers' groceries in a supermarket, give away a car to a teenager, present cash bundles for families who are struggling; as well as hand out a tonne of toys to kids and donate money to various institutions including the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, the Lotus Home Women's Shelter and the City of Miami Fire Department.
Releasing a teaser on Instagram, Drake stated that the video was: "The most important thing I have ever done in my career." The ending scene of the music video shows a conversation with a young man, Drake tells him: "We're nothing without our mothers. Gotta make sure you take care of your mom, too, no matter what you do. It's all we got. Trust me. That's my world." That hit me right in the heart and made me tear up a little bit.
Overall, this music video depicts Drake in a very genuine light. He's down to earth and clearly wants to give back to his fans, the community, the people, and the world. There are many celebrities that are just as kind as Drake shows himself to be. On the other hand, the concept isn't anything new, and only partly relates to the lyrics of the song.
This turned up on my YouTube recommendations, and Nicki Minaj is looking totally on point in the thumbnail of the video, so I thought why not? It might be quite the intricate video with brilliant scenes of London to open the music video with. She's also included two top rappers on this track creating a brilliant song that will get stuck in my head today, no doubt. It may be different from her previous top hits, but it still manages to slays and prove that she can bring it when she needs to. Watch Nicki Minaj be a queen on her throne next to Lil Wayne, with scenes of her in London, and of her with Drake in this music video for all three's collaborative song "No Frauds".
Nicki Minaj, real name Onika Maraj, is one of the biggest if not the biggest, female rappers around at the moment. She totally brings it to every single song and music video; although there have been a few not-so-great moments, I guess that happens with everyone's career. As she gears up to release a new album, she has released some killer rap tracks that are performing quite well on charts around the world, proving that she's still successful. This track is a collaboration with Drake and Lil Wayne. The former, real name Aubrey Drake Graham, continues to bring out chart hit after chart hit and truly is a name that will go down in history; along with the latter, whose real name is Dwayne Carter Jr., he is one of the top hip-hop artists around and continues to give it his all in the songs he releases - this track is no different. This song was written by Onika Maraj, Dwayne Carter Jr., Aubrey Graham, Brittany Hazzard, Shane Lindstrom, Tim Gomringer, and Kevin Gomringer.
Directed by Benny Boom, the music video caused some controversy in the United Kingdom, as the scenes of Nicki Minaj on the Westminster Bridge was the place where a terrorist attack took place not long ago. There were sources saying the scenes would be cut, but this didn't happen. Regardless, I think it's great to see Nicki Minaj in the UK, at a place many people have probably walked past - I sure have.
This is fierce from start to finish, with Nicki Minaj taking the central spotlight throughout, although Lil Wayne totally steals it during his part. As for Drake, he isn't all that memorable, and yet gives us something this track totally needed.
Overall, it's a brilliant performance piece from all three of them. It's an iconic music video, one that isn't easily forgettable. Yet, I feel that there's both too much going on and not enough at the same time. We're given too much of one scene and not enough of the other, leaving it quite the choppy music video.
Rihanna, Rihanna, Rihanna. Gone are the days when I was actually a fan of hers. Now, I wasn't expecting much from her for this music video, but she actually surprised me, because we get two music videos in one. So now I'm going to have to review two music videos... It's going to be a long night! Both videos are sexual, the first one is less so than the second. Rihanna twerks. grinds and booty shakes to her new song, most of the time all over Drake, who is clearly loving every second of it.
Rihanna, real name Robyn Rihanna Fenty, is a worldwide superstar, let's be honest, the chances of her career spiraling downwards and ending is never going to happen. Although as she gets older she might not bang out chart hit after chart hit, just look at Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Madonna; there are plenty more that are superstars but are suffering in the chart world. I used to love Rihanna when "Umbrella" came out, but it wasn't until "Don't Stop The Music" was released that I fell in love with her music for a couple of years, until she changed style and then I went totally off her. Still, "We Found Love" was the closest she came to making me like her all over again, but it didn't take off in my world. No song from her will beat "Don't Stop The Music", that's my Rihanna tune on any dancefloor! As for Drake, real name Aubrey Drake Graham, he has yet to have a solo number one in the UK, and isn't quite as popular here as he is in other countries. However he is a chart success for a rapper, considering not many do manage to chart consistently well in the UK. This song was written by Jahron Braithwaite, Matthew Samuels, Allen Ritter, Rupert Thomas, Aubrey Graham, Robyn Fenty and Monte Moir.
There isn't a lot to comment on either of these videos, I definitely prefer the first one over the other, but none of them surprises me, or actually makes me want to watch them a second time.
The Director X Music Video
The first music video is directed by Director X, who has been mentioned on my blog multiple times, his videos are usually intriguing and definitely high rated by me, but it annoys me to know that this music video is directed by him, I could deal with someone less known, but why this video Director X, just why?
The music video invites us into a club called The Real Jerk, and it excites me slightly, thinking this music video might be inspired by "Don't Stop The Music". Unfortunately, we are in a totally different club, where twerking and booty shaking is the norm.
Not a lot to comment on, apart from Rihanna dancing in front of a mirror, which I'm pretty sure we've all done often, no? Just me then. I am not a fan of what she is wearing, although I guess it could be a lot worse, and at least she totally works it.
A lot of grinding in this club too, especially against Drake, who is obviously loving every minute of it.
Not a whole lot to this music video, and Director X actually disappoints me, but I guess he didn't have much to go on, especially since the song is inspired by Jamaican songs, and it is a club song and so he manages to relate to the song. Many people will be twerking and grinding in clubs to this song.
The second music video is directed by Tim Erem. A director I am not aware of, as I haven't reviewed a music video from him, until now.
A solely performance piece in a narrative music video, Rihanna looks entirely uncomfortable, and can you blame her with what she is wearing? Going braless is nothing Rihanna hasn't done before in her music videos, she's been wearing even less in some of them, as well as being nude. Yet with this see through top, she might as well have done it totally topless as the top hides nothing, and although set in a home setting, she doesn't look happy at all.
Rihanna just dances little and sings the song, with no emotion, and no intention of performing like we all know she can. This is too exposed, too raw even for Rihanna, and it just fails completely. Drake doesn't help much either and the video doesn't flow quite as well.
I hope never to see this music video again, as it feels cheap, nasty and low budget. This isn't the Rihanna or the Drake that we know and this video shouldn't have been an option, let alone released.
I haven't seen this music video in some time, and Justin Bieber has quite the baby face! I am reviewing this music video for my Thursday Revisit, as I previously reviewed Justin Bieber's "Purpose: The Movement" collection of promotional videos for his most recent album. Justin Bieber's first top ten hit here in the UK, he makes a fool of himself in the video, ever heard of coming on way too strong? Whatever happened to playing it cool? And stupid girl gave in in the end.
Justin Bieber started at just 16, but he looks like he's 13 with that baby face. This was his first big hit around the world, but as we all know, he improved as he got older, and he just got hit after hit after hit. This song was written by Justin Bieber, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Terius "The-Dream" Nash, Christopher Bridges (Ludacris) and Christina Milian. Who knew the latter was a co-writer to this song? Christina Milian was, at the time, The-Dream's wife. The song is catchy, and it's not a surprise it charted so well worldwide. Justin Bieber surprises us all as his vocals are pretty much perfect on this track, especially since this isn't an easy song to sing.
The music video was directed by Ray Kay. The video features Jasmine Villegas also known as Jasmine V, as Justin Bieber's love interest, as well as various stars who are Drake, Lil Twist and Tinashe. The Rangers are a part of the dance crew.
Justin Bieber just doesn't know when to give in. Jasmine V plays hard to get, and at the very start it's clear she isn't interested, and yet Justin Bieber doesn't leave her alone. He shows off way too much, enough to put me off from the first second.
His dancing isn't the best. The choreography isn't outstanding, yet when performed, it works. However Justin Bieber fails to convey the moves properly, even though he nails the sequences, he is focusing so hard on getting the moves right, that he isn't even looking at his love interest at all. Jasmine V, you should've stayed away, he wouldn't ever be dancing with you, he'll be too busy trying to look good on the dance floor. As for Jasmine V, she rarely danced in this video, and when she does it's short snapshots, she obviously didn't nail the choreography as well as her other dancers.
Performance wise, Justin Bieber doesn't make me want to see him live. There's no passion behind what he is singing, and yet again he attempts to show off by making up some freestyle moves that fails to keep me interested. Ludacris attempts to have fun, but there's no pulling back this video on the performance side.
Overall, I liked this idea of this all taking place at a bowling alley. But this is just too much for me. Justin Bieber comes across way too strong for my liking, and his dancing may be on point, but he is focusing too hard on the steps.
Rita Ora is definitely one of my favourite new artists, she sings so clearly and effectively I don't understand how some people don't like her. She was born in Yugoslavia (now known as Kosovo) but was brought up in Britain. She got to number one already in the UK on DJ Fresh's track "Hot Right Now", and this is her first single and it looks like it could go straight to number one. But with competition from Tulisa's "Young" (could be number one this Sunday) and Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe", Rita Ora has a fight on her hands. To help boost sales, this song also features Tinie Tempah, real name Patrick Okogwu. He is someone I'm not too fond of, but I do like some of his songs. This is the first time he has appeared on my blog, but I'm sure it will not be his last.
"R.I.P." was written by a load of people which is extremely surprising, so get ready for all the songwriters... Aubrey Graham (Drake), Farhad Samadzada, Mikkel Eriksen & Tor Hermansen (Stargate production team), Nneka Egbuna, Renee Wisdom and Saul Milton & Will Kennard (Chase & Status). So a very big collaborative effort. Drake made the song initially for Rihanna, but she didn't take to the song, but Rita Ora took an interest to it, and that's how Rita Ora got it. Not only that but it may also be the reason why Rita Ora is being compared to Rihanna a lot lately. The song is about being better than your boyfriend's ex. It's definitely the sort of song you expect Rita Ora to sing.
This music video is only a performance piece, but this is what makes it so strong, you can imagine the camera as Rita's boyfriend, and it's like she's singing right at you. As for Tinie Tempah, I love his rap it fits perfectly with the song and it's like the other side of the storyline.
There isn't a lot to comment on, there's a car that looks like it's crashed into the ground, suggesting that car is over like his ex... I also like how she is dancing above the car and it's quite an open space as well.
Some of the things she is wearing though is quite surprising, to be honest I don't think you'll see anyone wearing some of those things on the high street, but for the music video, it kind of fits in.
Overall a great song that could be going straight to number one. But the video is lacking something, I think the fact that there isn't a lot going on and that there is no narrative, it just leaves you feeling disappointed, as if you expected a little more. However this is definitely worth this rating.
