As usual I was “minding my own business” on Twitter one early morning (why do so many of my posts start that way? *lol*) when I saw a retweet of a tweet sent by the one and only Questlove stating “we” should be prepared for something ground breaking from the likes of Erykah Badu at something like three in the morning (paraphrase). Of course I let it pass because I’m lukewarm about celebs on Twitter and I’m not an EB fan like that. I mean, I love what I’ve heard of her music but I’m not a Stan enough to stay up till three in nobody’s morning to keep up with her latest and greatest. Especially if I’m not being paid for it. So I went to bed, knowing that my bevy of Twitter reporters would kite the news to me when I woke up, cause they’re good like that.
The next morning there really wasn’t any real mention as to what the “ground breaking thing Erykah did” was and quite honestly I didn’t think about it until I saw a tweet saying “@fatbellybella’s video says a lot about women and body images” (paraphrase). That piqued my interest a bit, however since it was my official first day of school, I had to prepare an article for my Examiner column and a few updates to kick out on the JB2M Blog, I didn’t properly investigate. But you know how the law of attraction works, right? It seems from the moment my consciousness got an inkling of what this “ground breaking thing Erykah did” could be about, the Twitter floodgates opened up and drenched me. So after, like, the five millionth hyper-excited tweet concerning the “ground breaking thing” in the span of two minutes (obvious exaggeration), I took a pause in my productivity to check it out. To make sure I was unbiased in my perception of it, I turned off Tweetdeck while I watched and did not read any of the Youtube comments concerning the video. Aiight… Music is good, I can vibe to it (typical Erykah track). Okay… Lyrics are mellow and her voice is smooth, I’m digging it (typical Erykah track). So far so good. Walking down a Dallas street, specifically the one where President Baby Daddy in Potential Had I Been Alive Back Then was shot… I’m feeling a big of romantic nostalgia because I’m big on American Camelot Lore (in other words, my sensibilities are struck, typical Erykah ploy). Uh… She’s stripping… I don’t get it but it’s Erykah, she’s a Pisces and prone to creative/artistic flights that most don’t get (typical Erykah video). DAYUM!!! Where she get all that ass from??? Now I see what got Andre3000 to wear those football shoulder things and had Common was walking around in crocheted pants! *lol* Overall,I loved the song and I really liked the video but they seemed a bit mismatched in my opinion. Well no, I got the correlation between the lyrics and her getting butt booty naked in the video, but the JFK/groupthink explanation wasn’t quite congealing with the other messages. *kanye shrug* Call me dense but at least I’m honest enough to let you know I didn’t get it. To me those were not two great tastes that taste great together (not that the majority of music videos on the market match the lyrics of the song — what the hell was going on in “On to the Next One“, yo? — but I’m just saying) and it totally went over my head.
With all that being said I summed the buzz surrounding the video up to people being initially shocked about the stunt/social experiment (if it was an impromptu sorta thing like EB and Questo claim) and then shocked by Erykah‘s ballsy-ness (although I’m not sure why… woman been ballsy since “On and On”). In that it was all good. But what I really could not get was all the responses about the video being “art” or being “ground breaking” or being the best thing creatively since sliced bread, and when I said as much I was responded to with tweets that basically labeled me obtuse. Even had one guy tell me to “go back to watching Spongebob” (direct quote). Really. Spongebob? Is it that serious? I mean, no shade to SB but I’m a Robot Chicken typa girl, yo. Give me at least a modicum of maturity, B. *lol* At any rate, these reactions caused me to uber bend the ear of the BFF to try and figure it all out, since she’s more well versed in Erykah than I am (music of that genre as a whole, actually). She couldn’t figure it out either, much to my disappointment. Neither could The Lion or Honey, for that matter. Having run through my host of musical “experts” I walked away from the whole thing scratching my head and shrugging my shoulders, further convinced the world is going to hell in a handbasket for lack of individual streams of thought… And still not getting it. Naked woman on a public street? Madonna did that in 1992 when she was promoting Sex. A video referencing the JFK assassination? Marilyn Mason did that in 1999 with Coma White. Shooting a cohesive, “unscripted” one shot/one take? Take a look at this HERE. Of course kudos goes to Erykah for combining all those things, but even still, I’m just not getting “it” or the buzz surrounding “it”.
As a psychology major and a lifelong studier of the force behind human behaviour and thought, I am well acquainted with the “theory” of groupthink. If you’re a regular reader of this Blog then I’m quite sure you’ve recognized my random rantings about and against that particular stream of consciousness; the sheepish-like way most people (and even myself on rare occasion) jump on bandwagons without questioning the purpose behind a movement, or more importantly, why they are participating in it. Thanks to my ever skeptical, ever questioning Archer sun, pioneering Ram ascendant and pensively penetrating Piscean moon I am the type of girl who has to have the 4 W’s and 1 H answered before I can subscribe to anything, because I don’t want to be the one holding the bag when the walls come crashing down around a “pop-thought” concept. This is why most of my Blog posts run on the long-winded side, because I like to try present all sides of an issue to show I have done my homework before arriving at an opinionated conclusion. If you’re gonna speak about something, speak about it in toto or don’t speak at all, right? So in trying to understand the rage behind the “Window Seat” video I asked all the “right” questions — why wasn’t the buzz about the song this big when it first came out; what makes this song any different than any other EB track given airplay; what specifically made this video “art” beyond the the naked woman with a fat (phat) ass, smooth back drop music and mixed messages — and hoped someone would put it in terms I could understand. Not agree with, mind you, but at least comprehend from another point of view. For the most part I got superficial answers that amounted up to a big “Because… That’s why!”, and a few that tried to break the video itself down for me which I found rather insulting. Be that as it may, I still didn’t get it, and I think the reason behind that is because in my opinion the reactions to the video seemed to exemplify what the message in the video was “condemning”. Throw a likeable artist with a likeable song, the image of woman as woman, a deep, psychological concept and a poignant historic event against a wall and, most likely it’s gonna stick. For those of you who love her like that, EB could come out with an album full of flatulence over a kick ass Questlove drum beat and ya’ll would rush out to buy/download it without question, then “attack” those like me who don’t “get” the combination because we don’t see what the “majority” sees. It’s the nature of the beat and a classic example of groupthink. Whyte and Jarvis would be proud of ya’ll!
RELATED/UNRELATED NOTE: How many people attributed the record sales of Sade‘s new release to the fact that we have not heard a peep from Sade in close to ten years and not to this release being a departure from what we have come to accept as the band’s style? Think about it.
Conclusively, after watching the video at least fifteen different times, listening to the song on its own accord, reading the lyrics as suggested by a Twitter follower and refreshing myself on the concept of groupthink and all of its connotations, I am still proud to say I still don’t get it. Oh no, not the video itself. It is what it is and I’m way past that. Not the “what makes this video art” part either because if the working definition of art is a work that provokes thought, an exchange of dialogue, a broadening of a perspective and/or connects with the individual interpreter on their level then “Window Seat” is indeed art. What I don’t get is how most missed the point that they got swept up in groupthink by a supposedly anti-groupthink message. Not that it’s uncommon cause “we” do it way more often than most admit, and by “we” I mean “us”, and by “us” I’m sure “you people” know who I’m speaking of. This is not to discredit groupthink, because it can be a positive thing that saves the lives of many species if not taken to the extreme (consider the flight response of a herd of impala when one is taken down by a lioness), or to demean those who loved the video on sight and responded to my “not getting it” hypercritically (although the Spongebob dude needs to buy a couple clues and a vowel). In many respects everyone took from Erykah‘s vision what they personally are vibing on, whether it be fearlessness, personal evolution, individuality, freedom, women’s universal struggle or the fact that EB has a healthy case of steatopygia going on (I mean seriously… I wanna get on her workout plan… real talk). This post is merely the observation that very few (an varying approximation based on the number of any given “whole” represented) ever look beyond what they are shown and question why they respond the way they do, even as they hypocritically condemn others for doing it.
Just my buck fiddy…
**ADDENDUM**
After seeing the impetus for the video (after realizing there was a real impetus for the video, which I did not know before because I had no clue who Matt and Kim were since I’m not into dance punk) I am even more affirmed in my assessment. It wasn’t ground breaking when they did it either.
M. Michelle
*Author’s Note: Source and explanation links were purposely omitted from this Blog entry because she believes if you want to fully understand a concept, you will research it for yourself. </groupthink>