Thank God it's Clip Friday

This week is all about the music.

Pink Vs The Veronicas - "U + UR Hand 4ever"
Everyone who has heard these two songs know that they are, essentially, the exact same song (only with different lyrics). Max Martin wrote both "4ever" by The Veronicas (from their Secret Life of The Veronicas album) and "U + UR Hand" by Pink (or is it P!nk? From her I'm Not Dead album). Pink has even said that the first time she heard "4ever" on a music video program she wondered how the station had gotten ahold of her as-of-then unreleased track. So, yeah, when Max Martin was writing "U + UR Hand" (my favourite of the two btw) he seemed to forget that he had already used the exact same tune a year earlier. Hell, "U + UR Hand" is only four seconds longer than "4ever"! Oh well, now it means we get mashups like "U + UR Hand 4ever", which is cool. You can download the actual mashup as an mp3 from here along with several other great mashups. My favourite being the mash of Christina's "Ain't No Other Man" and Republica's "Ready to Go". Awesome track.

Cassie Performs on '106 & Park'
I have been mulling over this video for a few days now ever since I read Village Voice defend Cassie. I'd been oblivious to this video before then (because Cassie has only just released "Me & U" down here) and so when I heard people hated her I was confused. She's exactly like any other number of Ciara's and Jennifer's or whoever. Then I watched this video and I understood why. This is awful. As the Village Voice mentioned, why didn't she just mime the song like everyone else apparently does on that show? And also as Village Voice says, she doesn't NEED to be a good singer. I bet you Ciara can't sing for her supper without the help of a backing tape and a voice modulation machine in the studio (I hate Ciara). I really like "Me & U" despite it being against everything I stand more (minimalistic r&b hip-hop like Ciara and so many other anonymous artists out there right now) and her album is decent. Oh well, hopefully she matures a bit more and learns stage presence cause she sure as hell hasn't got any in this performance.

Grace Jones performs on 'Countdown'
I'm currently writing a story for school based around Countdown in the 1980s. So in my research I came across this video of Grace Jones (she of the androgynous square hair and suit combo) performing on said Countdown. It is a truly bizarre performance from a truly bizarre woman (read about her at Wikipedia) who, these days, is more famous for throwing temper tantrums than her music. I like a few of her songs ("Pull up to the Bumper", "Slave to the Rhythm" and the bonkers "Operattack" are my faves) and her album covers are hilarious (Slave to the Rhythm and Island Life are classics). This performance of "Walking in the Rain" is just further proof that people in the '80s didn't have any idea what was going on. She speaks the entire song while not moving much across a smoke-filled stage. My favourite bit is at the end when she's being interviews and she as no idea what is happening. Especially when the audience yells out that they want to see Talking Heads. Lol.

The Evolution of Dance
I'm sure you've already seen this, but I hadn't until just the other day. Absolutely mindbogglingly hilarious and brilliant. This slightly pudgy balding man is a genius. So much fun to watch, too.