Britney Spears’ music video, “Hold It against Me,” from her forthcoming album, Femme Fatale, presents a vision of extremes, much like Spears’ own life story. Britney’s career and personal life, which are forever making headlines, have taken her on a number rides, from the highest highs and to the lowest lows.
Directed by Jonas Akerlund, Britney Spears’ latest music video premiered on February 17, 2011. Akerlund, who was also behind Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” and a number other renowned pop clips, was selected by Spears for his celebrated work with Madonna, particularly on “Ray of Light.”
The Extremes
In the “Hold It Against Me” video, Britney goes from wearing an enormous, over sized white wedding dress to a tight, black leather bodice. While in her pristine white bridal gown, she rises gracefully into the air but then crashes to the floor. At one point, against a white background, Spears’ fingertips shoot thin streams of lush multi-colored pastel liquids which create a stark visual contrast.
These ideas, according to MTV’s James Montgomery, are the design of Jonas Akerlund. About where the music video’s images came from, in his piece, “Britney Spears’ ‘Hold It Against Me’ Video Premieres,” Montgomery explains, “And much of the credit for that is due to director Jonas Akerlund, who bathes Britney in a shimmering light, wraps her in a towering gown and eventually covers the entire set in Day-Glo liquid spilling out of Spears' fingertips.”
Good girl/bad girl, up then down, luxuriant pastels against a pallid setting —these contrasting patterns evoke memories of some of the desperate behavior portrayed in the infamous headlines and well-known news stories that made Britney Spears a household name.
Britney, Queen Bee of the Hive
In the beginning of “Hold It against Me,” Britney slowly ascends in a colossal white wedding gown, big enough to spawn several “drones” hiding underneath who emerge, clad in white as well. The male “worker-dancers” intermittently fuss about Spears as if she were the queen of their hive, personification of the ultimate womanly sovereign.
Britney is so dominating that about half way through, Akerlund presents Spears in a Quentin Tarantino-esque kickboxing duel between two blond women, but instead of Daryl Hannah and Uma Thurman, the viewer gets Britney waging war against herself, her only opponent in the entire video.
Product Placement Issues Abound
TMZ’s web site posted the initial reports about the product placement issues in Britney Spears new video.
“Sources connected to Britney's video tell TMZ ... Spears netted a cool $500,000 for various product placements in her ‘Hold It against Me’ video,” was published February 22, 2011 on the TMZ site.
Also from TMZ, “We're told the dating site Plentyoffish, one of several companies featured in the vid, forked over six figures to feature their site on Brit's computer during the vid and saw immediate results ... a 20% spike in traffic the day after the video premiered.”
About the product placement disapproval in Spears’ video, on February 18, 2011, Charlie Amter of the Hollywood Reporter wrote, “Critics are complaining that the clip, which has so far racked up nearly 700,000 views on her official YouTube channel, has too many product tie-ins.”
Britney Spears as the Phoenix
Working under the principle, “What goes up must eventually come down,” Spears’ slow rise during the “Hold it against Me” video leads viewers to one obvious conclusion: collapse at the end of the story. But don’t worry, because Britney lives to sing another day. This prompts a famously clichéd allegation, that perhaps Akerlund and Spears scheme is a simulation of the pop queen’s iniquitous soap opera life.
Askerlund’s finished product is a well-thought out, tight and soundly edited creation, plus the overall feel fits the “living large” philosophy of which Spears has been so frequently accused. On the other hand, a lot of the imagery – microphones, tall spires of red-hot flames and lots of video monitors, is familiar.
Is this one of Britney Spears best music videos? Let the viewers decide.
Paul Wolfle - Paul J. Wolfle, B.A., A R M, a freelance writer with a penchant for communicating ideas about popular culture and entertainment, ...
