2 posts tagged “celebrity deaths”
While watching the Michael Jackson Memorial yesterday, I wasn't surprised to see Mariah Carey covering "I'll Be There," as she did for her MTV Unplugged special nearly twenty years ago. However, I was surprised to see Trey Lorenz reemerge for a cameo in the song.
Carey even did the, "Trey Lorenz. Sing," bit in the middle just like she did in the original Unplugged (personally, I always found this demeaning for Lorenz, almost like a command for a dog).
Trey Lorenz looked great! I know Lorenz had a solo album back in the early 90's that didn't do as well as planned and that he's been doing background work in the music business ever since, but maybe this is the second coming for the guy. I personally was excited to see him appear in the song -- since I remember thinking he was cool when the Unplugged album came out. My vote is for more collaborations between Carey and Lorenz, as I think they are a great pair for duets.
Like everyone else, I was deeply saddened by Michael Jackson's death last week. He has influenced everyone from late 80's boy bands like New Kids On the Block and New Edition to modern-day "Michael's" like Justin Timberlake and Rhianna. While Don McLean wrote "American Pie" as a way to commemorate "The Day the Music Died" when Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash, I truly believe that Jackson's death marked the day that all of pop music died -- especially that of the music video.
MTV and VH1 are now networks filled with reality television and other throwaway entertainment. If an artist does release a music video, it usually has a story and a budget -- something we can credit Michael Jackson with having a hand in after the release of "Thriller." But something else Jackson managed to do with music videos that no other artist really can do is take something basic and make it entertaining.
Case in point, the video for "Rock with You." This video has no story line or angle; it's just Jackson clad in sequins and belting his heart out. Yet, this video is a million times more entertaining then anything I've seen in the last ten years. Plus, even though he is wearing sequins, he is pretty damn cute! Something else most male performers can't pull off.
They say that the true test of a great singer is when he or she is singing by his or herself with no accompaniment. While Jackson revolutionized the music video by making it epic, at his core, he really didn't need all the special effects and makeup: he was rather brilliant when the video only consisted of himself.
