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“Why Don’t You Love Me” – Beyoncé from Beyoncé on Vimeo.
I’m not sure what to call this mess. Ugh. This is Beyonce’s new video for “Why Don’t You Love Me”. The whole thing is shot to look as if it’s a home movie, perhaps on 8mm film? The styling is… 1950s fetish. Short-shorts, ‘do-wraps, garter belts, whips and big, fake eyelashes. And tears, of course.
The part where she’s crying and talking on the phone reminded me of What’s Love Got To Do With It. Very Angela Bassett, very ‘70s Tina Turner. But that should be no surprise. Beyonce has been jacking sh-t from Tina and Diana Ross for years.
Note the rings. I’m obsessed with great cocktail rings, and this video is like cocktail ring porn. Sweet Jesus.
Also… did anyone else feel like we were watching the first part of a homemade snuff film? I felt that way when Beyonce is spanking herself and hamming it up for the camera. It’s like the second part of the video should be “…and then her boyfriend killed her. The year was 1957, and her remains were only recently recovered.”
What did you think? Over the top or high art?
Written by Kaiser
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48 Responses to “Beyonce has retro fetishes in her strange new music video”
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Seriously, there were like six different ways the characters could have died in that video (the radio on the edge of the tub!) Anyway, I’m not sure, I love retro… but that didn’t quite work for me.
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It’s funny…
Beyonce comes out with this ‘homespun’ video the SAME day her ex-group mate Kelly comes out with HER new song and video…
Coinkydink? I DON’T THINK SO!!!
Her sister Solange SUPPOSEDLY wrote the song…I’m sure her record company was like…
“If you’re trying to block your girl…you’re gonna have to come outta of pocket yourself”…
Hence the bargain look…which is disguised as ‘retro’…
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Beyonce has officially crossed over into soft porn territory. Her constantly shaking her ass is not art. It is a shame because she is a good entertainer.
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I thought it was pretty entertaining. I’d rather watch this than choreographed dancing through the whole video.
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I loved this video…and this song. I don’t know why…but damn I’ve been singing it and watching the vid since I saw a link to it earlier today. Probably my favorite beyonce vid. (Which doesn’t say a lot, I’m not really a fan.)
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hey you guys….
my sound card is busted so i just watched the video w/o sound and…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!
it was hilarious!
it’s a bite off of:
-ashanti’s ‘good good’ video
-lady gaga’s ‘eh eh’ video
-with a splash of angelina’s 1st ‘w’ retro magazine shoot (w/brad).
you get the impression she does this type of goofin’ off a home when no one’s around.
too funny.
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It screams of a trying to be a Bettie Page film to me (esp the one with the jungle bikini and the dish washing scenes.)
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i actually liked this video, i LOVE the retro feel. I also like the drunk character, i could see Beyonce as a bitchy drunk, this video gives her bit more personality in my opinion (near-nakedness notwithstanding). No complaints from me
and as for those claims that she released this video to spite Kelly, i didn’t even know she had a single coming out. If Gaga released a video today no one would say anything about Kelly, which is her REAL problem i think- the plain fact is…no one really cares.
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I actually really like the song.
Take out the random grinding and booty shaking and I probably would have really loved the video.
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I like the song but the video seems weird.
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What fuckery is this? Enough with the wack-out music videos!
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I don’t what it is, but I’d love to lounge around my house all day in outfits like these
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I agree I’d rather watch this than another stale dance routine; and yes, women look better in stockings and hose, but this is getting old – pop tarts vamping it up to compensate for lousy songs and lousy live performances. I beg to differ with the poster that said she’s a great entertainer she’s not. After all, Beyonce is in it for the money and nothing else all the crap about art aside. She has her crap clothing line and now perfume, but does she have any dvds of her any of her live performances for sale. I’ve never seen one. This is probably sacrilige to some, but I’m thinking along the lines of Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana live at Woodstock dvds. The fact that her live shows apparently aren’t saleable leads me to believe that once she’s done in the spotlight her “music” is done too. This kind of pop music is not legendary, its disposable.
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I don’t really think Beyonce has been this original since the Lady Gaga Telephone video. I’m pretty sure this video wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Telephone. I’m not really digging the sound either.
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@jover
im sorry but you crossed the line when you said she wasn’t a good entertainer. This bitch would knock any of the others out of the park based on live performances alone. Beyonce ALWAYS brings it. If her music isnt your style, then fine, but i don’t think its accurate to insinuate she’s crap at performing or thats she’s not an entertainer. Her command of the stage is always on point, one of the very few left on the scene that can really put on a good show (as in James Brown/Tina Turner type showmanship).
p.s. i use ‘bitch’ here as a term of endearment (for the Beyonce stans).
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btw, i REALLY dig the song. A nice vibe for B!
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her skin gets whiter every time i see her! why can’t she just embrace her colour?
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great styling in the video, the song …meh!
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Sorry ‘jover’ Beyonce live is AMAZING. And I would not even be a huge fan. Her stage shows and live singing are fantastic- she’s an old school preformer.
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I will be honest…no, she’s NOT no Bettie Page and I’m not a big fan of Beyonce and there is only one original queen of vintage bondage and that’s Bettie…HOWEVER, I did like this video and song, I can relate. She looks really cute with her hair and bangs like that. I LOVED it when Christina brought vintage back in her Back to Basics. Personally, I think Christina should have stayed with that look. And now Beyonce did the look,I love it, considering I’m a big fan of vintage retro 50s, I’m an old fashioned kind of gal.
But ya, that one dance routine with the sign and animal print bathing suit is definately a replica of a video Bettie did many years ago. R.I.P. Bettie. 
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i hate her music but she really is quite talented and amazingly beautiful. love this video, it’s clearly inspired from those old vintage movies of bettie page.
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I am not up on music videos or popular artists, but I took the time to watch this in its entirety. I found it very entertaining and was surprised how beautiful a person could look crying with mascara all over their face! She’s definitely borrowing from Betty Page and I think it’s a little weird she’s trying to look so white in the video, but on the whole it was really good.
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I am over her, but I do like the video.
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i like it. interesting video, interesting song.
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Great, another song running through my head over and over.
I thought the video was hilarious, campy in a great way and a really good change of pace from what she usually does. I’m not going to start doing my hair like that, but I have this strange urge to go look for the pale blue nail polish I know I have in my kit.
(there were a LOT of olives in that martini – yuck!)
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@ SU
Beyonce does nothing but take other peoples ideas. Her voice live is good but not great, she stands out because of the lack of talent from the numerous other pop tarts in the industry. Beyonce’s voice isn’t unique, it’s simply well trained, anyone could do her vocal riffs and runs etc if they put in the time for vocal lessons. When Beyonce first came out she was awful live, then, when she launched her solo career she had some serious vocal lessons and improved, probably in an attempt to lend herself some credibility as a performer.
Everything about this woman is just so overrated it makes me cringe.
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Don’t have my headphones, watched part of it without sound…seemed pretty good and authentic to Bettie’s early stuff…didn’t hear the song.
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Actually, Jover, there are 2 Beyonce Live dvds: The Beyonce Experience and ‘I Am…Yours’ as well as a few Destiny’s Child Live dvds. And there are quite a few YouTube videos that show
her performing live. I’m not a big Beyonce fan but the girl was definitely born to perform.
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She’s nast.
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it’s an obvious homage to Betty Page.
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oh my god i LOVE that video. That was very VERY impressive!!! I really feel for her with that- it seems like no matter how perfect we women make ourselves for a man, its never enough
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I agree with you 25 and 15 I didn’t say she was a bad entertainer by today’s standards, my point was that for all the fame, money, notoriety, media whoring, etc. her music is generic, formulaic, and forgettable. Of all the songs she’s recorded on all her studio cds, how many are played with any frequency on the radio. 30-40 yrs from now who will actually play or cover, or watch on youtube, something like Single Ladies. jimi, carlos, etc. are all over youtube and played by real musicians worldwide; who will bother to play Beyonce when she’s gone. I guess were confusing a money-making largely manufactured celeb with artists whose creations have stood the test of time.
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This is “retro?” Dang, I’m getting old.
Kaiser, I got the snuff film vibe from this, too. It seems like the “crying victim/sexy girl” art of the old detective magazine genre is popping up again here and there. That’s what this video reminds me of.
And she shouldn’t have used the fire extinguisher on her chicken, it could still be saved! Poor young thing just needs a little help in the kitchen… I have messed up dinners in just about every possible way there is, and still gotten many of them to the table. If she cut off the burned parts, boiled up some veggies and pasta in canned stock, and then added whatever was left of the chicken, it would have been a good last minute chicken soup. Voila!
Oh my gosh, I really AM old! :-0
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I’m not usually a fan of Beyonce’s videos but I loved this tongue and cheek homage to Betty Page! Celebitchy, you need to familiarize yourself with cultural references from the 50′s/60′s including the over-the-top “Valley of the Dolls” influences in this video too. This was way before the ’70s Tina Turner style you mention…you can tell by the furniture, hairstyles and clothing she’s wearing in the video. I guess you’re just too young to remember
Grindhouse films were all about commercial/soft porn exploitation of women. Haven’t you seen the movie “Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill”? Beyonce’s video/song is sarcastically mocking this exploitation!
P.S. The grainy “Grindhouse” film footage was great too
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@ Jover
I agree.
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she obviously is beautiful and very talented but right now it seems to me shes trying to outdo rihanna esp with that video.
the songs not so good imo.
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I watched this mute, so I can’t comment on the song. but the clip… It’s definitely not high art, Kaiser. The first scene, with the car, she looks like Amy Winehouse. The rest of the time, I felt like she was just going through a rage of different retro fashions, while borrowing heavily from Gaga.
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Love it, Love it..
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The song is pretty good( another song to work out to!) The video I am not too sure about
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Why do people get their panties in a bunch when pop fails to live up to art? Ummm…pop and high art are by their names mutually exclusive. This is industry product. It’s common, rarely self-reflective,and in the last few years has become little more than derivative pastiche. It seemingly has to pare away any elements that suggest depth because then it becomes too complex for the masses to digest, apparently :/
I think that Beyonce has grown rather stagnant in the past couple of years, but to deny that she is an effective performer is incomprehensible. She possesses a formidable stage presence as well as superior vocal ability AND training. One of the things at which she’s far superior is splitting her breathe support between cardio-heavy dance routines and vocal output. That takes work.
@Jover,
You write as though training is not preferable. MOST singers are moderately talented and it’s the cultivation of the vocal apparatus that translates into skill. Even the most gifted vocalists require training. One of the unfortunate outcomes of talent shows and second rate singers is that the lay person doesn’t truly understand how the vocal process works.
As for the vid, very Betty Page. Don’t know how I feel about it.
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I love the video, it’s so fresh and different for beyonce. I like that she’s trying to shake things up a bit. My fave part was her polishing all her grammys!
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not high art but interesting to watch i think.
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Yes….she looks good though Ashanti did it better, because it was the first original version, for my time, that I saw. Beyonce simply took that concept and upped it, but her blatant sex selling, body rubbing, look at me I love me is soooooo below her talent level. Sounds as if she is a great live performer, but too many times it is all about flesh and enticing. Nothing I could take mom, grandma, my eleven year old son to. I also wouldn’t want my daughter thinking it is all about the exterior, though looking and feeling good is important. There is something to subtlety. With all that talent!!!!!!! She seems on a mission to entice entice entice.
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…..She also has blonde fetish……Why isn’t she proud of her natural, dark locks?? Brunettes have more fun anyway.
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gaga effect
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The song is not good, it’s trashy and like someone said, Gaga Effect. I used to like Beyonce, but now not so much. Wish she went back to Crazy in love album. That was perfect. Classy, fresh and sexy at the same time. This video it’s just soft porn. I’m glad Jay-Z didn’t appear
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Disgusting.
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boyacı
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