But over the course of her career she has made some good choices and chosen to work with the right people. People may never question any hidden allegories or references within her music videos. Paula Abdul’s body of work may never be dissected by university professors. But it needs to be acknowledged that making the jump from MTV to American Idol displays an understanding of the changing climate of the music industry. Her erratic behavior as an American Idol judge gave a lot of ammunition to comedians and caused a number of people to speculate if she had issues with substance abuse. In the last decade Paula Abdul became somewhat of a punchline. A few months later he made fist pumping infamous. He was a mid-level comedian and Paula Abdul’s friend. That’s kind of neat because this video was shot before his late-night talk show debuted. And that’s a pretty solid argument in favor of music videos’ merit.Īnd here’s a little piece of trivia about this video: Arsenio Hall is in it. More than 2 decades before winning an Oscar for The Social Network David Fincher directed “Straight Up” (and a number of other famous videos from the same era.) It can easily be argued that it was people like Fincher who transformed music videos from simple promotional clips to artistic triumphs and moments that could make a young director or performer’s career. But what makes them stand out is the way they are expertly shot, stylized and cut together by director David Fincher. And in a less talented director’s hands these images may have been totally forgettable. There are street signs, fences, some other dudes, a little fire, musical instruments here and there. So what is so great about this particular video? Trying to describe this clip is actually really difficult. So let’s at least give some credit where it’s due. And plenty of pop singers made music videos that weren’t nearly as exciting or memorable as this one. But no, it wasn’t the downfall of substance based music either. Yes, this had a positive affect on Paula Abdul’s career. (Seriously, I’m about that jacket.) Music videos and MTV weren’t the first instance of artists being showcased in a visual way. On some level pop music has always been about looking cool and dressing a certain way. In the simplest terms, it promotes style as the most important factor in having a fruitful career as a recording artist with everything else becoming secondary.īut let’s have another moment of honesty. It proves once and for all that if a video looks cool enough and an artist is good looking enough (and wears an awesome polka dot jacket) that’s all it really takes to make a pop hit. It’s an ok pop song performed by someone with an ok voice. But it doesn’t necessarily have the power to get listeners really addicted and become a hit on its own. Up until this moment Paula Abdul was pretty much known for being a choreographer (yes, she choreographed herself here) and former Laker Girl. So…that’s good, right? This video’s creative and (to this day) really unique visuals helped to make someone a success.
It was a career defining moment and the thing that made her a true pop star.
Paula Abdul would not have achieved the level of notoriety that she did without this video. Because….ok, let’s have a moment of total honesty here. This video pretty perfectly sums up exactly why music videos were somehow both the best and worst thing to ever happen to music.
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