Hot Video Alert: Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me

Well, as you probably all know by now, the much anticipated video for "Hold It Against Me" premiered last Thursday night. Overall, I'm impressed. There's been a lot of hype with this video and I think, for the most part, it lives up to the hype. Critiques? Too much product placement. While you can't blame a girl for pushing her own perfume line, what's deal with Sony? How about Makeup Forever, and what the hell is up with Plenty Of Fish.com? I've seen Plenty Of Fish pop up in music videos for Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Flo-Rida, Jason Derulo, 3OH!3 and now Brit Brit. Seriously, the first part of the video plays out like a series of advertisements. I get that music videos cost money, and this one obviously spared no expense, but this just seems a little like OVERKILL to me. Now, moving past all of my feelings about music videos being used as platforms for corporations to hock their wares, let's focus on the music video itself.

While the beginning of the video recalls Britney's "Oops...I Did It Again" space theme it quickly becomes evident that "Hold It Against Me" is entirely it's own entity. Let's discuss the set. I love that it's relatively minimal, meaning there aren't really any LARGE props. The video kind of has this whole 'Behind The Scenes' look about it, which I absolutely love - sound stage, lights, lighting umbrellas, cameras, etc. My favorite visual from the beginning of the video was the tall, cylindrical room of monitors playing Britney's videography. Britney appears as a electro-Goddess up on her pedestal, dressed all in white, her gloved fingers outfitted with some sort weird plastic tubes. As Britney is lifted off of her pedestal, back up dancers come streaming out from under her billowing white dress, causing quite the scene.  What I love about this video is it's striking imagery. The visual of Spears' standing in a room of videos, surrounded by all of her past musical triumphs is hard to get out of my mind. Another favorite snippet from the video is Britney's wreath of microphones. While this is definitely Britney's most bizarre look in the video - Big, teased hair, Lady Gaga-sized red glittery shoulder pads, massive bling around her neck - you can't take your eyes off her. She's an absolute star.

I was especially curious to see what director Jonas Åkerlund was going to do with the song's dub step break down 2:45 into the song and I have to say I'm impressed. The true purpose for those plastic tubes at the end of Britney's gloved fingers finally becomes apparent as brightly colored paint spews out, covering all of the TV monitors and her white dress in neon pink, green, orange, green and blue paint. Cut to a slow motion fight scene featuring Britney vs...Britney? Amazing! High kicks, roundhouses, punches, flipping, jumping, choke holds - all done wearing high heels. Very impressive! The finale of the video is a proper dance routine complete with steam, confetti, exploding speakers and Britney wearing a fabulous short black leather number, backed by S&M dancers, also in black leather, masks and other accouterments. The video goes to black, all except for Britney, standing there looking absolutely amazing.

I'm a little emotional here. This video was as epic as I thought it was going to be.  It was also a lot more "artsy" than I was expecting it to be.  While I sometimes criticize videos for not telling a story - I think this is an example of a video that doesn't need actors and cheesy lines to propel things forward - it's all about the visuals and the song, as it should be. Britney and Jonas Åkerlund knocked this one out of the park. Download "Hold It Against Me" on iTunes HERE.  You can even get the video HERE.  Look out for remixes by Abe Clements, Adrian Lux & Nause, Mike Rizzo, Jump Smokers, Ocelot, Smoke N Mirrors, Tracy Young,  Linus Loves, Jacob Plant and The Alias.  Britney's seventh studio album Femme Fatale is due in stores this March.

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