When I heard about Gwen Stefani's plan to live record and broadcast her new video during the Grammy ceremonies, I have to admit this was the last thing I expected she'd do. Practically, I thought she'd just be performing a song and keep it pretty simple, but she really did do a full blown one take video performance and made an incredible entertaining music video.
If you would to just see the video on YouTube or on TV, you'd probably not think twice about the circumstances under which it was filmed. Especially with some clever tricks to fool you to think it was prerecorded, like the stand in roller girl, who falls and you know Gwen couldn't realistically make it to the swing in that little time.
Let me just run you through it, in case you missed it. What you see is just Gwen performing her song at the Grammy's, but instead of a regular performance, she did a full blown video shoot. In front of all her peers. Talk about having a lot of nerve.
I can tell you, from first hand experience, that shooting videos usually takes a full day (or more) and it involves a lot of waiting. I usually get bored halfway through, so even though, I think, Gwen must have had to remember a thousand things to do this, this looks like such a perfect thing for me, haha. Do the song and be done with it.
This is an amazing example of incredible organizational efforts, timing and endless rehearsals. All the sets had to be ready to go and everyone had to make their marks exactly to make this work. And it definitely works. Gwen literally walks you through the video and blends in with the theme at hand. Channeling a little bit of Grease here, and a little bit of Marilyn Monroe there. Oh, yeah, and let's not forget, channeling a lot of love for new flame Blake.
But there were many things that could've gone wrong. Any slip up and it would have been a disaster.
The live video recording and broadcasting was sponsored by Target, which explains some of the twirling backgrounds that are a reference to them.
Prior to the video release, I'd already heard that the track was a disco burner and I have to admit it, she's doing a fab job on it. My expectations are high for her album!
