"Cinnamon Girl" Critique

As much as Zero will hate me for saying this, I never really had much of an appreciation towards Prince. Yeah, some of his music is rather nice to listen to, but as an artist, I never was able to take him seriously. He just seems really weird to me.

While on a break from writing my paper, I decided to listen to some music on Yahoo! Launch. I then saw in the corner of the page a little box that asks if Prince went to far with his new video "Cinnamon Girl." Wondering what he did this time, I clicked the link to watch the video. (Hey, I missed Madonna's "Justify My Love" video. Do you think I'd miss this one?)

I'm not really a fan of any song that involves politics unless they are poking fun at it in general. Anti-war songs and the like are best enjoyed when I don't have any memory of the war. As such, I avoid those kind of songs and videos like the plague.

Well, guess what? "Cinnamon Girl" was one of those videos. The subject? 9-11.

Strangely enough, however, I sat through the entire thing. It was the art that drew me in. Despite the name of the song, you couldn't really tell the skin tone of the people in it. Their ethnicity was obvious, mostly by hair style and by what they wore, but their skin tones were practically transparent and were absorbed into the background.

As far as the controversy goes, I can see why some people thing that. This video does go in an awkward direction, of which I wasn't expecting. But, like most movies, it quickly takes a step back in time and fixes itself before the damage is done. (Hey, I'm trying not to spoil it here.)

I'm impressed by the video, and as an artist, Prince has won some points with me in an area few artists ever do.

Go watch it, and tell me what you think about it.