Normal, in this day and age of Sasha Fierce and Lady Gaga, has become so passé. Female pop stars of today are all clamoring to win the "I'm so unique, different, special and quirky!" award. And they'll gnash their teeth and snub their noses derisively at each other if they feel someone has "bitten" their originality. (Never mind that nothing under the sun is completely new, they'll insist they invented big hoop earrings) Estelle, perhaps feeling pressure to compete with her peers, has joined the frenzy with a scattered, club-friendly David Guetta track and accompanied it with a disjointed music video that tries to proclaim its ubiquity, but really ends up as nothing more than a mish mash of half-baked ideas and half-executed visuals.
Estelle shouldn't be in this situation. Her breakthrough single "American Boy" struck every note perfectly. It was clean, it was sharp, Estelle's fashion was edgy but not unapproachable and the song was heavenly and dreamy. "Freak," on the other hand, is a bit of a hideous nightmare. Yes, the beat is galatic and pounding, but Estelle spends most of the track rapping, rather than blessing us with her silky voice. True, Estelle has always proclaimed herself to be both a rapper and a singer, but if her past success is any indication, audiences much prefer her singing to her rapping. If Estelle had left the rapping to her guest star, Kardinal Offishall, and focused on bringing more melodies into the song, like the part where she delightfully mashes "Freak" with Soul II Soul's "Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)," then perhaps the song could've gone somewhere. But she didn't and it doesn't.
The video only further adds to the confusion with a muddied theme, poorly-executed special effects and an uncomfortable use of blackface. Watch the video for Estelle's new single "Freak" below.
It's hard to say who's at fault for this jumbled debacle of a video, but all clues point to director Nabil Elderkin. The first mistake he made is the setting. Whose great idea was it to have the whole thing in outer space? Janet Jackson's "Feedback" video had a similar setting, and similarly ended up dark, slow and dreadful. The dancing on rocks in space visual makes everything and everyone seem small and distant. There's little to no story to speak of that ties the video together, other than head-scratching special effects and spacey vignettes. Who is Estelle in this video? Why are there multiple Kardinals? What's with the blackface? The choreography is also quite uninspired. For something that is clearly angling to fill the dance floors, this video throws no bones the club kids' way.
In a behind-the-scenes clip of the making of this video, Estelle claims that though the song is sexual, she wants the music video to be more of a showcase for the odd side that lives in all of us. But there's little that's odd about Estelle in this video, apart from the aforementioned blackface. The closest thing that the video approaches to "freaky" in a sexual manner, is a golden pair of handcuffs. What, was that the only naughty item left at Spencer's? If you're gonna fly the freak flag, do something freaky. Handcuffs ain't it. Lady Gaga probably has sock lint that's more freaky fashion-wise than anything Estelle wore in this video.
And then there's a giant hot air balloon dress that's clearly supposed to serve as an impressive feat of special effects. But because Nabil never gets us close enough to feel the enormity of this living, breathing dress, Estelle and the whole set up end up looking more like a scene from Super Smash Bros.
Ultimately, "Freak" is a sign that Estelle (or her record label?) is still unsure of what her strengths are as an artist. Evolution is an important ingredient to achieving longevity in the music industry. But evolution cannot be half-baked. If you're going to attempt to shift gears and go a dance/naughty route, make sure you can pull it off convincingly. Otherwise you're left looking like a freak without a clue.
