The latest video from Britney Spears, for pulsing single “Till the World Ends,” has hit the web, and it’s pretty much just what you’d expect if you’ve listened to the lyrics (or, you know, read the title of the song): a bunch of people dancing, umm, until the world ends. Or, actually, whilethe world ends? The clip opens with a date flashing across the screen: December 21, 2012. Sound familiar? It’s the date that has been bandied around forever as the one which some sort of transformative, apocalypitic event will occur and basically blow the world to smithereens. (Remember the Roland Emmerich disaster flick?) But in Britney world, while December 21, 2012, might be the day the world is ending, it’s also the day that she sends it out with an underground dance party. Need access? Just find the nearest manhole in the street and slither down to the rave she’s cooking in the sewers. Because, children, she’s going to be dancing “Till the World Ends” for a long time.
Yesterday, I mocked Britney a bit when the teaser for this video came out, commenting that our beloved star was “bounce-dancing.” And sure, she does bounce-dance. A lot. But she does do a fair amount of what one might call actual dancing in this video. (Just to clarify, the reason that there is issue with her dancing these days is that it’s not as good as it once was. Period.) And you know what, what she does here isn’t half bad! Those moments in that red catsuit-ish get-up near the end of the video are positively bouyant. And I think I even spotted a smile here and there from Spears, who looks rather dead behind the eyes most of the time. So that really warmed my heart.
And the clip has other high points: I love what’s happening at about 1:50 when Britney is sitting amongst a posse of sewer dwellers, simply pulsing her shoulders, then flipping her hair. Then comes the best part: that tiny clap-clap-clap she owns, while standing amid the group of urchins. How hot is that? Totally in: tiny claps.
As I said above, this video is exactly what you’d expect for this song, and from Britney at this point in her career. She’s producing solid work that feels good, gets you moving for a second, but that you don’t linger over. It’s got stripes of Ke$ha’s trashtacular video for “We R Who We R,” which makes sense, since Ke$ha co-wrote this song. And did anyone else see a little bit of “Dirrty” in this vid, too? Thank goodness, though, that she’d done with that whole product placement thing she ratcheted up with “Hold it Against Me.” At least, for now. Do you love? Hate? Do you feel like going out and dancing “Till the World Ends”?
