Hotline Moves

On October 26th, Drake released a music video for Hotline Bling and the Internet almost broke. It didn’t break entirely, because Kim Kardashian already broke it a while ago and well, I don’t think we ever fully fixed it. Or did we? Anyway, people were endlessly commenting on Drake’s video, people were making memes left and right, and parodies appeared all over the place. And I’m sitting here and thinking, why all the hate for Drake’s moves!?

Recently social media has been getting a bit of heat for being fabricated to unrealistic heights which sets unreachable standards for the younger generation. We have photoshopped our celebrities to their thinner versions, we filter our Instagram feeds and product placement has actually made me cringe while watching an episode of one my favorite shows. Everything out there, in the real world, is produced and most of it is fake.

This of course is a harsh statement, not everything real is fake but there is certainly a high amount of money behind social media accounts for celebrities, self-made celebrities and pissed of cats. Even reality shows fabricate and push a certain image because talent, it seems, is not enough and sex is what sells. Would Nicki Minaj gain such big publicity when she would have been fully dressed in the Anaconda video? No. Would Miley Cyrus be talked about as much if she hadn’t bared her boobs while swinging on a giant ball? No. Would we have looked twice at David Beckham’s underwear ad if his bulge wasn’t in our face? Yes, yes we would have! But the point is, we wouldn’t pay attention if the volume on reality wasn’t turned up so high it appears fake, because only then would it be impossible to ignore.

Over the years, perfection has been rummaging through the Internet like a plague. Every Youtuber seems to be reflecting the glam lifestyle, magazines are still glossy with unrecognizable celebrities airbrushed to dolls and many popular Instagram feeds are showing life through a filter of excellence. But in 2015 a new breeze has blown through and I can already feel a positive change! Drake’s Hotline Bling music video and, for instance, Adele’s fresh Rolling Stone cover, are just a few examples of that change pushing through the dominating image of unrealistic perfection.

Sure, Drake’s video sub-comes to the ass-shot right in the beginning but all the girls are wearing jeans! Even the background dancers are more dressed than most women in most music videos. The background is simple, stripped from fabricated parties and entourages, plus, there’s no obvious product placement. And on top of it all, the widely discussed dance moves; flawless due to their quirkiness and perfect because they are NOT perfect. Who cares that Drake looks like his shaking his leg or stepping on a spider?! I have worse moves on the dance floor and now, thanks to Drake, I’m not ashamed to shake it like I don’t care!