The Pop Zeal Project (Track 81): Madonna: “Give Me All Your Luvin’”
What’s the Name of the Game?
“Give Me All Your Luvin’” was the lead single from Madonna’s 2012 album, MDNA. Its merge of cheerleader chants and a ‘60s surf-music guitar riff would perhaps lead one to believe Madonna had gone go-go or bubble gum. But as the music video shows, Madonna as covered-up, stroller-pushing suburbanite is short-lived, and with the subsequent colorful bridge of the song featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., any notion of Madonna adopting a “domesticated” persona gets wiped out.
What she does sport, also evident in the video, is an acknowledgement and acceptance of her title as the “Queen of Pop”:
All Hail: The clip features a robotic squad of football-player clones, programmed to cater to every step Madonna takes (quite literally), carrying her, lifting her, catching her, even risking robotic life and limb to protect their quarterback queen. Fittingly, the song appeared in the setlist to Madonna’s impressive 2012 “Halftime Show” on “football’s biggest night,” where the performance’s visual aesthetic involved Madonna as modern-day Cleopatra, carried (once again) into the “coliseum,” surrounded by golden pageantry deserving of a, well… queen.
Say My Name: Also of note, some of Madonna’s lyrical content at this point in her career started to include self-references. In 2008, Pharrell Williams, the producer of and guest vocalist on “Candy Shop” from 2008’s Hard Candy, spells out Madonna’s name; here on “Luvin’,” the opening lyric is shouted, in the style of the aforementioned cheerleader call: “L-U-V Madonna!” And three years later, Madonna upped the ante by including her own name in the title to “B**** I’m Madonna,” from Rebel Heart. All three lyrical examples could be seen as attempts at solidifying relevance in contemporary pop culture, and viability in the pop-music landscape, which is where Minaj and M.I.A. at the time helped garner additional commercial and critical cred.
Check out (or revisit) the video below. Ready? OK!
Photo: Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
Watch “Hitchcock,” and Watch Hitch Watch
The classic film, Psycho recently turned 60. Here’s a review of the 2012 film, Hitchcock:
“Why do they keep looking for new ones, when they still have the original?” Just one of the questions uttered by the true Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) in the film, Hitchcock, directed by Sacha Gervasi. Based on Stephen Rebello’s book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, the film traces the period after North By Northwest. The old adage of “You’re only as good as your last picture” starts to peck at the director, due, in part, to skepticism that Hitch could keep his streak going, especially at age 60.
Looking for his next project, Hitch and his trusted advisors, his wife and professional collaborator, Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) and assistant, Peggy Robertson (Toni Collette) search high and low for something that will stop those bent on looking for a new Master. Hitch discovers Robert Bloch’s book, Psycho, based on the life of the Wisconsin serial killer, Ed Gein. Not only having an appetite for sneaking drink and paté de foie gras, Hitch’s appetite for something unexpected needs satiating, and thus this question is posed to Alma: “What if someone really good made a horror picture?” Against all good sense, according to just about everyone around him—press; studio heads; even an initially reluctant Alma—he persists with the professional and monetary risk that is Psycho. The actress Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) is cast to play the “bird,” Marion “Crane”; the actor Anthony Perkins (James D’Arcy) Norman Bates; the actress Vera Miles (Jessica Biel) Marion Crane’s sister, Lila.
Anthony Hopkins is credible and holds Hitch’s deep, garbled, slow-paced delivery, even saying quite convincingly the classic deadpan salutation, “Good evening,” made famous by Hitch as he welcomed viewers to his television series, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” Yet when Hitch, on set, directs Leigh in the scene from Psycho, where Marion is nervously driving her car, Hopkins’ vocal delivery slips, intentionally perhaps? One can’t help but hear the voice of Hannibal Lecter, Hopkins’ definitive role in The Silence of the Lambs.
Sound Familiar?
Hopkins - Hannibal - Hitchcock.
Orion Pictures. Cinematographer: Tak Fujimoto.
In Lambs, just as Lecter taunts Agent Starling during their first meeting, mocking in a southern drawl her “pure West Virginia” upbringing, speculating about her father being a “coal miner” and “how quickly the boys found you…sticky fumblings in the backseats of cars…,” Hitch taunts Leigh, calling Marion, “Daddy’s perfect little angel” and making reference to Marion’s “…sticky little lunchtime trysts with that oh-so-handsome failure Mr. Samuel Loomis.” Thankfully, the filmed highway on the screen behind the stunt car skips, causing Hopkins, now vocally back as Hitch, to stop the filming. Hitch then storms behind the blank screen, which casts his iconic silhouette, a self-referential silo added into most of his films.
Always in the Shadows
The iconic Hitchcock silhouette, as seen here in 1976’s Family Plot.
Universal Pictures. Cinematographer: Leonard J. South.
There’s also another predominant reference throughout Hitchcock. The Director of Photography, Jeff Cronenweth manages to frame shots that present several visual references to birds, creating a sense of foreshadowing to what would become Hitch’s next picture after Psycho, the aptly coined, The Birds.
Note:
Paintings on Hitch and Alma’s bathroom and bedroom walls.
The lampshade in the house library.
A silhouette of a bird over Hitch’s shoulder as he peers out through a set of blinds at Alma and her friend, Whit.
Bird sculptures on a liquor cabinet in Hitch’s studio office.
Birds flying low over the ocean as Alma and Whit talk on the beach.
A reference to birds in this John J. McLaughlin–penned screenplay: Vera Miles was contracted to do one more film for the notoriously involved, “he’s-always-watching” Hitch. As Biel’s Miles is changing in her dressing room, she says: “One more picture and I am free as a bird.”
Oh, Flock!
After Psycho came The Birds.
Universal Pictures. Cinematographer: Robert Burks.
The relationship between Miles and Hitch is also briefly explored. Hitch all but ignores Miles on set, and we later discover why; his focus is on Leigh, yet another fantasy blond, a style with which the director was famously enamored. Miles goes so far as to offer some cautionary advice to Leigh, after Leigh endures Dr. Lecter’s, I mean, Hitch’s relentless taunting. Hitchcock definitely highlights Hitch’s obsession with his work, and perhaps through speculation and creative license, the viewer is able to see just how consumed—voluntarily or involuntarily—he could be with his subject matter, no matter how dark and sinister. Disappointment by women play out often as well, providing a glimpse into Hitch’s sensitivity to feeling abandoned, so much so, extreme control at any cost was exuded.
On a related note, the film, rightly so, focuses equally on wife/mother figure, Alma, spotlighting how important professional collaboration and personal support are to the birth of a creative project, and in the case of Psycho, how the absence of this union could have easily resulted in something “stillborn.” Together, Master and Mistress of Suspense became the proud parents of, arguably, the best thriller in film history.
The Pop Zeal Project: She & Him: “In the Sun”
Indie-pop group, She & Him, consisting of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, released “In the Sun” in 2010 as the first single from their second album, the aptly titled, Volume Two. Their sound has often incorporated a wink and a nod to cheerful-sounding ‘60s pop, with Deschanel’s lyrical content at times providing stark contrast to anything but. “In the Sun” is one such track, featuring a bouncy piano intro that sounds like the musical equivalent of summer, only to be eclipsed by the opening lyric that describes a relationship reaching its winter: “It’s hard to be ignored/When I look at you, you look so bored.” The choice for now it seems is the ignorance-is-bliss approach, perhaps until the one day when the sun goes down on creating excuses instead of facing reality, when feeling “ashamed sometime, every day” can no longer be kept inside.