Erykah Badu isn't one to shy away from tough topics, and we've seen nude videos of her before. So the racy new video for a cover of Roberta Flack's song, First Time Ever I Saw Your Face she did with the Flaming Lips shouldn't be shocking. But oh is it ever.
Honestly, it's one of the most bizarre, twisted videos I've seen in a long time. There's blood, semen, lots of glitter, and plenty of nudity. I'm not sure if there's any message that it's supposed to be sending, but whatever it is, it gets lost in the shock. It's definitely NSFW, so if you choose to watch it (after the jump) be very careful who's around, and be prepared to be shocked.
Turns out that even Badu is shocked; she's pissed that it was released by the Flaming Lips without her approval. She took to Twitter and blasted the band's front man, Wayne Coyne, for releasing it.
It's long (what happened to 140 characters or less?), but here's an excerpt that gives you a pretty good idea how angry she is:
@waynecoyne then… perhaps, next time u get an occasion to work with an artist who respects your mind/art, you should send at least a ROUGh version of the video u PLAN to release b4 u manipulate or compromise the artist's brand by desperately releasing a poor excuse for shock and nudity that sends a convoluted message that passes as art( to some).
Even with Window Seat there was a method and thought process involved. I have not one need for publicity . I just love artistic dialogue . And just because an image is shocking does not make it art.
You obviously have a misconception of who I am artistically. I don't mind that but…
By the way you are an ass.
Yu did everything wrong from the on set .
She goes on to talk about how he breached their contract, and that it was in no way a product she would have allowed to be released. She says that while she refused to sit in the blood etc., she did have her sister, Nayrok "who is much more liberal" do so with the understanding that she would approve the end product. She said that never happened. "I never would have approved that tasteless, meaningless, shock motivated video," she stated. She ended by telling the band to kiss her glittery ass.
It's difficult to know what really went down. There's a small part of me that wonders how much of this outrage is fueled by some sort of publicity ploy. It's a gorgeous song, but I'm sure it will reach many more ears than it would have without all of this controversy.
In any case, here's the video if you want to see what the fuss is all about. Again, be WARNED: It's graphic and pretty disturbing, so watch at your own discretion.
Do you think Erykah Badu has a right to be angry about this video being released? What did you think of the video?
Image via Perez Hilton
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Comments 44
It was bizzare and sort of messy, but I would not say "shocking". Either way, I really cannot see how there is anything here that she would not have known about beforehand. After all, all of the graphic images are of her, doing things that she was obvious aware she was doing. I love Erykah Badu, and have much respect for her, but this seems like an artist who had second thoughts about a video and panicked when she realized it might be disturbing to some people.
Ew, just gross and, well, stupid.
pointless waste of time.
Other than that.... its gross and kinda stupid.
That's a lot of semen....or yogurt?
Dont make nasty videos if you dont want them released.
This was disgusting
When you were rubbing mock semen all over your body and hooha, and licking it, did you not realize how the video would come off?
She just changed her mind too late.
Disgusting. Just sing and stop all this stupid stuff.