A Fiasco of Loo Paper Proportions.

After the anti climactic, will.i.am-clogged "Check it Out" video, the premiere of the "Right Thru Me" was one loaded with (personal) expectation: after all the unnecessary dancers, Japanese TV parodies and lack of Minaj close ups or even general focus, Nicki would be free once more to don her best wig and unleash herself without constraint in a visual territory all her own, without any fear of external detraction/distraction. Perhaps it's silly to feel indignant over a music video, but after the colour and chaos of "Massive Attack" and the swooning, samurai sword fighting and scarf fluttering of "Your Love" assumptions may have become overinflated. "Right Thru Me" looks more like a half-arsed pastiche (not even a pastiche as that inplies some sort of respect for another artist or predecessor) or hackneyed rehash of "Halo" and "Teenage Dream" - unimaginatively improvised dialogue, muted, soft focus colour palette, dull domestic premise et al. After focussing so hard on constructing a highly memorable, stylised image and persona in all her previous work she seems to have abandoned it all, even the facial expressiveness.

That's probably the point. It's not a great comparison, but Katy Perry shifted from the hyperactive, sugar varnished 'California Girls' video to the more 'mature', naturalistic 'Teenage Dream' despite both songs retaining the same childish ebullience, and Madonna is the visual doyenne of such quick leaps, twists and reinventions. Its implied message of an artist's musical versatility and depth is a sure way of getting as many people interested, and reaching for their purses, as possible. Maybe Minaj is doing just the same: a relatable setting could increase the relatability (it isn't technically a word, but tu comprends) of the song, and intrigue people rather than intimidate them. All her features in other songs have placed added pressure on her memorability and image: when a performance window is only a minute or a couple of seconds long, you have to engage or pique interest as quickly and as effectively as possible (and this may be a gross, unsubstantiated generalisation) especially if you're a woman.

She's managed that consistently over the past year and a half, so maybe this is an attempt to add facets rather than make a quick, sharp impact. And despite the daytime-soap-pilot ambience of it, the emphasis on the pointless and charmless male model 'boyf' (played by a petulant Willy Monfret), the bizarre choice of location (Grand Canyon?!), and of J-Lo reminiscent sunglasses, she is still compelling and beautiful-even when she's chucking glasses about in a bland kitchen. The visual metaphor of the steamy shower is a nice touch, as is the bit where she's looking gloomy in her shoe cupboard, and her vulnerable, subdued performance is one that seems unprecedented. But it just seems too distracted; with literal glass throwing and awkwardly repetitious verbal fisticuffs, a pouting man in the shower, swimming pools, sensual massage etc etc etc, as well as diluted and incongruous.

And there are no wigs. Or brightly hued ones. It would be easy to blame on the director, Diane Martel, but she's had such a varied career-working with Robyn, Mariah Carey and Franz Ferdinand amongst others-that that would be facile and pointless. It's bizarre to think that the same woman was responsible for this:

P.S. Also, in the clean version with the 'shit' edited out, it sounds like she's saying 'How do you do that dish?' which could have made for an interesting Come Dine With Me premise: after wowing her dinner guests on the third night of the competition with a flawlessly executed banquet, Nicki is showered with questions regarding her 'cooking secrets'. Unappeased by her coy, evasive answers the guests explore her kitchen whilst she nips to the loo, only to discover her mother, extended relatives, a whole primary school and her cleaner slaving over her pristine pavlova. Chaos, and pelted summer fruit carnage, ensues. Much better, non?