As evident in his work with Pink and Missy Elliott, video director Dave Meyers is a big fan of darkly poppy and bold backdrops for his music videos, sometimes letting those border on fake and cheesy. Meyers has now combined with Rihanna for her latest dance single “Where Have You Been” from “Talk That Talk,” and that predisposition continues.
Ri-Ri is finally featured in a dance-heavy video, leading the troupe of nation-less natives around a little bonfire, or inside a teepee or as a heavy-lidded sprite hiding in the forest. Meyers’ team makes no qualms about making each locale look shallow, like a diorama from a museum, rather than sending the singer and her team out into an actual wilderness. What troubles the clip, however, isn’t the dance team’s navigation of these sets, but the director’s constant need to shake the frame or blur the focus, like the apocalypse from Britney Spears’ “Till the World Ends” apocalyptic journey.
Speaking of apocalypses, Rihanna gives a nod to “Apocalypse Now” with her half-headed emergence from black waters, as she seeks her prey, er, lover. (Lately, though, the 24-year-old lately has been promoting “Battleship,” out May 18 in the U.S., which is her first major movie role. She’s off the ship and now back into the waves.) The video also alludes to Rihanna’s tour video clip for Coldplay’s “Princess of China,” with the multiple arms fanning out like a Hindu god.
I found “Where Have You Been” to be a bit pedestrian — it could have well been written for anybody — but I like some of the dimension the clip gives to it. If you’re gonna have a dance video, just don’t interrupt it with your camera effect’s forced interruptions.
The 24-year-old lately has been promoting “Battleship,” out May 18 in the U.S., which is her first major movie role.