Britney Spears Premieres Video For Controversial “If U Seek Amy”
If Britney Spears isn’t nailing all of her dance moves with gusto on her current Circus tour, there’s always been one place to see the Princess of Pop performing at her absolute best: music videos. And the clip for her controversial latest single “If U Seek Amy” (out today on her official Website) does not disappoint.
The video opens up with a brief nod to all the scandal surrounding the song’s subtly-explicit title — click here if you still don’t get it — with a faux newscaster intoning the track’s name with slow emphasis. Next, we find Spears in the aftermath of what appears to be a 50-person orgy, singing from the edge of bed as the dancers around her roll around with hangovers and put their clothes back on.
When you have a song that courts controversy in its title, it makes sense that the video would have to be equally salacious, and the house party that’s going on in the video can best be described as Eyes Wide Shut without the masks or creepy music (a similar clip runs during Spears’ Circus tour). PG it is not. Like Tom Cruise in that film, the second half of the video finds Britney dancing her way out of the sex-crazed scene with some sharp choreography, putting her housewife gear back on, toting around an apple pie and returning to her normal life with her husband and two children. Outside the house, a whole new set of voyeurs in the form of paparazzi take pictures of the wholesome star with her family, completely unaware of what’s going on beyond the front door.
Radio was skittish at first about playing the song (an edited version that turns “Seek” into “See” is also in rotation), so it’s unlikely television will embrace this video with open arms, especially considering the lyrics and the flagrant innuendo in the video are a lethal cocktail. As there was barely any venues left on television to even play a Britney video with MTV going all reality on us, this may be the first Spears video ever crafted strictly with the morally-lax Internet in mind, a brazen clip that doesn’t have to tone down its explicit nature lyrically and visually in order to get airplay.
Related Stories:
• Britney Spears’ “Circus” Spectacle Draws Madonna to New York Show: Full Report
• Britney Spears’ Racy “If U Seek Amy” Hits the Radio, Angers Parents
• Britney Spears: The Complete Video Guide, From “… Baby One More Time” to “Circus”