You might recognize her name, but it always seems to come after the term “feat.” in your music library. Charli XCX has had special appearances in a few hit songs lately—she assured us of her fanciness in Iggy Azalea’s hit song, as she grooved alongside the rapper in her school-themed video. Last week, Charli came out with a single and music video of her own, but was obviously still not ready to abandon the whole schoolgirl aesthetic. The video portrays a perfect stereotype of a high school straight out of a ’90s movie, complete with ultra-revealing uniforms, impossibly high-budget homecoming dances, and a legion of extras clearly way too old to be there.
If done cleverly and with cool pop culture references, the obnoxiously overdone “high school” theme might even work in Charli’s video, as it did with Iggy Azalea’s nicely done Clueless spoof, but all you get from “Break the Rules” is all varieties of skimpy clothing, uninteresting dance routines, and cliche visuals. During the video, Charli XCX and her friends leave school to go shopping at a trashy lingerie store. This storyline is alternated with scenes of Charli dancing by herself on top of a school bus in classic Donald Duck fashion (i.e. no pants), all shot at a conveniently low angle so that the audience can have a clear view of her, erm, buttocks.
I’ll skip the commentary on this video’s destructive message to young girls (skip school to try on trashy underwear with your friend—only then will you be cool) because , let’s face it, that ship sailed a long time ago with Miley Cyrus as its captain. If your song’s music video is going to be a personal advertisement of how hot you can look in several different outfits, however, at least try to make it a little less obvious.
Featured Image Courtesy of Atlantic Records
