Keith Urban: “HERE’S SOME BOOBS! GIVE ME ATTENTION!”
Good gosh, what does Keith Urban have to do to buy a break? I mean, he married a Hollywood A-lister, he posed for Playgirl, he took a job as an American Idol judge just to find out nobody pays attention to that crap anymore, and he had the CMA’s gerrymander him into “Entertainer of the Year” and “Male Vocalist” nominations when Jason Aldean probably deserved them more. Meanwhile his last album Fuse sits outside the Top 20 in the charts and he has to be wondering, what the hell is going on? Even Sturgill Simpson, who Keith Urban apparently loves, is currently kicking Urban’s ass in the album charts coming in five spots ahead of him.
So the Keith Urban brain trust gets together, scratches their heads a little bit and says, “Boobs. You know, there’s always boobs.” And so here we see Keith Urban resort to the same female objectification the rest of country music is suffering from in this new semi-NSFW video for his stalled single “Somewhere In My Car.”
The video shows a scantly-clad woman with various cuts of fabric oh so precariously clinging to her female parts and potentially ready to fall of at any second, while Keith Urban wanks off in the background. I mean…on his guitar…he wanks off on his guitar in the background—while some roided-out muscle man ponders the trapezoidal impossibility at getting any shut eye on a single bed fit for an adolescent. Basically the underlying plot line of this video is that some poor bastard is suffering from wet dreams.
Keith Urban I’m sure will be shielded from certain criticisms because the video is veiled as being “artistic” through black and white shades and other scripted elements of scene and choreography, but this entire video is predicated on the curvature of the female breast. Don’t be fooled, it’s just as objectifying as anything else country music has to offer, if not more. And really, who cares to you have breasts in your video? Any of us can navigate to our search bar and pull up an entire world’s worth of the finest female breasts ever assembled and oogle all day if we so choose.
Even more sad is that this song and even the approach to this video has a little something of merit, delving into the roiling mental anguish that can rip the psyche apart after a breakup through haunting memories and blind jealousy. It doesn’t belong anywhere near country though. I don’t want to come across as a moralist. I’m not offended by female breasts, and don’t make it my business if someone wants to see them. But there’s a time and a place, and country is neither.
P.S. the “model” is named Jehane Paris.
September 26, 2014 @ 9:41 am
When all else fails, break out the boobs. Problem is, it’s old, old hat anymore. Of course men will always look, but to have to resort to such a tired trope, what does that say about the song? (I am a bit of a moralist, myself, but no need to go there, on this. Nobody’s listening anymore, anyway.)
Sorry, my neck hurts today 😀
September 26, 2014 @ 10:32 am
Melanie, don’t apologize for being a moralist, keep it up. God bless you!
September 26, 2014 @ 10:40 am
Thanks, and God bless you too 🙂
September 26, 2014 @ 9:55 am
Oopsie–aaah–hey Trigger. Looks like you have a little mixup there, hah ha! Judging by the first frame shown in that video link, you obviously MUST have linked to 70-yr-old Keith RICHARDS–NOT 46-yr-old Keith URBAN! Ha ha!! Ha! Ha.
Hate to point it out and all. Age creeps up on everyone, don’t you know.
Honest mistake–honest mistake!
September 26, 2014 @ 10:16 am
Sorry ….the song is called what ? ( I had the sound off . Keith has recorded the same song so many times I don’t need to listen ) .But I’d bet my firstborn it starts with a kik drum and banjo , then gives way to a wall of LesPauls Phil Spector would be proud of , a whiny Keith wailing away with his wannabe ‘southern’ accent and then , of course the obligatory guitar solo with n’ary another trad country instrument within earshot . The lyric is , no doubt, trite having no substance and serving NO purpose .Am I close ?
Boobs. Yeah …well ….they sell everything else and have ALWAYS sold music so I’m not sure why all the fuss about Keith utilizing them .
September 26, 2014 @ 11:04 am
Dadgummit Albert, you are one smart son of a gun!
September 26, 2014 @ 1:47 pm
I’ve been called worse , Clint . Most folks include the word ASS right after the word ‘smart ‘ ….cheers !
September 26, 2014 @ 2:42 pm
You are soooooooooo wrong.
It’s a wall of Fender Strats. 😉
September 26, 2014 @ 5:35 pm
You are soooooooooo right . If he’d used Les Pauls on those sessions , Phil may not have had all the problems the past couple years have brought his way ….(.wha….???)
September 26, 2014 @ 10:29 am
Trigger, I have NO problem with you coming off as a moralist. We NEED more morality with all of the sickness there is in this world today.
September 26, 2014 @ 5:34 pm
Laurence Sterne has said: “Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners”
I don’t believe morality is the problem itself. The problem, rather, is the overarching of it in a way that disrespects the conscientious autonomy of others and our bodies.
Where we can agree is that we’ve come to greatly undervalue the content of character in our society today: as Dr. King implored more value in. But getting there begins not by further curtailing consensual sexual expression and bodily autonomy, but by ushering a new collective wave of self-respect.
September 26, 2014 @ 10:50 am
This video furthers the argument that much of today”™s “country” is simply recycled 80s hair metal… seriously wasn’t this a White Snake video from back in the day?
September 26, 2014 @ 10:52 am
I’ve never considered the exposure of the female breast to be a a measure of morality, except in extreme religion and the United States. The video depicts the song and, ignoring the issue of whether it was necessary to show so much, I think it reflects a moment in a relationship between two people that is realistic. On a scale, I think it’s at least better than the scantily dressed trinkets standing around in some videos.
September 26, 2014 @ 5:17 pm
Gauging by reaction to the video overall, this is decidedly a non-issue to most everyone.
The ratio of “Likes” to “Dislikes” on YouTube is 23 to 1: significantly less polarizing than many raunchy Pop videos and recent controversial efforts in “country” music that I can attest are obviously objectifying like Luke Bryan’s “That’s My Kind of Night” and Chase Rice’s “Ready Set Roll”.
September 26, 2014 @ 6:08 pm
Though y’all might be talking about other commenters and not me specifically, let me just clarify my position on this video:
I personally am not making a moral issue of the video specifically, though I do recognize that thoughts on the video have some moral tentacles and that those thoughts can debated back and forth and that is fine.
I said specifically in this article, “I don”™t want to come across as a moralist. I”™m not offended by female breasts, and don”™t make it my business if someone wants to see them.”
My primary point about the video, and this is spelled out clearly in both the title and opening paragraph, is that this video is Keith Urban pandering for attention. I also went out of my way to say that I believe that if people do happen to have a problem with the objectification of women in country music, which has been spoken about often, and was brought up specifically by Kenny Chesney last week in a pretty prominent manner, then this video should not be excluded from these discussions simply because it’s shot in black and white and has more of an “artistic” flair. The reason is because the video is still using females bodies to grab attention.
Also, if someone wants to make a moral issue of it, then I believe it is their right. It’s also people’s right to disagree. The last thing I said in the article was, “But there”™s a time and a place, and country is neither.” The reason I said that is because there are sectors of culture where a video like this is commonplace, and by importing this type of culture into country, you once again stretch the boundaries of what is considered “country,” which brings up the dilution of culture through the death of contrast. It also creates clashes based on different people’s perceptions of morals that would not exist if Keith had respected the boundaries of country and the values that generally help define them.
September 26, 2014 @ 11:04 pm
It’s late and I’m tired, so I’m sorry if sound cranky. But are you seriously saying that country music is pure as the new fallen snow? There are countless country (and I’m talking country from the 50s and 60s – even older) where morality rarely come into play. The didn’t have music videos back then, but just imagine what they might have been like for all those cheating songs. It would have been some steamy stuff. Not to mention songs about murder- heck, there’s a whole bunch of “murder ballads”. Think “Knoxville Girl” for example. Of course, our society seems to have a lot less problem with violence than it does with sex….
September 27, 2014 @ 12:15 am
“But are you seriously saying that country music is pure as the new fallen snow?”
I’m re-reading this article and all of the comments, and I don’t see anywhere where I said or alluded to anything of the sort.
This is the age old argument of the cautionary tale vs. the modern day glorification, but I’m not even going to get into that argument because as I stated above, I do not see this as a moral issue. Not only did I not make a moral issue out of it, I went out of my way to state that a moral argument wasn’t being made.
Once again, as I stated above in the article, “I don”™t want to come across as a moralist. I”™m not offended by female breasts, and don”™t make it my business if someone wants to see them.”
September 26, 2014 @ 9:53 pm
I never really understood absurd comments like this. The United States is one of the most sexually liberal countries in the world save for perhaps Brazil and some European countries. You want to complain about “extreme religion” and skin-shaming? Move to the Middle East.
September 27, 2014 @ 11:15 pm
I didn’t complain. And I stand by my statement. If you don’t like my opinion, too bad.
September 26, 2014 @ 11:12 am
Yeah, but he’s a good guitar player. I don’t know what you people are so wound up about. Morality has to evolve, you know.
(Yes, that was sarcasm.)
September 26, 2014 @ 11:43 am
In the beginning there was “Bro-Country” and today, ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you, “Boob Country”
September 26, 2014 @ 1:35 pm
I don’t know about the song (didn’t listen) but the boobs did get my attention.
September 26, 2014 @ 8:27 pm
The song was surprisingly not bad. It wasn’t what I look for in a country song but if I wasn’t such a grumpy old man I’d probably enjoy it. They definitely went the sex sells route for the video… did you happen to get the name of that hairless male model trigger?
September 26, 2014 @ 1:38 pm
I think this points to a bigger issue in country music. In country, men can sell sex but women can’t. It’s no secret that sex sells and thus men get an advantage in this situation.
Imagine the uproar if Carrie Underwood or Jana Kramer were dressed in their videos like the woman in this one. They would be called a slut, whore, trash and everything else. But if a male artist has scantily clad women in his music videos, it’s fine.
Break out the 20-something models dancing in bikinis for the new song by a 32-year-old man. But if a female artist was dancing in a bikini in her video, she would be judged harshly. In pop music, female artists objectify themselves all the time and it helps them advance their career. It’s part of the reason why there are more female pop stars than male.
I wish there were other easy ways for female artists to advance their careers but there aren’t too many. It’s unfair that male artists can sell sex to promote their music but female artists can’t.
September 26, 2014 @ 1:50 pm
I can’t say that the song itself is an offensively bad song though I wouldn’t object to anyone complaining about it being labeled as country.
I think the song and video both do a good job, as others have mentioned, of describing that post-break up feeling, and complement each other well.
Based on Trigger’s review I was kind of expecting it to be a solid 4 minutes of just a woman arching her back on a bed and was kind of surprised that the more explicit stuff was held off until the second verse. Either way you can tell they were definitely trying to go for one of those “CMT’s 20 sexiest videos of 2014 Lists.”
And yes, the nipple slip was placed in there to stir up some controversy/attention I’m guessing.
With all of that said, I respectfully don’t really see how this is a moral issue one way or the other. It’s a nipple. Women have them. Men have them too and it’s never been an issue to see theirs. Here we saw two people in a relationship making love. It’s not like we saw some 18 year old having a train run on her (I hope Florida Georgia Line don’t get any ideas for their next video from this comment). I can’t say this video was any more shocking than Faith Hill’s Breathe video was in 1999.
September 26, 2014 @ 3:25 pm
I agree. It’s a sexy video, no doubt – kind of reminds of Kenny Chesney’s “Come Over” video. I didn’t think the guy was all that cute but he looks good with his shirt off (who says women can’t appreciate this kind of thing). But it’s mild. Maybe not for 1955, but for 2014. What is this Puritanical obsession about women’s bodies? I’m a strong, independent woman and this doesn’t upset me in the least.
And Trigger, while you say “who cares if you have breasts in your video?” – well, clearly you do. And you do come off sounding like a moralist – circa 1955. Your entire review sounds very high school – the wet dream reference the repeated “clarifications” that you’re talking about Keith’s guitar….like you’re with the guys in the locker room insulting the cool dude.
September 28, 2014 @ 8:36 am
LOL. Keith Urban a cool dude. That’s a good one. Will you be here all week? How’s the veal?
September 26, 2014 @ 4:11 pm
I have always had a hard time telling Urban and Rascal Flatulence apart. Off topic: its never made any of SCM’s worst of songs, but I think Summer Nights is one of the lamest things I have ever heard. The video’s intro is embarrassing for me as a country fan and for the Opry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Q-LQQW6pA
Approved palate cleanser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z63Z5KkHtzM
September 29, 2014 @ 10:30 am
There isn’t much that a couple Boland songs can’t fix. This Keith Urban song sounds like a late 90’s dance-pop mash up that the over-privileged moronic girls at my college found entertaining.
September 26, 2014 @ 4:59 pm
We’ll have to agree to disagree here, I suppose.
I recognize right off the bat that I am demonstrably sex-positive in my convictions, and so it stands to reason there’s already going to be, understandably, a divide as to what we perceive as erotic and/or artistic and what is pornographic and/or commodifying.
Taking the song’s theme and lyrics into account, the visuals complement the song strikingly well. The verses speak of regret on behalf of the narrator in having lost or failing to sustain the relationship with the song’s subject, and depict the insomnia, void and nostalgia-driven grief he feels in the present before reminiscing on young lust in the chorus. And the lyrics of the chorus are unmistakably sexually-driven in describing a sexual awakening slice of life that is part of youthful lust.
And as someone who personally believes we need to dispense with the topless double-standard between the sexes once and for all (is society REALLY still fretting about breastfeeding photos in 2014 A.D.?)………I don’t even have a problem with breasts in a music video in this context. You don’t strike me as a slut shamer per se, but this double standard is nonetheless influenced and informed by shame. With me, I’m all or nothing. Appreciate toplessness regardless of sex, or else it’s only fair men and male-bodied individuals cover up too in public. I favor the former myself.
I do appreciate your honesty as always, and that is why I remain a proud regular here. In this instance, though, couldn’t disagree more with respect.
September 26, 2014 @ 5:57 pm
Speaking of attention seeking. I just saw that Barbara Streisand’s new album of duets with all male musicians debuted at #1 and she does a duet with BS of all people. Reviews seemed mixed on the content but on Babs voice being better than ever. t really is an oddball assortment of male singers though.
September 27, 2014 @ 12:14 am
The song isn’t terrible, and the video is fine considering it’s still 1986 and he shot it on Sunset Blvd. with Motley Crue.
November 1, 2014 @ 8:30 am
This song is OK, but I don’t think it should’ve been passed off as country.