Early in the new year The Weeknd released a new video for “Save Your Tears,” a track off his most recent album, After Hours. You can always count on The Weeknd to deliver over the top creative content – and this video does not have any shortages of that matter! The Weeknd is wearing a modified version of his red-jacketed outfit — and it appears that he has gotten some pretty botched up plastic surgery. He’s performing in an upscale nightclub filled with formally attired people wearing glittery, full-face masks. At one point he wanders into the audience and notices a beautiful mask less woman and brings her onstage to dance. But in true Weeknd fashion there is a plot twist -he is holding a pistol behind his back. The woman realizes this and screams, but then he has her hold the gun to his head. The video ends with the Weeknd returning to the stage – holding the gun to his own head and finally pulls the trigger — only to have a bunch of confetti pop out. SURPRISE!!??
Kylie Minogue
recently released Studio 2054 remix of “Real Groove” featuring Dua Lipa -because, well – why wouldn’t you collaborate with the ultra-popular pop goddess! The original version was a perfect blend of disco and pop- while the remix is a bit of a faster beat along with the infusion of Lipa’s vocals that blend ever so perfectly throughout the track.
Leave it to the handsome heartthrob Harry Styles to start the new year off on a positive note! His new video “Treat People with Kindness,” starring Fleabag’s actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge is filmed in black-and-white with an old Hollywood vibe, and features Styles performing in a nightclub. The pair dance together whilst dressed in fabulously matching sequined, argyle vests and tuxedo pants. I would be remiss if I left out the relevancy of the lyrics which resonate loudly after a long and difficult year – “Maybe we can find a place to feel good – And we can treat people with kindness.” Something we should ALL aspire to in 2021.
It would not feel right if I did not address the tragedy that occurred last week at the U.S Capitol. For several days all I felt was rage and anger – How did we get here? How could so many AMERICANS be so misinformed – brainwashed – and lied to- by our OWN elected officials? {Insert here: Donald J. Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Josh Hawley- just to name a few of the head architect conspirators}. Ibram X. Kendi recently wrote a piece in The Atlantic called “Denial is the Heartbeat of America” and I implore you to set a few minutes aside out of your day to read it. He says “Americans remember and accept the enfranchising of citizens and peaceful transfers of power as their history, while forgetting and denying the coup plots, the attempted coups, and the successful coups. White terror is as American as the Stars and Stripes. But when this is denied, it is no wonder that the events at the Capitol are read as shocking and un-American.” We cannot afford to continue to live in denial or naiveté – we must face these home- grown challenges and finally right the wrongs or spend the rest of the life of America trying. We must Rise Up.
| Queerguru Contributor Allison Ananis is a graduate of Bowdoin College and also holds a Master of Public Administration from Suffolk University. Currently she works in Health and Human Services in Boston where she also resides with her wife Meg. Weekends are spent in Provincetown where her incessant playing of her eclectic choice of music very loudly brought her to the attention of Queerguru’s Editor |
