"Un-thinkable (I'm Ready) -Alicia Keys [Video]

So here's the video for "Un-thinkable (I'm Ready)" which shows the controversy with interracial dating from the past to the present.  They showcase every decade from the 1950s to the present.  At the end, after facing conflict with her family, she stares out the door and its unclear whether or not they end up together. The only thing a little off about the video is the performance scenes next to those random evergreen trees.  It clearly looks like a badly manufactured set.  They should have choose a better backdrop.


Drake co-wrote this song and 40, another member of October's Very Own member, produced it.  I hear Drake is suppose to be on a remix of the song and it might sound crazy for me to say that, I actually don't want them to do a remix, even if Drake is on it. I'm sure Drake wouldn't do a bad job, but I think you should just leave well enough alone.  I think the song showcased that Drake could be a song writer, even if the song isn't for him, and it's a venture he could expand on.  Ne-Yo makes crazy money doing it.  I'm just saying just because you wrote a song doesn't mean you should be on it.  It's kinda like when Swizz Beatz is on a track that he produced.  He's a great producer, but do you really need to be on the song? I'm not saying a remix would be bad, I know I would love it. But I kinda liked the fact that Drake was behind the scenes and only provided back up vocals.

Taking it Personal

So, if you haven't noticed, I take music really personal, as I'm sure a lot of people do. Have you ever loved a song so much, and when some one else likes that song or it becomes a commercial success you get kinda territorial and boast about how you liked the song before everyone else did? Or when a music video comes out for a song, and it doesn't fit into what you had in your mind all along that you are kinda disappointed?  That's how I kinda felt when I saw the behind the scenes of the "Un-thinkable" video.  I guess its important to insert this disclaimer now: I have nothing against interracial relationship.  I don't think it wrong to date outside of your race, and I also don't think its close minded if people only date inside of their race. To each their own, and other people's relationships are none of my business.  And I'm not saying the video shouldn't be about this issue that people still deal with today. But anyway, I listened to "Un-thinkable" since it was posted on the October's Very Own blog back in December.  And it was so relevant to me and past experiences that I have and most other people had that a lot of people I know, including myself, took the song very personal.  So you had an entire idea of the song and what a video would be like in your head that its very difficult for the video to match up to your vision.  Drake said something along those lines in an interview about the failure of the video "Best I Ever Had" that the song meant a lot to so many people that everyone had their own vision in their head.
I think music videos are essential a percentage of a song.  They can make a song better or worse. It's like the missing piece of the puzzle.  For instance, the "Over" video it actually made that song better because his perspective was more clear.  I also need to see the "Find Your Love" video because even though I don't think it will ever be my favorite song, the video piece of the song seems essential for me to fully judge it. But videos can also ruin a song though. Do you have any examples? Maybe any Young Money video lol. I also didn't like the video for Jay-Z "I Know." I guess it was relevant to the song, I just didn't like it. Another example to me is performance footage of a video.  I don't want to see clips from a concert, you might as well not made a video.  The only exception to this is Jay-Z's "Encore" because that was relevant.
Some songs to me are better off without a video though.  My first thought for an example of this is Drake "Fear" should never have a video made because the song can stand, and needs to stand alone.  Any other ideas?

Even though I didn't have this idea in my head and I don't believe the song original was about this topic, having the video about the controversy surrounding interracial relationship does give the song a new perspective and deeper meaning.

Here's behind the scenes of the Alicia Keys' video: