To hype his new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (fellow music blogger Evan reviewed it), Kanye West directed a 30-minute art/film/music video. It contains nine songs from the album, including, “Power,” “All of the Lights,” and “Runaway,” the namesake of the video.
It opens with West “running away” toward the camera. Duh, it’s the title of the video! At first, I was ready to dismiss the video because of its apparent simplemindedness, but things got interesting with the phoenix, the part bird, part human manifestation that West falls in love with. It was completely absurd, but not so much for West. (Relive the 2009 VMAs one more time. You want to.) Anyway, watch West take the phoenix on a series of dates to show her life on Earth, after which the phoenix thinks she’s qualified to sum us up: “Do you know what I hate most about your world? Anything that is different you try to change. You try to tear it down.”
Thanks, phoenix lady. Grab some popcorn and enjoy.
~ Christina Jones
