Chris Brown - Don't Wake Me Up: Music Video Review

If you ever wanted to know what Chris Brown dreams about (and I know that's very unlikely, we've all got lives after all) then here's the place to be. Sometimes infamy can strike someone unawares and stay with them forever like a bad smell or a dodgy tattoo purchased after one too many vodka shots. Since 2009, Chris Brown has been notoriously linked with violence but he hasn't always made it easy for himself in the aftermath. Obviously there was the Rihanna assault case and the resulting community service charge (deserved), which was quite a big deal considering how high profile both artists were at the time. There was no way he was going to escape that with a mere super injunction was he now... Since then despite new albums, a long hiatus away from the public eye and attempts to change his image/sound the violence angle is picked up on whenever he steps one toe out of line. Firstly there was the big comeback dance-pop album F.A.M.E last year which went quite well over here with two top ten singles (club-botherers Yeah X3 & Beautiful People) but there was that alleged bout of anger on Good Morning America involving window smashing and topless Grrrr-ing which probably didn't help him over in the USA. Now it's time for Fortune and only the other day there was the bottling brawl involving Drake and naturally all the press went 'Ooooh they both know Rihanna! Love Triangle LOLZ!' It's an unfortunate tag for him but I guess all he can do (apart from avoiding these aggro situations) is keep making music. So to this - Don't Wake Me Up, single number 2. I like to forget about the lead single Turn Up The Music because NeYo did it better with Beautiful Monster 2 years ago and I didn't even like Beautiful Monster. In a way, I wish I was reviewing that video right now because then I could compare it, frame-by-frame, to the Beautiful Monster video and snigger at the unoriginality of it all. Still, chance to redeem yourself here Chris - make it count. As a request, Don't Wake Me Up is a strange one. A blunt variation on the whole Sweet Dreams Beyonce schtick or just a languid appeal for a lie-in? I guess we're about to find out with this Colin Tilley produced vid. There's this old wives tale down my neck of the woods which is 'red sky at night, Shepherd's delight. Red sky in morning, Shepherd's warning' and I know Chris isn't much of a shepherd with that jeans scarf/gold bling combo (ghetto shepherd?) but if he is then it looks like it's gonna be a partially good day. Well unless that's a sun rising over a vast desert landscape then no, it'll be a very bad day for him. Oh and is that Rihanna a whispering over the top of this posturing? PREACH SISTAH! http://youtu.be/QOowQeKyNkQ Nah was definitely a sun rising there, he's seriously having no fun with this mysterious mist lady. Whatever she's doing waltzing around Chris's bedroom it's not helping his sleeping patterns, maybe he should invest in some locks. Behind DOOR #1: that maze from Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire. No sign of any enchanted bulgarian wizards or evil tree tendrils, just a whole lot of fog and some electro static courtesy of Lady in White. She's almost as glitchy as Chris's vocals are in the chorus. Behind DOOR #2: cloudy fog. Whoop-de-flippin-doo. Chris looks tired bless him trudging around after this bedroom intruder, just wanting to lie-in 5 more minutes. Oh look a wave - WOOSH! WIPEOUT! Never mind, things can only get better. DOOR #3: oh goody, a car! Now you can have a nap! Nope, Lady in White's just going to run you over - peachy. Whoops, and again. Seriously, I can understand why he doesn't want to wake up if he's just going to keep on getting munched by various implements like he's in a dreamy, cloud-fog-laded Saw film. Now they're attached to wires with blue glinting eyes so maybe they're robots. Do robots sleep? Do robots get tetchy when they're woken up? Questions for 215o no doubt - a time where angry robots assassinate each other in their dreams as a means of anger management. Once again, peachy. Slightly on a tangent here but I can't be the only one who thinks the Up-Up-Up-Up-Up-Up-Up bit in the chorus is vaguely similar to Eurovision Winner Loreen's big number, Euphoria. They both involve many Ups, they both are part of a big dance bit - surely that's enough to warrant a comparison? I just want to sing EUUUUPPPHOOORRIIIIAAAAA when he does the whole DONT WAKE ME UHHHHPPP bit (not that I don't want to do that most of the time anyways). This video is a looker and the green screen works great for the vapid wastelands of Brown's mind (shush, no sniggering in the back) but the song could be considered flat in comparison to some of his others. Chris has a good versatile voice so it seems a shame to break it all up with auto-tune glitches galore. Will it do well? I'm doubtful of much success in America if Turn Up The Music only just got Top 10 there whilst I can't imagine this being another number 1 over here in the UK because it's not enough of a dance banger to be hounding the clubs neither is it much of a ballad. He's the victim of (psycho misty robot) love in this so no chance for the press to go 'GUFFAW! He's so (allegedly) got aggro and beat up the director's assistant. LOLZ' but I can't imagine there being tons of people actually noticing this recent effort to turn his image around.