This Day in Pop: 'Perfume' music video premieres in 2013 (December 10)

[PokemonSpears]

8 hours ago, BabkaAutorka said:

Isn't it weird that after such big budget, amazing music video to Work *****, they did something so simple with Perfume? 

The thing is according to Joseph, the original video wasn't actually simple, it was a minute longer and it had much more acting from Britney.

 

[PokemonSpears]

7 hours ago, halfdressed said:

Isn’t it crazy how FF/Perfume seemed “so long” after the breakdown and yet there’s been more time between now and then than 2007 and 2013. Crazy. 

 I always wonder that kind of things.

In 2007, Oops era (2000) felt like centuries ago. 

But today 2013, which is the same distance, feels like yesterday. 

[Fab britney]

I loveeee the song. It’s def the best song on the album and maybe even better than most of ff for me. What really kills the video for me is her delivery is soooo stiff. You don’t believe her story in the video. It’s like she lost her acting skills or there was too much Botox? Idk

[umr3000]

This was a real letdown especially as it was the coming together of Britney with Joseph Kahn after such brilliant visuals; Stronger, Toxic and Womanizer. 
 

Such a boring video. What a shame. 

[Lantis]

I think I watched this video like... twice maybe? It's so bad, probably her worst one beside MM.... The only part I actually like it's when she is standing in front of the mirror. The rest is... meh.... Also the cast of that model being her partner is so random, I mean he is hot but Britney in this video looks like his mom...

[SJK]

This video was a mess. The song isn’t that much better. 
For someone as big as Britney was there is no way her career should be were it’s at right now. Her team and that conservativeship really messed up the rest of her career. 

[Easy There]

First time I noticed a drast5change on her pretty face.

[hybirdfox]

Idk why but this MV always gave me Crossroads vibes. I guess because of the whole motel thing

[Brat]

I like it 

[Brat]

Just now, Brat said:

I like it 

Also, this was a good article @PokemonSpears 

[PokemonSpears]

1 minute ago, Brat said:

Also, this was a good article @PokemonSpears 

[PokemonSpears]

[I just want more!!]

On 12/10/2020 at 1:51 AM, PokemonSpears said:

 

On December 10, 2013, Britney Spears released the Perfume music video to promote the second and last single off her, fan-favorite, eighth studio album Britney Jean. It was directed by Joseph Kahn who had previously worked on the Stronger, Toxic and Womanizer videos, and it was filmed from November 19 to 21 in the California desert and Lancaster.

The video portrays Britney and her lover, played by model Alexander Kjellevik, doing several activities like taking a trip at night, walking on the street while the guy flips his middle fingers to the world, drinking a beer on the roof of a motel, bathing in a pool and at some point Britney makes a ring out of a crooked nail and gives it to him as a symbol of love.

In 2013, in an interview for ET, she spoke very briefly about handling the situation of kissing a guy in a music video, while having a boyfriend in real life: "[...] we had a discussion about that, you know, it's like, it's really weird 'cause in Hollywood it's so acceptable to just like go and do a movie and make out with somebody and 'cause you're just, you know, flattered to be in a movie and stuff, but I think, you know, some people who are very old-fashioned kind of don't believe in that manner, so um, we're kind of like torn on the whole situation".

 

Later in the video, we see Britney wearing lingerie, in front of the mirror of the bathroom, putting on her Fantasy perfume, when a message from Cindy, played by Alandrea Martin, pops up on the screen of an iPhone. Afterwards, we see the guy and Cindy meeting at a gas station, while Britney is watching them from the distance inside a truck. The guy and his new partner, repeat the same activities we see him doing with Britney at the beginning of the video, while Britney drives away and is later seen crying inside the room of a motel. At the end we see the guy looking at the window, holding the ring Britney gave him. Throughout the video, we see intercalated aerial shots of Britney singing the song while wearing lingerie and her lover's shirt, lying in a mattress, with her man sleeping besides her.

Several teasers were released previous to the premiere of the video. Britney shared on Facebook: "We've set a date! Perfume vid will premiere Tuesday on VEVO. Had to dig deep and really play with some acting chops for this one!" After being uploaded to her VEVO account in December 10, the video received positive reviews from critics, but not so much from the fans. The concept and storyline of the video seemed confusing and dull despite the very theatrical overall vibe of the clip.

The amount of views it received was very overwhelming, paling in comparison to the massive hit its predecessor Work ***** was. To this day, seven years later, it's still yet to hit the 40M mark. However it did pretty well on the VH1 Top 20 in Latin America, occupying the top position for several weeks.

The original concept

On December 05, Joseph Kahn, the director of the video tweeted "Sigh I love my original edit no one will ever see. I'm gonna go cry in the arms of a Senegalese *******".

Two days later, he continued: "Internet calm down. I never said I didn't like the #Perfume video. I said I preferred my very different cut but their cut is fine. Jeez. Artists have the right to release their videos the way they want. I'm just a work for hire. It's their money & their career. No worries".

 

Then on December 10 he added: "Wish they'd release the director's cut of #perfume. Britney's performance is unbelievable. A tur artist in it. Game changer. Official cut is a good video as you'll soon see. But it's a true loss not to see what she really did. It's incredible. Beyond other artists. Maybe if your voice is loud enough they'll release it. But other than that, I just needed to tell the truth. Something amazing is waiting".

 

"The DC is a minute longer and there's a very shocking ending. But not what you think. I call it BREAKING BADNEY."

In January 2014, Joseph was asked about it in an interview for Videostatic (who had also seen the original video):

 

In July 2014, a person that claimed to be friends with someone working for a production company in Los Angeles leaked through a Facebook group what was supposed to be the original treatment of the video:

Joseph Kahn confirmed these claims to be somewhat true, explaining some things were actually changed prior to the filming of the video

 

He also clarified that things like Cindy's phone call were added after he was asked to change the storyline

 

In 2015, in an interview for BreatheHeavy, he talked about Britney and the Perfume video:

Tbh, the comments section of the video is mostly positive, it seems that just not a lot of people know about it, or those that do, didn't care to go back and re-watch it after they did it the first time. Footage of the original Make Me... video, which was also scrapped in 2016, ultimately leaked and to me that seemed even more impossible to happen compared to the original Perfume concept, so who knows if the Director's Cut will ever see the light.

 

Such a wasted opportunity. The closest thing to real lightly processed vocals we ever gotten from her. One of my favorite Britney songs cuz you can tell she felt the song deeply 

Joseph, if you’re here, please release the real video. We need it. We need to see Brit acting again