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One Video: Love by Kendrick Lamar

One Video: Love by Kendrick Lamar

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Maybe you missed it while you were busy hanging out with your loved ones!

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Every week, a slew of new music videos hits the web. Watching them at your desk is not time theft because you deserve it; think of it as a nice reward for surviving another work week. But what if you don’t have time to watch every video — maybe you have a deadline, a hungry pet, or other grown-up concerns. In consideration of your schedule, Lizzie and Kaitlyn bring you a series called One Video. Each week we’ll tell you “one video” you need to watch, why, and for how long.

This week’s video: “Love” by Kendrick Lamar, featuring Zacari

Kaitlyn: Love is so embarrassing; nothing in the world is more embarrassing than love. That’s why I spent the entirety of the last week lying on my parents’ living room floor, kicking the people I love in the stomach every time they beat me at a board game. Stop doing that, you guys! I hate you! I would literally never cry so hard on the train home due to missing you all the time!

Because I was busy doing that, I missed the December 22nd release of the music video for Kendrick Lamar’s “crucial love song,” and am just now experiencing it for the first time. Oh my god. It is stunning, a gorgeous visual for a song that makes me revise my opinion of “love is for chumps” to “love is for whoever Kendrick Lamar decides is worthy of it.”

Also, I’m pretty sure this is another The Young Pope reference by Kendrick Lamar:

Lizzie: I never saw the end of The Young Pope because I like to watch every episode of a television season except the final one. It’s fun and everyone gets mad at you. Years ago, I dedicated hours and hours of my life to watching Six Feet Under and then I stopped right before it ended. Don’t tell me who dies! Haha!

Who are Kendrick Lamar and Zacari?

Kaitlyn: You know who Kendrick Lamar is, but Zacari is a 23-year-old singer and songwriter who Kendrick Lamar discovered via his pal and Top Dawg label-mate, Isaiah Rashad. Zacari actually wrote most of “Love,” excepting Kendrick’s verses, with some help from producer Teddy Walton. If you would like to know more about him, you can read one of the approximately 950 “everything you need to know about Zacari” blog posts that were published following the release of Lamar’s DAMN. this April.

Lizzie: If you don’t know who Kendrick Lamar is, just listen to some of your friends’ end-of-the-year Spotify playlists. “Love” was my #2 most-listened-to song of the year. Anecdotally, this was true for almost everyone else in the world, or at least everyone on Twitter who shared screencaps of their final tallies. I don’t think this is because of a worldwide conspiracy. I think it’s because “Love” captures a feeling that everyone can relate to: Do the people in my life only love me for my exorbitant wealth?

I’d like to now EXCLUSIVELY share with you my top Spotify tracks of 2017, and no, I will NOT tell you what the #5 track was:

lizzie-spotify-

Kaitlyn: It was Maroon 5.

What’s special about “Love” by Kendrick Lamar, featuring Zacari:

Kaitlyn: First of all, there are glittery lady statues with their torsos fused together. I don’t like those very much, I have to admit, but they remind me of Beyoncé’s gorgeous video for “Mine” — another fantastic love song. Also, our style guide mandates that we write “LOVE.” as “Love,” and that reminds me of Lana Del Rey’s gorgeous video for “Love” — a third fantastic love song!

There is one frame in “Love” that serves as an advertisement for Kendrick Lamar’s mysterious involvement in the soundtrack for Ryan Coogler’s upcoming Black Panther film.

Lizzie: This video is a nice reminder that if a song is very good, the video only needs to be moderately good, or good enough to make you think, “Damn, this song is good.” That’s what the video for “Love” accomplishes. I feel like I can’t move my arms when I watch it.

It also makes me feel like I need to recreate every moment of my life up until now, but soundtracked by this song. Have you ever even been to the beach or put your feet up on the kitchen table if you didn’t listen to “Love” while doing it?

How long everyone should watch “Love” by Kendrick Lamar, featuring Zacari:

Kaitlyn: What kind of lunatic watches less than the entirety of a moving love story? I don’t even want to know, actually. Watch the whole thing four times and the part with this shiny graphic hoodie eight times. It’s from 2:10 to the end.

Lizzie: Even if you only wanted to watch part of this video, you wouldn’t be able to. Prove me wrong please!