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She's with the Obamas. She's hangin' with Justin Timberlake on "Saturday Night Live." She sang at the big inauguration concert yesterday. And tomorrow night she'll sing "At Last" for the Obama's first presidential dance. She's Beyonce and if you haven't heard, she's got a little single out called, "Single Ladies." The video of that catchy dance tune with Beyonce shaking her thang has for some reason sparked one of the biggest online parody frenzies, evah!
Not only that, it's whipped up a bit of controversy about where that distinctive choreography came from. More on that in a minute but I bet there are several of you reading this post right now who have your own "Single Ladies" videos up on YouTube, or Vimeo, or BlipTV, or Meefedia. Don't lie. I know you're out there. And if you don't already have a video up, I know you want to.
Well before you whip out the black leotard and the five inch heels you just might want to check out the collection of the videos I've assembled.
I plowed through hundreds, if not thousands of "Single Ladies" video parodies and came up with a unique cross section of talented and er, sort of talented individuals who with a video camera and a dream decided they too could be Beyonce. If just for three minutes.
First there's the guy who many credit with starting the whole "Single Ladies" video movement. Beyonce's video has had over 30 million hits but this guy's no slouch: his video has had over 2 million. He's become that rare breed, an internet star.
Then during a "Saturday Night Live" appearance Beyonce was joined by surprise guest Justin Timberlake who filled in as one of her backup dancers.
Verite Parlant at Whose Shoes Are These Anyway blogged about Beyonce's appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show where she describes what the mock video shoot with Justin was really like.
After that, all the single ladies, married ladies, and others turned up the music even higher. The following guy let loose in more ways than one.
Then there's little Arianna.
You can tell Tayla and Pierrea have rehearsed a lot.
And grandma and the girls.
And an excellent version on the website Towelroad.
But I promised you controversy, didn't I? Well it seems the choreography of Beyonce's video is inspired/lifted---depending on who you talk to---from Bob Fosse. Check out this video starring Fosse's wife Gwen Verdon from the 60's. The music is Unk's "Walk It Out.
Those steps look familiar? In an interview on BET, Beyonce talks about being inspired by the clip but the commenters over at Sandra Rose were still pretty brutal, accusing her of stealing.
Oh, oh, oh...oh, oh....oh, oh, oh, oh.....
Related Links:
You can find out about all things Beyonce at BeyonceDaily.Org
Megan Smith is the BlogHer Contributing Editor covering Television and Online Video and she's going to be hearing "Singles Ladies" in her head for days. Her personal entertainment blog is Megan's Minute, Quirky Commentary Around The Clock.
