Today's Pick

Atlanta hip-hop artist B.o.B. has collaborated with Hayley Williams, the lead singer of rock group Paramore premiered the video for his new single "Airplanes" on iTunes Tuesday. "Airplanes" is the second official and third overall single from B.o.B's debut album "B.o.B Presents The Adventures of Bobby Ray." It shows the newcomer B.o.B is looking to follow-up the Billboard 200 chart-topping success of his breakout smash "Nothing On You." I really like We love Williams's gorgeous voice.
The moody, swirling video that perfectly fits the ominous, the somber tone of the song, is directed by Hiro Murai. B.o.B and William filmed the video separately with the rapper shooting his scenes in April and the Paramore frontwoman filming her part after wrapping "Brand New Eyes" spring tour. The video features several frames of B.o.B rapping his verses in a party setting, on stage, and room filled with lights and occasional song lyrics while Williams sings the hook in a light filled room and walking though a pile of old photographs come to life.
Much like the song itself, there's an emptiness to the video, a dark, cavernous space that light cannot penetrate. The video keeps abstract, mixing traditional stage lighting and open studio space with high-tech effects and a certain camera company product placement. The result is a respectfully unbloated, visually stimulating, somber clip, with Williams' appearance as a guest vocalist treated mindfully as just that, and not as the token tart or Bobby Ray's accessory with multiple costume changes. It can be seen as a metaphor for fame, the loneliness that only the famous know, the cavernous expanses of geography and emotion. It's sort of a beautiful bummer, to be honest. In that sense, "Airplanes" recalls Drake and Trey Songz equally somber "Successful" video, another clip that explored the downside of celebrity and success.
A beautiful yet ominous and haunting song, "Airplanes" is a moment of gloomy reflection upon fame, reminiscent of Lupe Fiasco's "Superstar" and Drake's "Over" and the video, perhaps much like fame itself, is a cheerless collection of lights, fast-moving imagery and solitude. There's an art to such metaphors. It's not complaining if you do it right. And in the case of "Airplanes," a deft, decidedly human take on the pitfalls of everyone knowing your name, B.o.B and Williams definitely did it right.