Stars – We Don’t Want Your Body
The Stars have always been pretty twee, a typically groan-worthy genre, but they’ve managed to win me over (versus, say, The Field Mice). They also put out fun, original videos and I have lingering good feelings for “Bitches in Tokyo”, “Sleep Tonight” and other cleverness. Unfortunately, the promo for their single “We Don’t Want Your Body” off of The Five Ghosts departs from the creative trend and lands in Disappointing-stan. [Editor's note: Woah. I can't believe I wrote that. Sorry guys.]
In what must be a tribute to Olivia Newton John’s “Physical”. Even the soft, blurring lighting and 80s quality footage is reminiscent of Olivia’s gym terrorizing. Of course, the recognition of such a close relation also invites us to compare the homage against the original. Both of the videos have the same running joke: overly muscly brutes are thoroughly absurd people, especially when you watch them go through their grueling and sweaty rituals. It’s a bit much to handle in both cases.
But unlike “Physical”, this Stars effort doesn’t soften the gross exercising with a (albeit wispy) narrative or light commentary beyond “lol they look like monsters.” Instead, all we get are a few visual gags – body builders lip-syncing Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan, the meatheads flex dancing in unison and the other antics – which becomes tedious very quickly. The body steam runs out and we’re left to watch the absurdism go on for 3.5 minutes. That’s too much protein powder to swallow.
Stars - We Don't Want Your Body [Official Video]
