Manny King John
Coming off his new album, In Another Life, Bilal’s new video for his single, “Satellites,” might possibly open up your third eye or just give you a headache. Washing up upon the sea, the soul singer begins the video in a peaceful and reflective state, as if to symbolize rebirth into a new life. Watching people struggle, the deity-like character that Bilal plays lends a helping hand to those in desperate situations. I can’t lie, the low-end special effects to create lights, electrical current, and such take away from the seriousness of the video because they’re sooo corny. It’s a minimal struggle to extend your imagination, but hey, the job gets done; the message Bilal is trying send out gets decoded. Wait, is that a onesie? Nope, can’t do it; they got your boy out here in an onesie.
As the video goes on, the help the singer gives out begins to aid materialistic wants. It’s not confirmed, but one scene seems to suggest Bilal blesses a homeless woman with the gift of cable. Not quite sure how much of a blessing that really is. Towards the end of the visual, we see the Philly native get accosted by two police officers and his essence flows away, leading to his passing essentially, in an effort to highlight and promote the Black Lives Matter movement.
This video is so all over the place, I can’t tell up from down. It’s like a topsy-turvy chef of a director said, “Let’s sprinkle a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and oh, let’s throw this random shit in here with no correlation to the rest of the video, as well.” Maybe I’m being too critical. Maybe I should give Bilal an ‘A’ for effort and intention. At the same time, I just can’t do it. I want to like this video because, hello, it’s Bilal; he’s legendary on the low. I probably just hold Mr. Oliver to a higher standard due to what I know he’s capable of, which is speaking to your soul (Have you heard, “Soul Sista”?!). Even so, by the looks of this video, you could never tell. Where is Deity Bilal to help me get out of my internal skruggle of disappointment with this video of his? Prayers up.
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