Yoü and I mv is underrated

[loveandpeace 1,698]

The "You and I" music video barely gets talked about compared to other videos from that era, or even from any other era. On this day in 2011, it was filmed in Nebraska. Let's give it some love. 

I remember watching it as a kid and being mesmerized by it. Everything about it is just perfect.

some fashion details i took from lamaisongaga:

Spoiler

Marian Newman created all the nails for the video. About the first set: “She walked from NY to Nebraska and got damaged and needed help from robotics. The 2 nails are broken chic, fashion nails that have been repaired”. Nude pink with silver wire. The swivel nails were riveted.

Edited Monday at 08:41 PM by loveandpeace

[GagaSkeletonWay 2,086]

Second best of the era. Right after Judas. 

[Purrrrrr 18,054]

probably because to a lot of people it's the reject TEOG video 

it's legit such a good video though 

[artd0me 841]

It’s my favorite BTW era video

Edited Monday at 10:40 PM by artd0me

[Togekiss 3,118]

The song is underrated too IMO

[mamo 20,413]

33 minutes ago, GagaSkeletonWay said:

Second best of the era. Right after Judas. 

marry the night says hi 

[Apec 280]

I love Yüyi conceptually, the Nymph and Gaga's first appearance with darker hair (she actually, now that I think about it, looked like that doll the inexplicable creepy ice cream man gave Robo!Gaga in a sort of hallucination/traumatic flashback blocking her path? ). Cyborg!Gaga was a refreshing take in the surrounding greenery, as well as the symbolism of needing to be put back together after all she'd been through (the way she had to move her arm with the other neatly demonstrated in the beginning this wasn't just a get-up). The actual story is a puzzle but my take is that she's back in Nebraska not to get her lover back, but herself. "This time I'm not leaving without you" screams her searching for her own self-love, self-actualization and self-acceptance in the video, unlike the song on its own. We know things had changed drastically since she first wrote it years before and when they made the MV. 

All the creepy medical barn experiments represent her being twisted into the version her lover wanted her to be/become, which she blindly accommodated at the time, not putting her needs first or even just putting them out there out of what she thought was love. Then when she's cryogenically frozen (or at least it looks like it) and that one tear rolling down her cheek looking actually paralyzed for a while in the medical chair - both darker-haired incidentally - maybe it's past Gaga/Stefani mourning what she's become ... these scenes, anyway you slice them, highly likely represent regret at the time lost as a person she couldn't/didn't want to be. With her self-actualization starting again in an embryonic state long before Cyborg/Still Broken Gaga comes back to reclaim herself completely. Not naming names about said lover trying to fit her in his perfect box, plus the concept must've been much bigger than him.

In the present she begins as a semi-Cyborg, metaphorically, ready to go back to the place of the "crime" to find herself again. She becomes the Nymph in the night, dancing and running around, playing piano until the deal is sealed with the kiss with Joe Calderone, who kind of sits there inexplicably until you see him as a male edgier and freer mirror of the innocent, stripped of everything but a satin dress Nymph!Gaga (random fact: she has people named "Calderone" in her family tree and her dad's name is of course Joe, but I think there were other Joe's too ). The barn-dancing teal-haired leather strips-wearing Gaga represent flashbacks to her former heartbreak while the Bride at the end is a memory of much more innocent times.

I'm actually not mad at Joe Calderone having existed for a short while (I phrase it that way as he isn't with us anymore ), unlike many others here. Really unexpected change of pace, that monologue was pure theatre, not cringe, imho.  What's wrong with Drag King performances? Especially by someone of her stature! Not that I wanted it to last longer but all in all, it was a single cover/VMA's/being a minor character in one MV/one Japanese Men's Magazine dedicated to him. Seeing Tony Bennett at the VMA's welcoming Joe back in his seat is trippy though, but for a long time Tony came to everything Gaga did like the Stevie Wonder tribute and so many more random events I spotted him at just as her friend over the years when he was still...fully himself. 

There are other very personal reasons I love the MV, it was strangely soothing before and after years of futile treatments that had tinges of some scenes.

As for the music, the country twang came as a surprise, as well as the "We Will Rock You" sample, but in the end Gaga and Brian May transformed pure ballad Yoü and I into a very worthy rock-ish Yoü and I. Gaga didn't want ballads on BTW so I respect that. I love the ballad version to death but anyway... We're talking about the MV. It's filled with striking imagery and is up for interpretation, which was a mysterious but refreshing idea. The Inez and Vinoodh mini-videographies of each character were really interesting, and the opportunity she had nearly immediately after to pose for the cover of a major avant-garde magazine as a mermaid with the US flag colors in her hair while covered in oil up to her chest was a really nice way to bring awareness re: the oil lobby/industry, ocean pollution and climate change at a time even many Moderates still didn't want to trust that humans had a huge hand in this mess. I say this as a non-US person but I followed a lot of US political discourse, basically couldn't dodge it if I wanted to, even back then. 

I forgot the magazine (I'm seriously ill and my head barely works so this took ages, sorry). I do have the Maxi version hanging around somewhere - yes there were two versions of the magazine, normal size and large. But that whole thing put a nice activist bow on the end of the era in my opinion.

Edited yesterday at 12:40 AM by Apec

[Ziggy 13,980]

One of the era’s best imo alongside MTN. I didn’t like how much Judas relied on studio sets in an unironic way. Felt like a tackier (not bad) but less fun (bad) BR in its staging. TEOG is amazing bc it really leans into the magic of cinema vibes with how it treats its set. BTW is spectacular until the song starts and then the closing (it’s solid in between). MTN is just great, no notes imo. Y&I is great bc it’s basically a standard music video but really well done and Gaga. I like how they did the mermaid. Ik it was a repurposed concept but it still felt fresh being in a cornfield farm lab rather than Shape of Water vibes.

which is all funny bc I think mutt Lange ruined this song with its country thing

Edited Monday at 11:04 PM by Ziggy

[SevenWonder 4,743]

As someone from an indie rock background, You and I and TEoG were the songs that made me rethink how I thought of Gaga. I wouldn't stan until ARTPOP, but those two songs proved she could do more than other pop stars.

Tl;dr: I love You and I - the song and video.

[RochesterJoannster 4,042]

You and I’s video is top tier.

I remember during a mega-rate, being disappointed that less interesting videos such as Poker Face and Rain On Me ranked higher than You and I.

[Lucas 31,061]

This is the song and music video that turned me from fan to stan 

Back then I literally only listened to You & I non-stop for like 2 months, I was absolutely obsessed with this song. And yeah the music video is very underrated, for me it's up there with Judas as the best videos from the era.

Edited Monday at 11:30 PM by Lucas

[RochesterJoannster 4,042]

56 minutes ago, mamo said:

marry the night says hi 

It can say hi from third place. 

[AVeryGagaHolyDick 31,818]

One of her best videos ever imo, like top 3

It’s absolutely perfect from start to finish

The cinematography, the set, the looks, the creativity, the choreo…

 

Edited yesterday at 02:30 AM by AVeryGagaHolyDick

[AVeryGagaHolyDick 31,818]

Now imagine the Yoü And I video but instead of Taylor, it’s Michael