Lotus Flower - Radiohead
This thing from Radiohead’s new album compelled me to post again after a few months, because I feel conflicted about it.
It’s the fantasy of every “I Want to Have Thom Yorke’s emotionally disturbed baby” Radiohead fan - watching him emote for a full five minutes as a weird Bob Fosse in skinny jeans. But then I find it confusing. For all that this guy has resisted media attention, been loathe to participate in all the fanaticism that exists in his fanbase, to make a video that romanticizes himself just like any other pop star’s video product, that pushes the sexuality of the star as much as their creative product, it seems like he’s had some kind of turnaround in his ideas about it.
Granted, when he does manage to take the bowler off in the video, you see a sweaty matted down head beneath it. There’s nothing pretty about that. But to have a video of him just writhing around in front of the camera - not even a cutaway to a rotted rat corpse or something equally Radiohead-esque - there seems to be some megalomania about it. Where are the other four members? Has he finally decided to accept and enjoy the spoils of being the “frontman” without all the fake modesty? What is he trying to say with this video? It seems like absolutely nothing aside from selling himself as a celebrity.
