Beyoncé's new video If I Were a Boy presents a Freaky Friday scenario; switching places with boyfriend for a day, she becomes a laddy cop, getting her flirt on with her co-worker while Mr Beyoncé is left hurt and betrayed from the sidelines. But then (surprise!) the tables are turned and things go back to normal - cue closing shot of B singing "But I'm just a girl" while looking really sad.
When it's not trying to be a Calvin Klein advert, the moodily shot black and white video perfectly captures 2008's obsession with gender politics. Of course, Beyoncé is a veteran of boy/girl issues - from Bills, Bills, Bills to Independent Women to Irreplaceable her catalogue's lyrical content is kind of like gorging on The Rules, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and O - The Oprah Magazine all at once.
But it's the year's biggest pop star, Katy Perry, who's seemingly the most obsessed with modern morals. In her three singles (and videos) she's managed to offend the gays, the metrosexual guys and the girls themselves. In her new promo for Hot N Cold she plays a rejected bride on the road to revenge. Pretty punk rock? Well no, not really; Perry's "revenge" consists of several groovy dance steps in Agent Provocateur bridal bustiers while cooing "You PMS like a bitch/ I would know."
Perry, as a former Christian rock star who keeps company with Miley Cyrus, is not the latest (early) Annie Lennox or Grace Jones - artists who skilfully used the visual medium to artfully tackle the war of the sexes - but hand drawn by record company marketing men who have looked at the pages of Dear Deidre for lyrical inspiration.
But it's not just the girls who are mixing it up in a PG-13 style. Attempting to salvage his career while it's being eclipsed by the likes of Ne-Yo and Chris Brown, R&B superstar Usher's new single Trading Places sees him get on board the gender train. Like some hil-ar-ious segment of The Girlie Show, Usher switches places with his boo. He pants about his lady "taking him on a date", letting her go on top, making her breakfast in bed, going on shopping sprees paid for by her and hilariously "order[ing] Chinese food before you do me". Really it's a laundry list of mundanities. And then, finally, he promises for part two of the song: "We're gonna switch this thing back/I'm a put it on your ass". What a guy!
Is this really what women want? We're not sure, but we've really gone off our special fried rice.
