Amazing Music Video of the Day: Nelly - "Just A Dream"

Remember Nelly?  He was that one bandaged guy from St. Louis who sold a ton of records at the turn of the century.  A common misconception is that he hasn't released anything since his ingeniously titled and moderately successful Sweat and Suit albums in 2004.  A little known industry secret, however, is that he actually released another album in 2008 entitled "Brass Knuckles", apparently named in anticipation of its sales, as it would go on to be certified brass.  How did Nelly go from selling 9 million-plus copies of Country Grammar to 200,000 in just 8 short years?  In our estimation, the answer is simple:  he didn't make enough ridiculous music videos.



Fast-forward to present day and Nelly is back on music's radar.  His newest euro-pop tinged single "Just a Dream" is currently sitting at #2 on the iTunes sales chart and #4 on the Billboard 100.  What explains this sudden and unexpected rise from one of hip-hop's fallen stars?  Some would have you believe that it is due to the song itself, which sounds exactly like one of the 20 other interchangeable, generic euro-pop songs currently flooding urban radio (is this Ne-Yo, Enrique Iglesias, or Taio Cruz, and who the hell is Taio Cruz anyway?).  However, as plausible as that explanation is, we have a completely different theory - the song's success is due entirely to its incredible music video.  With over 7 million views, it is clear to us that the music buying public is simply rewarding Nelly for this visual masterpiece by buying the song or requesting it on the radio.

Here is a quick synopsis of the video (which you can watch below):

The video opens with a black and white image of ocean waves crashing, causing the viewer to think that they accidentally clicked on a Chris Issak video.  However, when the waves disappear to reveal a Ford Mustang inexplicably levitating over the ocean, it becomes all too clear that either Chris Issak has suddenly become much cooler or that Nelly is preparing to take us on a wild and gravity-defying journey.  The latter is confirmed once we see  Nelly sitting in the front seat, staring longingly into the windshield of his floating car - and our heart instantly breaks.

At first this appears to be a scene inside Nelly's dream, as he awakes inside a Mustang that is securely parked on the ground inside of an empty parking lot (our heart is still broken, though, knowing that Nelly's drop in record sales has forced him to live inside his car).  However, while Nelly is still awake in the parking lot (a.k.a. his front yard), we shift back to the hovering Mustang, where he is now looking helplessly out the window trying to figure out how is going to get down.  From this point, it is clear that the video isn't going to make much sense.  So instead of trying to follow the story (which we are sure exists, but is perhaps just too deep for us to understand), we decide to just take in the subsequent breath-taking visuals, which include:

- a 50 foot wedding ring rotating on the beach
- shattering eyeballs, complete with projectile tears
- a floating house
- the car, house and ring spontaneously catching fire (who knew brass was so flammable?)
- Nelly submerged underwater, doing his best fat Chris Brown impression and desperately trying to hold onto his lost lover's hand as she slowly disappears, creating a scene eerily reminiscent of Michaelanglo's 16th chapel.

But enough with the description, have a look for yourself and please remember to support this amazing art by buying a copy of the song on iTunes!