Jackie Cruz - Be Bad
Imagine that God was a film director who just wanted his actors to follow his vision and was willing to throw out anyone who wouldn’t follow his lead…not too difficult to imagine, right? Well, now you can watch Jackie Cruz’s interpretation of this very scenario in her latest single release ‘Be Bad’.
There is something wonderfully hilarious and unfortunately telling watching Adam acting like an entitled prick in the opening of the video for this very brief track. Opening the scene in the garden with Lilith instead of Eve, it’s made clear that God wants someone who is willing to submit to his will entirely. I know this track is more of a commentary on the treatment of women in the art industry (what a shame we have to call it that) but I think this piece does a good job at pointing out some great flaws in both the entertainment world as well as the religious world. There is a reason why it translates to beautifully; one form of abuse to another.
To the song itself, I have to say it is catchy and will certainly become an earworm for many but I find it incredibly brief and perhaps, amazingly, too repetitive. Now, this could be a very conscious decision to reflect the repetition of affronts caused by those in power, seeking dominance over those who have nothing but the power to walk away, shamed by the status quo (if they have the courage to do so). If that is the case, I respect the choice, but I do find the piece to be mainly the singing of the title and then the singing of the exact opposite. I leave it up to the general audience to decide if that is effective or not. It must be, to some extent since I feel the song is all too short; a full third of the video relegated to the introduction of the theme of power play.
All in all, the dark and dreamy pop quality of this track really does draw one to the mantric manner of the refrain and the message is certainly clear from verse to verse. And as an added bit of religious enjoyment, being a rather Catholic atheist myself, I love that the video for this song ends with Lilith leading who I assume and hope to be Eve into the light, as though she is about to lead her into temptation to ‘Be Bad’. That is a wonderful touch!
