UPDATE: YouTube has since removed the music video for "Hello Kitty" from its site, without explanation. Watch the official visual over Avril Lavigne's official website here.
Avril Lavigne is all about never growing up. It's basically been her brand to forever be that 14-year-old girl from Hot Topic. So it makes sense that she would release a single titled "Hello Kitty" from her most recent, eponymous album. Yesterday (April 21), the punky pop singer released a music video for the ode to Japan, and it's exactly the hellish, candy coated nightmare one could have expected.
"Hello Kitty" doesn't have much of a plotline beside Lavigne leading an army of four nearly identical red-haired Japanese women running around a major city, eating candy, kind of dancing and acting really ridiculously young for her 29 years.
There's a scene with some robotic dancing from the women and flailing from Lavigne, a party in a candy store, a quick jaunt to a sushi restaurant and a parade through the center of the city.
The music video itself is quite jaunting, not just for its youthful shenanigans but for the quick cuts and shaky camera work. To coincide with the insane EDM vibes of "Hello Kitty," the music video jumps around. A lot. It's like the after effect of a bad strobe light. Is Lavigne jumping or is the camera just cutting out? The world may never know but it's still really visually jarring.
There's also the huge issue in "Hello Kitty" of cultural appropriation, women dumbing themselves down to appear more youthful and, less seriously, that ridiculous half-shaved haircut Lavigne is sporting, but that's a conversation for another day.
Until then, watch the music video for "Hello Kitty" below:
