CMT Blog: Videos

For the thousands of young adults who are college-bound this fall, Jennette McCurdy's "Not That Far Away" is sure to resonate. However, this fresh-faced 18-year-old has already established herself with a budding acting career in Nickelodeon's iCarly. Now she's hoping to find her way into the country field with a contract on Capitol Nashville and a cozy, colorful video that finds her signing up for an open mic night. Since she looks so comfortable up on the stage, her family and friends in California probably don't need to worry too much. Check out the video.

Roman White is the man behind the new Taylor Swift video, "Mine." You can scour the Internet for details on the shoot (what designer was wore, how hot was that guy in it, is there some kind of kissing scene, where did they shoot it), and you will never find more comprehensive scoop than in White's own blog now that the video is officially finished. He rants a bit about how hot it was in Maine ("I'm talking eggs boiling on your buns HOT!"). And he reminisces about the producer getting accosted by a sea gull and about getting a Hugs A Lot bear from Swift at the end of the project. The shoot started on a 2,000-acre estate, then the cast and crew headed to a small town called Cape Porpoise. White doesn't give a premiere date for this insanely anticipated video, but since the song itself was released earlier than planned, maybe the same will happen with the video.

Photo credit: Peter Kramer

Eric Church knows there's more than one way to handle any situation, and in "Smoke a Little Smoke" you can guess his preferred remedy. With lyrics touching on a breakup, we get the idea that Church is ready to let this one go -- and sit back and fire one up. Now, we all know smoking ain't cool, but obviously the image here is that Church is a badass who will smoke if he feels like it. Don't get me wrong, I'm a "spark 'em if ya got 'em" kind of guy, but in this case it might be nice to know a little more of the back story. Just a few lines about what it was like before she left could transform "Smoke" into an upbeat song with some real heft. How long did he have to hide that stash? How many Friday nights did he spend watching I Love Lucy? But second-guessing aside, one of the arrangement's most interesting features is its building-block approach -- it starts off with one guitar riff and builds up piece by piece. See if you can find similar elements in Church's newest video.

If it was not for Jerrod Niemann's swift rise to fame, and his very infectious "Lover, Lover," I might never have heard of Sonia Dada. Neimann remade the group's 1992 hit, "You Don't Treat Me No Good," into "Lover, Lover." And if it was not for Kenny Chesney's "Down the Road," I might not have taken it upon myself to fall in love with Mac McAnally's music, as he sings the thoughts of a hesitant father on that tune. And really, I might not have paid enough attention to Kelly Clarkson until she and Reba McEntire came together for that unforgettable collaboration on Clarkson's "Because of You."

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Kanye West wants a fur coat. Kanye West orders bellinis too early. Kanye West drinks New York City tap water. Kanye West likes his new collaboration with Beyoncé. And Kanye West is thrilled he has more than 600,000 followers on Twitter. And that's all well and good, for Kanye West. But have those 600,000 people forgotten what West did? Do they not remember that just about a year ago, he yanked the microphone out of Taylor Swift's hands during her MTV VMA acceptance speech for "Love Story" "You Belong With Me" and told her and the millions watching that, essentially, Beyoncé had the better video? I am not quite over that. So I don't know that I'd want to follow him. Plus, nothing says "It's All About Me" quite like a man with around 610,000 followers and 0 people on his following list.

Photo credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Jennette McCurdy has not let the narcissistic character she plays on iCarly bring her down in real life. Thank God. That's just her being Sam. But I much prefer the real McCurdy who you can get a glimpse of in this making-of video for her debut country video, "Not That Far Away." It's been a year and a half since I first wrote about the young star launching a country career after all those episodes of iCarly on Nickelodeon. And it's been 10 years since McCurdy got her first taste of Nashville's charms when she played Faith Hill's daughter in the video for "The Way You Love Me." McCurdy's video debuts on Saturday (Aug. 14) and was directed by Roman White, the man behind "Fifteen," "You Belong With Me," "Before He Cheats," "Last Name," "Just a Dream," "So Small," "Hillbilly Bone" and many more. So I think it's safe to say, this video will be huge.

Following his Grammy-winning collaboration with Alison Krauss on 2007's Raising Sand album, Robert Plant is back with a new project called Band of Joy, and this one promises to dig even deeper into Plant's love for Americana. For Led Zeppelin trivia heads, Plant and the late drummer John Bonham were in a group called Band of Joy before Zeppelin took off. But now the band is led by the sure hand of producer/guitarist Buddy Miller and features Patty Griffin, Darrell Scott, Byron House and Marco Giovino as they uncover dusty American gems. In his video for "Angel Dance," Plant revives the old Los Lobos tune and sets it to images of young people and, well, joy. There's a distinctive swampy, industrial chug to Miller's production, while Plant's vocals occasionally drift up near the upper reaches of his famed range. As a bonus of sorts, Louis Perez and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos act as chauffeurs to Plant in what works as a cool metaphor for his exploration of the American musical landscape.

Is it possible to take one song and see it two completely different ways? After seeing a new video for Lady Antebellum's "I Run to You," I have to say, absolutely. I thought the first one was so neat, with its pay-it-forward theme playing out in the coffee shop. But this new one shifts gears to be more about the band's performance and less about the story. That's just how director Christopher Sims intended it. "It's set on a rooftop in Nashville, like an artists' loft might look, because I wanted the band to be observers. They're looking down at the world from over the edge," he told me.

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In new videos screened by the CMT New Music Video Evaluation Team recently, Kenny Chesney goes back to the football field, Miranda Lambert delivers a lesson and Bomshel get even.

Artist: Kenny Chesney
Video: "The Boys of Fall"
Director: Shaun Silva

Kenny Chesney previews footage from his forthcoming documentary film The Boys of Fall. Football legends from Bear Bryant to Joe Namath and Peyton Manning make appearances, along with many players from high school, college and pro teams.

Panelists' Comments: "That's good but it's really, really long." "Eight minutes!" "That's some great football footage."

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Miranda Lambert channels her inner high schooler in the new video for "Only Prettier," going back in time to a '50s dance. There is some serious tension going on between her and a dark-haired rival, so the whole way through I waited for the punch bowl to go flying. Then I realized that Lambert and her friends -- Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott, Kellie Pickler and Laura Bell Bundy -- were playing both sides of the fight, so that might be kind of hard to shoot. No matter, watching each character try to annoy her alter ego is just as fun. The good girls wear pearl earrings and sit modestly, while looking mostly disgusted with those other girls, who smoke cigarettes, spike the punch and hang on the boys. I guess that begs the question, which side do you think these girls have taken in reality?