Avril Lavigne Hello Kitty Video: Avril Lavigne turned her attention to another country far away from Asia as she walked the red carpet for the new John John store Sao Paulo, Brazil ahead of her concert on Tuesday evening.
After the negative publicity that the Canadian singer acquired from her latest music video "Hello Kitty", Avril, 29, singer landed in South America on Monday for her five-day Avril Lavigne Tour.
According to Daily Mail, last week, Lavigne came under fire on Twitter because of the video for her new single that features her singing animatedly in Japanese. Some accused the blonde star of making a mockery of the culture, but she took to Twitter herself to hit back.
She wrote: 'RACIST??? LOLOLOL!!! I love Japanese culture (sic)'
"I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video specifically for my Japanese fans, WITH my Japanese label, Japanese choreographers AND a Japanese director IN Japan," she said.
According to Billboard, "Hello Kitty" is the fourth music video to be released from Avril Lavigne's self-titled fifth studio album, but the clip has garnered by far the most Internet buzz. Jason Lipshutz did not charge Lavigne with racism while recapping the music video, but instead detailed the video's laziness, including the generic dance moves clumsy guitar-playing and cringe worthy lip-synching.
The three-minute promo for her latest single, the dubstep-inflected, Ke$ha-esque Hello Kitty, sees the singer bouncing around various dayglo locations in front of a quartet of bored-looking Asian dancers, with a few clichéd Japanese signifiers thrown in for good measure (kawaii wardrobe, a sushi chef, some Fujifilm Instax product placement), as described by The Guardian.
Online response has been instantaneous and condemning, with critics slamming the clumsy cultural appropriation and the dubious presentation of the dancers. Entertainment Weekly said it raised "serious questions about whether it's offensive or offensively obvious."
The "Hello Kitty" music video continues the campaign for "Avril Lavigne. Catch the Lavigne when she opens for the Backstreet Boys on a tour that begins May 3.
