Posted by Emily Exton on 10/19/2011 at 1:25 PM Videos

The Popdust Files: Down For Whatever, Freemasons, kelly rowland, Sarah Chatfield, wynter gordon

In “Down For Whatever,” Kelly Rowland models different looks and practices her strut through colorful rooms set to strobe lights, while leather-clad male dancers flail about in the background—just a typical Saturday night for a former member of a hugely successful girl group. Apologies if you’re still learning the choreography from “Lay It On Me” while dreaming of ways to snag your own Big Sean, but music videos have fleeting lifespans these days. We were prepared to greet this with a general “meh,” but it appears that there’s more than just indifference to be felt after a fairly conventional video. How about outrage? Yes, Beyoncé is not the only Destiny’s Child member being smacked with plagiarism accusations of late. The Sarah Chatfield-directed “Down For Whatever” looks like one extended fashion show to us, but to others, it draws comparisons to 2010′s “Believer” by Freemasons featuring Wynter Gordon, also directed by the Brit. There are more floral patters in the latter, but the need to dance around in your undies, in front of a bullseye remains. So did Chatfield simply forget her previous gig or knowingly borrow from a template that “worked”?

“all(plural) the copying machines of the world are only getting pieces of my past . … im gonna keep being myself,” Gordon wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, in what some believe was a reference to the newly revealed video. “no shade .. only love . .. that was not directed at kelly . it was a statement . point blank,” she later clarified, obviously less keen on starting a Twitter war with any Rowland fanatics. We’re sure there will be more to this story in the coming days, and maybe a random pregnancy rumor for good measure. Whether it was conscious decision by the artist or not, Kelly’s not looking like the most original these days, with Coldplay stealing her thunder with an elephant video of their own.

Watch Rowland’s video, along with its predecessor, below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XO_R4kCTom8