If you have no idea who Todrick Hall is, then I guess the rock you are living under must not receive Internet, so I hope from what free source you are stealing wifi from allows you to watch Todrick Hall's masterpiece "Straight Outta Oz". This visual autobiographic album tells story of Todrick's life, coming to terms with his sexuality, and working for his dreams to come true.
The general theme behind it is the tale of the "Wizard of Oz", by using the idea of starting the tale in black and white to signify Todrick being told that his hometown was closed minded and wanting to force him to follow the societal norms of a small town; this leading to his move to LA becoming colour as a more accepting lifestyle of Todrick's individuality and homosexuality.
The vocals, music, dances and acting is stellar and it is to be expect with a massive cast with some of the most notable to mentioned, RuPaul, Raven-Symone, Nicole Scherzinger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Amber Riley and 3/5 of Pentatonix. The visuals and cinematography is stunning and captivating. The combination of fantasy, lavish sets, and use of iconic places in LA as backdrops give the right ratio of various elements for relating an iconic fairytale to a completely real and import story.
Each song throughout this visual album has a message or strong story relation to Todrick's life. On another note, each song sounds different from one another, but it all has cohesiveness that should be expected to come from one album. (Note: it is quite hard to explain what happens throughout this without giving away too much). I can guarantee if you have an open mind, you enjoy catch and meaningful music, you love the 'Wizard of Oz', or just love Todrick Hall, this is something you should go and watch when you have an hour to spare.
Now for my personal thoughts on this: I loved every single second of this. It truly was empowering, insightful and incredible. Todrick, you and your team and cast have done the most amazing job of this and I want to thank you for the privilege of being able to watch this spectical. Seriously 10/10!
- 01:31
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