2011 MTV VMAs nominee?
The Houston Zoo's new music video assures you "It's a Beautiful Day"
Don't all bona fide rock stars need a breakout rock video?
Well, if the Houston Zoo is your rock star, its MTV debut is now imminent.
Well, maybe not MTV, but a television station that actually plays music videos. Because thanks to Leah White and the Magic Mirrors, the Houston Zoo has an official post-production video presence.
Sung by a syrupy sweet girl-next-door cross between Giada de Laurentiis and Debbie Gibson, Nickelodeon award-winning Houston musician Leah White beams, mugs, gestures, and enthuses her way through the Zoo's attractions and exhibits on "It's a Beautiful Day."
The ditty is the first full-length song (to our knowledge) featuring our hometown zoo at center stage. Creative interpretation of iambic pentameter aside, we appreciate White's inadvertent homage to comfortable yet chic apparel for female caretakers on the go (we won't assume that brood is hers).
The real gems, however, are unearthed in White's singsong-y sprinklings of touchable, practical information about endangered animals. Considering the Zoo's outstanding focus on conservation, these tidbits should come as no surprise.
"Just learned something new today; some animals are endangered species. There's not many of them left in the world; we need a population increase...oh, won't you help me help them, please?"
Heartstrings, tugged? Done.
The way White gazes into the eyes of that okapidoes make us wonder how close White really is to the fauna at the Zoo. Such gazes and nuzzles should be reserved for that heartbreakingly lonely orangutan in the video. Because primates are, well, pretty irresistible.
Now that you (or someone more pint-sized than you) have decided you can't live without the tune on your iPod, you can download the group's entire new album, Sprinkler, for your very own. Blast it in your car, at the gym, at the office, in the shower. We won't tell.
Or just become the favorite parent/aunt/cousin by taking the little buggers to the Leah White and the Magic Mirrors video premier party on Saturday at the Zoo Reflection Pool from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Because anyone that soulfully works a cat-habitat rhyme is worth seeing live.
Can bubblegum kiddie pop get you up off that couch and outside to play? Watch for yourself. Leah White and the Houston Zoo certainly hope so. After all, it is a beautiful day.
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Photo by Leonid Furmansky
