Fifth Video on YouTube

Posted by Kaya Turan from Rochester, UK, Hatice Soylu from Istanbul, Turkey and Steffan Matrak from Moscow, Russia

Tarkan's fifth video off 10 was dropped to Youtube on Monday - after the singer had shared on social media on 2 February that the video was on the way and would be dropped "at the start of the week".

Fans had been expecting the drop since December last year when Tarkan had posted a video to tell his followers he was filming a fifth music video off his 2017 album.

The pop star followed that news with a still from the shoot nine days later, with Tarkan's own company HITT Productions tweeting the name of the track for the fifth drop on the same day.

No Exclusive Release for Fifth Video

The singer's previous music videos had been released exclusively to streaming site fizy before a worldwide release. The fifth video's straight drop to YouTube this time signals the end of the sponsor's agreement with the pop star.

Last year, streaming site fizy had dropped Tarkan's fourth video "Kedi Gibi" on 11 October and third video single "Çok Ağladım" on 20 April in a two week exclusive for subscribers.

Those videos came after the iconic pop star smashed a path through the charts in the summer of 2017 to a frenzied "Yolla", which he followed in the winter months with the romantic and warming "Beni Çok Sev".

An Intimate Portrayal of Loss

The artist's latest video is much more minimal and up close than his previous releases. Filmed in an understated black and white hue, Tarkan sits and sings out his woes in memory of a dying relationship.

Simple, sparse and unsentimental, the singer goes straight to the broken hearted as he remains the sole focus throughout the video.

Written and composed by 90s collaborator Ümit Sayın, with musical arrangements by Tarkan's long-term producer Ozan Çolakoğlu, the video was filmed under the direction of Altan Dönmez with cinematography by Münir Gürsoy.

Dönmez also directed the singer in "Pare Pare" (Metamorfoz, 2007) and "Uyan" (Uyan, 2008).

Outside of direction, Dönmez worked on other Tarkan videos, including hits "Salına Salına Sinsice" (Ölürüm Sana, 1997), "Kuzu Kuzu" (Karma, 2001), "Sorma Kalbim" and "Gülümse Kaderine" (Dudu, 2003).

Why "O Sevişmeler"?

Music columnist for Turkish daily Milliyet, "Mayk" (Mike) Şişman, gave the video wide coverage, albeit a negative one. As with Tarkan's fourth drop "Kedi Gibi", Şişman went on to Milliyet's online supplement Molatik to ask, "Why did Tarkan film a video to "O Sevişmeler?"

Şişman contradicts himself by saying that he now thinks "Kedi Gibi" was a correct choice, but believes that "O Sevişmeler" has Tarkan "running scared" from taking creative risks.

The columnist believes that, although the video suits the song, for a fifth release Tarkan should have taken a different direction. The reason the singer went with this option is because he is "playing it safe" after the "Cuppa" fiasco, Şişman believes.

"Trying to be so mainstream is making him lose his unique colours and our flowers fade alongside his," the columnist wrote.

Columnists Say Tarkan Lacks Effort

Three other columnists have been less than kind about Tarkan's fifth drop.

Posta's Uğur Alkapar wrote that it was a video in which Tarkan's nose had a "starring role", and that the director must have convinced Tarkan that everyone is just going to "look at his beautiful eyes" anyway to have come up with the final effort.

Meanwhile, Hürriyet's Onur Baştürk has described the video as "sadly ordinary", stressing that Tarkan's nineties video work was much better than his recent output.

"If you're going to film a video for such a beautiful song, it's such a pity more effort wasn't put into it," Başturk complained - stating that the modern era was one of substance and visual style, indicating Tarkan's video had neither.

Finally, Sabah's Özlem Acvı says that Tarkan "is no longer brave". Blaming it on fatherhood, she says that he has started filming music videos "not fit for a megastar".

She asks: "To be a star means to be bold and courageous ... I was expecting Tarkan to be more creative ... Haven't we missed that old inventive and risk taking Tarkan?"

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