POPSCREEN: Akon

A simple question opens the video for Akon’s new single, “Right Now (Na Na Na).” “When you have everything?” the subtitles ask (apparently, Akon’s not into proper grammar), “what could you possibly desire?” Akon, the man who we can all pretty much agree has everything (including his own diamond mine in South Africa—seriously), has your answer: “The one you loved the most.” Well, duh! No doubt tempered by last year’s notorious 15-year-old-in-the-club incident, Akon proceeds to display his sensitive side in this video about a lost love.

The video intersperses scenes featuring Akon moving through a dark club with flashbacks to picturesque, romantic moments with the girl he has since lost. We see him playing basketball with her as kids gleefully look on. We see him giving her a CD-R, a sure sign of trust in our age of leaked singles and file-sharing. By the time he calls her his “homie, lover, and friend,” we know this love was real.

The king of hooks doesn’t offer anything musically different from his previous singles here. “I wanna make love right now” is the song’s main hook—hey, the guy’s a straight-talker if nothing else. But the chorus is still catchy enough to have you simultaneously singing it in your head and being a little unhappy with yourself for doing so.

At the end of the video, we fade out to a shot of Akon ambling alone along a beach. We can only assume that he wants to make love right now (na na na). And whether you’re watching him pull up in his 007-status convertible or casually remove his Italian suit jacket, we can’t really put the blame on you for wanting it too.

—R. Derek Wetzel