Straight up now tell me when was the last time you checked yourself for breast cancer? Paula Abdul wants the ladies to know that if you’re over 50, you should be getting a mammogram once a year. So she’s reminding the public about this important health message with a medium everyone can understand: a dance song that sounds a bit like her 1988 hit, “Straight Up.”
The “Check Yourself” video, made on behalf of the Avon Foundation for Women in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, features some furious wrist-based choreography, a lot of purposeful (and appropriate!) breast touching and — because it’s 2014 — what appears to be a little cultural appropriation (hasn’t Katy Perry taught musicians to avoid outfits like the one featured a minute and 20 seconds in?). The most noteworthy accomplishment, however — besides providing a Paula Abdul career update and, you know, spreading a positive message — may be the way Abdul makes the words “clinical exam” sound like they’ve always belonged in a big pop song.
America’s currently all about that bass, but will it be all about that breast?