Eminem was and still is one of the most known rappers in the world, he embodied the "struggle" that rappers would usually start from. Growing up in a trailer park Eminem was in a family with just his mother who was on drugs. This was not a healthy lifestyle for his childhood and is his basis for most of his songs today. He had gone through struggles such as facing racism, gang violence and drugs, on top of that being in trouble with the federal government. His lyrics tell a story of what he had gone through to get to where he is now, just like most rappers they'd mention how they have "made it" from nothing to being successful. Being a white male, rap would usually come from the african american culture so he had broken that barrier as he was one of the growing white american rappers that would appeal to all races. He has represented his self as coming up from nothing and still mot forgetting his roots so he can still be original and true to his self.
Stars as constructions
Part of former boy band under Simon Cowells record label 'Syco' 'One Direction', Zayn Malik had left the band in 2015 when he had decided that the groups music wasn't his type and that he wanted a break from everything. He had left the band in order to pursue a solo career by himself. He may have left the group as the style of music and fans didn't quite suit his idea of song writing. He went from teenage girls dream to a more adult/mature audience for his new music. The Label "Syco' wouldn't be affected as much as the boy band were still together as only one member had left. Plus in addition to all the money Simon Cowell makes with these new artists he makes more money by reeling in new contestants on his show 'The X-Factor'. So he can produce another artist every year from that show and still get as much money from giving the winner a record deal which would probably only last so long that the artist will then be forgotten about half a year after they have won the show. Stars as personalities
A star who connects with their audience would be Ariana Grande, she has a close connection with her fans as she follows most of them back on twitter and messages them back when they ask her questions or just want to say hi. Grande went from being a nickelodeon star on the show Victorious to producing her own songs. Her fan base grew bigger and bigger as she built her solo music career. With this she had introduced new ways in connecting with her fans who have supported her from the start. It is important I would say for an artist to connect with their fans as they are the main supporters behind their success. Ariana Grande during her time at Nickelodeon had had kept her "adorable" personality as she was described as that in both the kids show and in reality. As the years of her solo career had gone on she has targeted a more mature audience of ages 18+. With songs such as "Into you" and "Love me harder" ft The Weeknd. These songs consisted of lyrics and visuals which were in some what way classed as "adult" viewing. She has matured as a person and with her music however still connects with her younger audience. Stars as products
Kanye West has made a living off of both his music and his business clothing line. His clothing "Yeezy" has made millions of dollars on top of the money he makes for his celebrity status. His clothing line is well known across the globe and is seen as a very high quality and fashionable. His clothing is endorsed and worn by many other celebrities hence why it is so successful as fans of those other celebrities will see them wearing this brand therefore it will lead to more sales. This type of promotion can be seen as a "Business". Kanye wests ideology of his brand create this unique figure for people that wear them hence why he makes a lot of money off of his product.
Name of artist/group: Contact solo Song name: 'Mi Latina'
Intended audience: The intended audience for this song would be of the ages 19-25 as the lyrics are more towards romance and love story. The targets sex would be to both genders as the singer is a male singing about a woman. Furthermore, the song would apply to socio classes of B-D, this would be because I wouldn't expect high classes such as A to be listening to R&B. This song consists if intense lyrics which shows the love the man has for the women and how he wants to be with her, so a more mature audience would be likely to listen to this. This would be the main target audience, both sexes, ages between 19 to 25.
LYRICS
"I know you, dont say I know why i'm singing this, you got the look in your eyes,
I got a question for you, I wanna know, what do you have that I want.
when you look at me this way.
Come on now, dont try and hide it girl,
I know' you love to say, you feel something about me.
And I feel the same, its not hard to see.
I promise i'll be gentle, close your eyes and trust me.
CHORUS You know that you wanted me, you said we'd never fall in love, spend your life with me, she said she'd never felt this weak before,
yes she needed me, but i said i was gonna, said she loved me,
but now i'm all alone, she wanted me, and I refused, i'm so confused
as hard as it can be theres nothing between her and me, except this song now.
Im sorry, loves not a game, why i'm saying this, remember what we first said,
wanna talk about it. I am your man, said we'd have to stop, if one of us fell in love. c'mon now. I like the way you love me girl, please dont stop now theres no shame. you' fell in love with me. and I did the same its not hard to see, i swear its hard to live, but its stronger than me
You know that you wanted me, you said we'd never fall in love, spend your life with me, she said she'd never felt this way before,
yes she needed me, but i said i was gonna, said she loved me,
but now i'm all alone, she wanted me, and I refused, i'm so confused
as hard as it can be theres nothing between her and me, except this song now.
come back to me, could you come back to me oh come back to me I wish i never left ya', stronger than me yes its stronger than me I just cant hide that with ya'. wish i could turn back the hands of time, oh yes i say that i just cant hide it, you'll still be in my arms.
You know that you wanted me, you said we'd never fall in love, spend your life with me, she said she'd never felt this way before,
yes she needed me, but I said I was gonna, said she loved me,
but now i'm all alone, she wanted me, and I refused, i'm so confused
as hard as it can be theres nothing between her and me, except this song now. oh except this song now'. *instruments play*
Key Theme: The key theme to this song is romance and desire. This could be because of the man trying to get the attention of the woman and trying to gain her love. The name of the song 'Mi Latina' which translates form spanish to "My Girl" suggests that he wants her to be his and only his with a lot of passion. This is similar to a lot of love/romance songs as the woman is the one who is usually getting chased or being "hard to get". This would fit the theme appropriately and show the clear
image tat the artist wants us as the audience to have.
Meaning of lyrics: The lyrics to me suggest that the singer (male) made a mistake or that he wants her back as seen in the lyrics which read "Come back to me, could you come back to me oh". This would show the regret he has in his heart and how much he is wanting hr back, also linking regret with the lyrics "said she loved me, but now i'm all alone, she wanted me, and I refused, i'm so confused", again showing that he made a mistake of refusing the woman's love for him in the first place. This heartbreak/begging for the the woman back can be seen throughout the song in various lyrics so this would be the meaning of the whole song itself.
Analytics of music: Other than the lyrics the music has a "spanish/latino" beat to it. this can be heard in the instruments and beats used. For example a Guitar and snare drums. The impact of this is that it is used to create a smooth, romantic sound and gives off a sexy and "full of passion" theme to it. This would suit the lyrics and meaning of the song as it is all about romance and getting the woman's attention. This all adds up to the effect of showing his love and feelings for this "woman" of his desires. This song for me is similar to the song 'Senorita' sung by Justin Timberlake as it has a similar theme and beat to it, using more or less the same instruments.
Analysing tempo: The tempo and beat of this song goes very smoothly and slow at times to focus on the emotion in the lyrics. This would've been the focus of the artist as its the message he wants to get across and what he wants the aim of the song to be. The tempo of this song effects the amount of emotion that would have to be put into certain parts of the song.
Applying to music video: I would apply this to my own music video by having a male and female, as these are the main characters in the song, I would have the male. which could be me, trying to get the attention of a female. This would be vital as it is the main theme and the lyrics of the song consist of a man trying to win back this woman who is giving him the cold shoulder. In terms of actual visuals id have the male wearing casual smart clothes, that of which you would wear to a date like a nice shirt and chinos, whilst the female could be seen doing casual walking down a street whilst she is oblivious to my love. This would show that he is desperate for the woman's attention.
Denotations and Connotations of lyrics: The lyrics in the song may have a deeper meaning to what is actually said. For example when he says "as hard as it can be theres nothing between her and me" This may suggest that although they have had their hard times he thinks that there isn't really anything to argue about between the two, this shows that he wants to get together with her again. Furthermore, when he said "stronger than me yes its stronger than me I just cant hide that with ya'" he might have been referring to his love for her being stronger than he is hence why he cant stop thinking about her and wants her so badly. This is a clear connotation of how the artist really feels and how he has represented this in the lyrics.
This music video with rapper 50 Cent and singer Justin Timberlake was released in 2007 was at the top of the charts for a good few weeks as it was catchy and the video caught a lot of peoples eye. This video used a fair amount of editing as it was essential to use a lot of technology in the video as the name suggests. Another reason why this video became so popular is because it consisted of two major artists who had their own large fan bases.
In terms of the quality of the music video the lip syncing was very on point and matched every scene it was in with the visuals, the scenes cut fairly quickly so the lip syncing should and would've been an essential part that the artists would have to get right, which they did. A good example of this can be seen at (0:28)-(0:31) where the lyrics are fast in rap form and sung by 50 cent, as seen on screen the lip syncing is very precise and looks like he was rapping then and there. Additionally from Justin Timberlake at around (1:29) he sings in quick succession so this goes well with accurate lip syncing to show the quality of the artists and the music videos visuals. The whole song doesn't have one tempo or pace of music so the lyrics and how they were sung would change throughout, this was done extremely well and made this music video be one of the most popular of its time back in 2007.
BAD LIP SYNCING
This video had poor lip syncing in certain parts of the song. The audio as well as visuals weren't that great so I didn't expect much, In some scenes the visuals didn't match with the visuals. This can be seen at (1:21-1:26) this in my opinion doesn't make the video appealing and it doesn't look "natural".
Michael Jackson - SMOOTH CRIMINAL (BAD Cutting to the beat)
Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal music video which was released in 1987 was a massive hit and the music video was deeply remembered by many mainly for the choreography and the beat of the song. The music video was set in a studio set up of a bar with low lighting to suit the narrative of the music video and set the mood the artist is trying to portray. The video has been featured in many of the top hits and is one of Jacksons most memorable songs along with others such as 'Thriller' and Billy Jean'. However the song "Smooth criminal" was a very fast and tempo beat song which would go well with scenes which cutting to the beat was simultaneous with. In this video the scenes lasted long and didn't cut to the beat at all, this was a disappointment for me as the song contradicted itself form the actual video. This can be seen at (0:30-0:37) where an entire sentence of the song with a fat beat in the background was playing and the scene did not change once. this would of had an effect on the audience and related to the genre of the song a bit more.
Chris Brown ft Tyga - AYO (Good cutting to the beat)
This song had good cutting to the beat with most of the main scenes which looked better in the actual music video and it went well with the song. This genre of music is high tempo with the beat so that it "hypes" the viewers and listeners so the cutting to the beat would have to be of the highest quality which it was. This impacts the likability of the actual video as it is used to promote the artist, so the quality really plays a big toll of the video and promotion of the artist. An example of this can be seen at (2:32-2:38), for me cutting to the beat satisfies me as the viewer and the video looks more appealing. In comparison to a video which has no cutting to the beat this will look off putting to many viewers and can possibly ruin the song, this song however was very fast tempo and cut to the beat precisely hence why the video was remembered by many and people in a way found the video more iconic than the actual song.
Tyga - 40 MILL (Good number of cuts)
The number of cuts a video has can portray a message within the music video, it can also set the mood of the music video as the more number of cuts there are the music may be getting faster or deeper with the tone, if there aren't that many cuts the artist may want to focus on something specific in the music video. In this music video the artist Tyga has various cuts of his house and cars going through the city, from location to location there are cuts to show each section, this is effective as the artist gets to show what he wants and it goes with the pace of the music. At around (1:11-1:18) there were roughly 11 cuts which showed different things to show the variety of the artists wealth which was the aim of the music video in the first place. The number of cuts in this video sets the mood and can get the viewers more "hype" for this type of music genre.
Sam Smith - WRITINGS ON THE WALL (BAD NUMBER OF CUTS)
Although the music video featured many of the scenes from the film it was made of (Spectre), the movie was an action film which should consist of fast paced editing and action everywhere, however in this music video it was very slow and the number of cuts was really low for such a film as James Bond 'Spectre'. Each scene lasted about 5 seconds which in my opinion is too high for a film of this genre, the music video should have hyped up the viewers as the film consists of a lot of action. For example the start of the video consisted of the artist who sang the song just standing as the camera zoomed out on him, this for me wasn't appealing as it got quite boring watching further on into the music video as everything was really slow. Looking at past James Bond films id of expected the music video to be cutting oftenly as this would excite audience members as previous films from this franchise has done.
Skrillex and Diplo ft Justin Bieber - WHERE ARE U NOW (GOOD SPECIAL EFFECTS)
In this music video with Skrillex and Diplo featuring Justin Bieber the entire video featured special effects to make it seem that the drawings of fans had been in actual motion of Justin Biebers body. This had to be done via special effects and editing to make it become a visual. the effects had been iconic in this video as this is what people remember when they hear the song. the visuals in this would have taken a few weeks to film whereas the actual editing and special effects added might have taken longer as there was at least 3 drawings per second in this video. The special effects can be seen throughout the video but for an example it can be seen at (2:45) where a fan had drew there own art on the body of Justin Bieber so it could be seen as in motion with the other drawings. This was effective as it intrigued the audience and engaged them. It was also interesting to see both Bieber and Skrillex and Diplo collaborate with each other, this would have had an effect on the music videos visuals as a mix of both would be necessary, so the editing had shown both characteristics of all artists in the video.
Michael Jackson - ROCK WITH YOU (BAD SPECIAL EFFECTS)
This in my opinon had bad special effects as aim of this video i think was to show that the artist (Michael Jackson) was in a dark room with all these neon lights coming from one direction. This did not have any quality as it was clear that the artist was just dancing in a dark room with spotlight lazers going crazy in the background, if it was effectively used with special effects then it wouldn't be as obvious as it was. this can be seen in the video at about (1:56). For an artist such as Michael Jackson the music video would be expected to be of high quality, but watching this video had shown that the special effects weren't though out or planned properly.This for me would put me off watching as it didn't look well thought out and it looked as if no effort was out into the visuals of the video, what could have been improved is if they had at least got a green screen to add some effects onto that.
Josh Turner - YOUR MAN (GOOD CAMERA LANGAUGE)
This video showed good camera language to me as it followed the style of the music video which was narrative. The camera followed both of the two characters throughout the video ad focused on the main key parts of the story. This emphasised what needed to be seen by the viewers so the video would make more sense. The camera language for me also included the viewers in the story as it wasn't still for every scene and went along with the action to show a bit of realism into the video. The use of effective camera language on the audience can be seen at (1:10-1:13) when the two characters were slow dancing the camera was following them with the beat and movement they were doing. This for me showed involved the audience in the same feeling that he two characters were feeling.
