Anaylsis of Pop Music

'Pop' is an abbreviation for popular music and it originated from the west of the world between the 1950s and 1960s and is similar to the genre of rock and roll. The conventions of pop music videos is for the song to be upbeat and all about having a good time. Almost all of pop music videos will follow a narrative. The colours in pop music videos are more likely to be bright and colourful to make it stand out to attract the audience, the costumes worn will be the fashion for that gender in the time period.

The first pop song i will be analysing is Selena Gomez - Good for you. The music video begins with a wide shot of Selena sitting lying on the sofa looking directly in the camera. In various different shots it shows her lying and rolling around the sofa. This suggests that she is being sexualised as she is lying in a provocative position, this is supported by the title 'Good For You'  she is lying down to show that she is good enough for the person she is singing about and the positioning suggests she is willing to give him everything. In the setting the colours appear to be very bright which adheres to the stereotype of a pop music video this is to make everything to stand out and be distinct from one another. This attracts the audience because they are being shown that this song is fun and lovable, this song doesn't show any black and white features which is normally shown to suggest to the audience that it is sad. However, Selena has not used this as she simply is showing that this song should be played for enjoyment.

We are shown various long shots of the her lying on the sofa, but to the corner of shot they have

chosen a location where there appear to be cracks in the wall. As the room also looks empty with only the sofa there it can suggest that the room and place she is in is a run down building, suggesting that she hasn't got a lot of money and if she is living with a boyfriend etc. between them there is no money, but when she is singing it doesn't matter what they have because she is good enough. The song lyrics begin with ' I'm 14 carat' which is quiet expensive, so by saying she herself is expensive is showing that whoever she is singing to that she is worth it and deserves to be good enough, regardless of financial states.



Another setting used in Selena's music video is dull and has used very dull lighting. This scene shows Selena when she is in the shower and can suggest she is very vulnerable. This part could suggest a small narrative, she had recently sang about wanting to her nice and wearing her dress tight, all to impress this boy. This scene is then introduced when she sings the lyric ' I just wanna look good for you', this is suggesting that she preparing and getting herself ready to see him. This is also adhering to the stereotype of the music genre because she is suggesting the only way that her boyfriend can be happy or feel as if she is good enough is by her exploiting herself.

 

From the beginning of Justin Bieber's music videos of As Long As You Love Me the audience is able to tell it is a narrative because the first minute or so is filled with a man talking to Justin and warning him to stay away from his daughter. However, Justin does not listen to this and we are shown a close up of a note he has written telling his girlfriend to meet her at the train station. This is similar to a Romeo and Juliet love, where the young lovers cannot be together because their parents forbid it. The narrative continues throughout the music video as it shows them trying to running away and the at the end we are shown more parts of them acting.

 

The costume Justin is placed in is dark clothing with and is wearing a silver chain, later in the song Big Sean is featured and he is wearing a gold chain with much more jewellery such as an earring, rings, watches and the hat suggests a 'gangster' look and suggests his wealth. This adheres to the costume for the genre of rap music. By placing Justin in silver and Big Sean in gold it highlights the differences between pop and rap singers.

 

Women are not shown much in this music video, however, the lead female is shown to show her affection towards Justin in various shots where they are close and intimate. Her clothing is very casual and is her skin is not over shown. However, the backup dancers when Justin is in a car park is shown to be wearing crops and short shorts, which still suggest women are being exploited for male viewers. As alternative costumes they could be wearing normal tracksuits etc.

 

The video is mostly low lighting, which subverts the stereotype of the pop music genre as normally they are associated with bright colours. The subversion maybe because of the narrative, it is a dark subject on how the lovers try to run away when no one is watching it is best to do it at night. Therefore there won't be any natural lighting from the sun etc. They have used natural lighting when they are showing the good memories between the ones who are running away. They have added an effect on this to represent that these are in fact memories and to separate this from the present day they used a haze effect.

 

 

 

In Little Mix's video of Hair they have adhered to the conventions of a pop music video by showing a strong narrative throughout the music video. It starts off with one of the girls looking through their social media account of Instagram and seeing her ex boyfriend or boyfriend with someone else. This draws the attention of young children because they are also users of social media. When the girl sees the photo she immediately calls up her friends for a shoulder to cry on and invites them round where they have themselves a party between the 4 of them to cheer her up. Having 4 girls in the band shows girl power which is supported by all of them showing up and being supportive of their friend.

 

This video can attract teenage girls because of the themes through the video, singing about people who have cheated or not worth your time, but also they are shown being girls by dressing up, doing their hair and makeup. The males can be attracted to the video by the number of close ups they are by showing the girls heavy make up, you can see the thick eyeliner and the highlight they have on to define their faces and to make themselves look pretty, and in the case of the song make them feel better because of what has happened. The males can also be attracted to their costume the girls are wearing. Although it is night time and most girls wear a pair of pyjama trousers and a t-shirt but they are seen to be wearing silk suggesting wealth and wearing shorts and crop tops. This again is showing off their skin and body parts, where men can believe women can be treated as a sexual object because of what they are wearing to bed when no one will see them.

Sean Paul the rapper is featured in this video and his costume is similar to Big Sean in the video above. Sean Paul is seen to be wearing the gold jewellery, the hat, the sunglasses to make him look a mystery and also he is wearing oversized clothing, which adheres to the genre of rap.

The lighting in the video is very bright 3 of the girls are wearing light pastel clothes to show happiness and to put a positive spin on the subject they are singing about, which is what pop music is about, trying to make things positive and upbeat. Jessie is the girl wearing the black costume, this could suggest that she is more of the dark horse of the group as the others and all aspects of the music video seem to bright and to be associated with happiness and good things.

In the future I believe the music videos for the genre of pop will continue the same with the bright and the upbeat tunes. Girls will remain to be a sexual object but this can change by having the role models of people like Beyoncé who are becoming more about girl power and women be treated equally. Women should be able to feel comfortable in their own body and if they wish to show this then that should be acceptable because it is no different from a male showing himself. However, women should not be sexualised for men and in their videos for them.