Sunday, 6 November 2011
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Lyrics Analysis
My chosen song is a very upbeat, positive song. It features two females who portray their power within society throughout the lyrics of this particular song, in order to reflect the change in balance between men and woman in todays society as they become more and more equal. My lyrics represent very feminine attitudes.
The song puts a very modern twist upon the original 1982 song 'Raining Men' in order to change the genre of the song completely and apply hip-hop conventions in order to attract a younger generation. These new ideas include rap and a change in the overall type of language, including taboo language.
LIIAR
Language
The connotations of the hip-hop genre are wealth and power, which will be portrayed within my video by shots that include champagne glasses and stacks of money. The costumes that my performers will wear will dennotate ideas about power and confidence in order to give them an edgy style that stands out and reflects the upbeat tone of the music.
Institution
The original institutons of my chosen song are Def Jam Recording's, Rihanna's record label, and Cash Money Records, Nicki Minaj's record label. Universal Music Group is parent to the Def Jam record label as well as the Cash Money label, both of which are therefore sublabels of this major record label. The institution for my own music video will be me, as the video will be created from my own production work. I will also distribute the video myself, by placing it on websites such as Youtube, and so my video will be produced under an independant record label that I will create myself.
Ideology
The ideology behind my music video is largely based around ideas about feminism and the growing female power within society. The song is dominated by two females, both of whom sing lyrics such as 'All you need to know that I'm a 2 times 5' and 'player keep your money I can buy my own drink'. These lyrics immediately send a message to the audience that reflects views in todays society on the growing equality of men and woman, as women become more powerful and independant.
Audience
'Raining Men' is a song that sits within the Hip-hop/R&B genre. The song is performed by two artists, and so the original audience for this particular song would have been fans of either Nicki Minaj or Rihanna, or perhaps both artists. As the two performers will not feature within my music video, my target audience will be fans of the hip-hop genre, particularly those of a younger generation. Specifically, through looking at the results of my questionnaire, my audience will largely consist of both males and females within the age range of 15-19. A slightly higher percentage of this audience may be female-orientated due to the feminist ideas featured within the song.
Representation
Within society, women are stereotypically seen as being less powerful than males. It is often said that females rely on males for money, and are less able to speak their mind without the danger of being judged. However, as society changes, women seemingly become more powerful and independant. These ideas are represented within my chosen song, as the lyrics challenge typical stereotypes of women. My chosen performers for my music video will therefore be confident in order to portray the songs overall ideas that women should never rely on any one man.
The connotations of the hip-hop genre are wealth and power, which will be portrayed within my video by shots that include champagne glasses and stacks of money. The costumes that my performers will wear will dennotate ideas about power and confidence in order to give them an edgy style that stands out and reflects the upbeat tone of the music.
Institution
The original institutons of my chosen song are Def Jam Recording's, Rihanna's record label, and Cash Money Records, Nicki Minaj's record label. Universal Music Group is parent to the Def Jam record label as well as the Cash Money label, both of which are therefore sublabels of this major record label. The institution for my own music video will be me, as the video will be created from my own production work. I will also distribute the video myself, by placing it on websites such as Youtube, and so my video will be produced under an independant record label that I will create myself.
Ideology
The ideology behind my music video is largely based around ideas about feminism and the growing female power within society. The song is dominated by two females, both of whom sing lyrics such as 'All you need to know that I'm a 2 times 5' and 'player keep your money I can buy my own drink'. These lyrics immediately send a message to the audience that reflects views in todays society on the growing equality of men and woman, as women become more powerful and independant.
Audience
'Raining Men' is a song that sits within the Hip-hop/R&B genre. The song is performed by two artists, and so the original audience for this particular song would have been fans of either Nicki Minaj or Rihanna, or perhaps both artists. As the two performers will not feature within my music video, my target audience will be fans of the hip-hop genre, particularly those of a younger generation. Specifically, through looking at the results of my questionnaire, my audience will largely consist of both males and females within the age range of 15-19. A slightly higher percentage of this audience may be female-orientated due to the feminist ideas featured within the song.
Representation
Within society, women are stereotypically seen as being less powerful than males. It is often said that females rely on males for money, and are less able to speak their mind without the danger of being judged. However, as society changes, women seemingly become more powerful and independant. These ideas are represented within my chosen song, as the lyrics challenge typical stereotypes of women. My chosen performers for my music video will therefore be confident in order to portray the songs overall ideas that women should never rely on any one man.
Questionnaire Results
These results show that for those who picked hip-hop as their favourite genre are generally within the age range of 15-24. Out of this group of people, almost an equal amount of them are males compared to females, however there were slightly more females than males answering the survey. Therefore, I need to incorporate modern aspects into my video that will attract a fairly young audience, and need to include features that will attract both a male and female audience. The majority of those who answered my questionnaire answered no to the question 'Do you prefer music videos to have an extended narrative?' and so I shall stick to the length of the song when creating my music video. The majority of those who answered my questionnaire said that they preferred a performance or narrative based music video compared with an animated or abstract one. I shall also take into account all of the feedback received from each individual person who answered the question 'what do you expect overall within a music video?' and apply this to my ideas on how to attract my target audience.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
My Chosen Genre
For my A2 music video, I have chosen the song ‘Raining Men’ by Rihanna, featuring Nicki Minaj. This song falls into the hip-hop genre, which consists of stylised rhythmic music that is commonly accompanied by rapping. The four main styles within the hip-hop genre are rapping, scratching, dancing and graffiti writing. In my chosen song, rapping is fairly common from both of the artists.
Hip-hop is a very wide in terms of its subgenres. In relation to my chosen song, I feel that the subgenres within hip-hop that link best towards its lyrics are ‘Crunk’ and ‘Conscious Rap’. Established in the 1990s, Crunk is a chaotic mixture of club-orientated beats and a high-energy, repetitive chorus. Conscious rap songs, however, focus on portraying uplifting messages with the idea that social change comes from self-knowledge and personal discovery. I feel that this subgenre links with my song as ‘Raining Men’ is a song largely aimed at women, with the key message that they should not worry about any one male, as there’s ‘plenty more fish in the sea’. This links well with today’s society, in which woman are slowly developing a balance with men by becoming more independent and powerful. Jason Mitchell (2001) argues that genres are cultural categories, which are used by both the music industry and the audience in order to interpret knowledge of current society into media texts. Therefore, ‘Raining Men’ reflects these ideas, by interpreting concepts about the growing equality between men and women into their video and lyrics in order to create a very feminist song, ‘keep your money I can buy my own drink’.
Conventionally, hip-hop artists are usually portrayed in their videos to be surrounded by wealth. Particularly within videos for male artists, we associate hip-hop with cars, girls and expensive jewellery. Female hip-hop artists are often seen in elaborate, expensive outfits. Most hip-hop videos are performance based and commonly involve dancing. For example, in Nicki Minaj’s video for ‘Massive Attack’, Nicki is represented as a wealthy feminist, as we see her driving a pink Lamborghini through the desert. Nicki is dressed elaborately, though is fairly scantily clad, and is frequently seen wearing large items of jewellery. Rapper Sean Garrett features within the song, and is seen representing typical male hip-hop artists within the video. For example, in one scene we see him wearing a baseball cap, baggy jeans and a baggy white vest; he also wears large items of ‘bling’. In another scene, we see him with only a pair of baggy jeans on, making his tattoos visible down his arms and chest. In an earlier scene we can also see that Nicki Minaj also has a tattoo down her arm. Tattoos are also a conventional aspect associated with Hip-hop artists. Additionally, similarly typical of hip-hop artists are black sunglasses, and typical of their videos is often alcohol, which codes for the wealthy lifestyles of the artists.
Typically, hip-hop videos are usually associated with black culture and are filmed in either the streets or in the club. However, as black and white cultures become more and more equal in society, white people are beginning to be incorporated within these videos. For example, rap artist Eminem is seen to be one of the most successful artists within this particular genre. In addition, the ideas of the genre have also evolved over time, an idea which is argued by Steve Neale (1995). For example, hip-hop originated from African American culture and held Jazz influences. The music began from a less wealthy culture, where artists sang and rapped about social, economic and political realities. It is clear from more modern music videos that they have evolved and have become more about the wealth and success.
Overall, hip-hop artists incorporate aspects into their video that code for wealth, and cause the audience to desire their lifestyles. Many videos use close-ups of the artist in order for the audience to visualise their expressions more clearly, and in order to show that the artist is important and powerful. The hip-hop genre is typically one of the most popular music genres for youths, and the lyrics are intended to relate to this audience by creating meaning and representing society.
Hip-hop is a very wide in terms of its subgenres. In relation to my chosen song, I feel that the subgenres within hip-hop that link best towards its lyrics are ‘Crunk’ and ‘Conscious Rap’. Established in the 1990s, Crunk is a chaotic mixture of club-orientated beats and a high-energy, repetitive chorus. Conscious rap songs, however, focus on portraying uplifting messages with the idea that social change comes from self-knowledge and personal discovery. I feel that this subgenre links with my song as ‘Raining Men’ is a song largely aimed at women, with the key message that they should not worry about any one male, as there’s ‘plenty more fish in the sea’. This links well with today’s society, in which woman are slowly developing a balance with men by becoming more independent and powerful. Jason Mitchell (2001) argues that genres are cultural categories, which are used by both the music industry and the audience in order to interpret knowledge of current society into media texts. Therefore, ‘Raining Men’ reflects these ideas, by interpreting concepts about the growing equality between men and women into their video and lyrics in order to create a very feminist song, ‘keep your money I can buy my own drink’.
Conventionally, hip-hop artists are usually portrayed in their videos to be surrounded by wealth. Particularly within videos for male artists, we associate hip-hop with cars, girls and expensive jewellery. Female hip-hop artists are often seen in elaborate, expensive outfits. Most hip-hop videos are performance based and commonly involve dancing. For example, in Nicki Minaj’s video for ‘Massive Attack’, Nicki is represented as a wealthy feminist, as we see her driving a pink Lamborghini through the desert. Nicki is dressed elaborately, though is fairly scantily clad, and is frequently seen wearing large items of jewellery. Rapper Sean Garrett features within the song, and is seen representing typical male hip-hop artists within the video. For example, in one scene we see him wearing a baseball cap, baggy jeans and a baggy white vest; he also wears large items of ‘bling’. In another scene, we see him with only a pair of baggy jeans on, making his tattoos visible down his arms and chest. In an earlier scene we can also see that Nicki Minaj also has a tattoo down her arm. Tattoos are also a conventional aspect associated with Hip-hop artists. Additionally, similarly typical of hip-hop artists are black sunglasses, and typical of their videos is often alcohol, which codes for the wealthy lifestyles of the artists.
Typically, hip-hop videos are usually associated with black culture and are filmed in either the streets or in the club. However, as black and white cultures become more and more equal in society, white people are beginning to be incorporated within these videos. For example, rap artist Eminem is seen to be one of the most successful artists within this particular genre. In addition, the ideas of the genre have also evolved over time, an idea which is argued by Steve Neale (1995). For example, hip-hop originated from African American culture and held Jazz influences. The music began from a less wealthy culture, where artists sang and rapped about social, economic and political realities. It is clear from more modern music videos that they have evolved and have become more about the wealth and success.
Overall, hip-hop artists incorporate aspects into their video that code for wealth, and cause the audience to desire their lifestyles. Many videos use close-ups of the artist in order for the audience to visualise their expressions more clearly, and in order to show that the artist is important and powerful. The hip-hop genre is typically one of the most popular music genres for youths, and the lyrics are intended to relate to this audience by creating meaning and representing society.
Questionnaire
As well as creating various polls upon my blog, I have also incorporated these questions into an online survey which allows me to acheive graphs from the answers received.
Click here for questionnaire
I shall use the information from this questionnaire in order to determine who I am aiming my video at, and what my video needs to include in order to attract this target audience.
Click here for questionnaire
I shall use the information from this questionnaire in order to determine who I am aiming my video at, and what my video needs to include in order to attract this target audience.
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