Research into chosen music genre

I have grown up listening to pop music all my life and many of the artists from this genre become big major icons as the genre is very popular amongst all ages and genders. Pop was extremely popular during the 90's where it was taking over the music charts every week. One of the reasons why pop is such a popular genre is due to its catchy lyrics and feel good melodies. These are also two conventions of the pop genre. 

The songs listed below are considered some of the best pop songs of all time.

Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
...Baby One More Time
Beat It
Billie Jean
Brown Eyed Girl
Bye Bye Bye
Careless Whisper
Changes
Dancing Queen
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
Don't Speak
Don't You Want Me
Every Breath You Take
Faith
Free Fallin'
Go Your Own Way
Gone Till November
Good Times
Good Vibrations
I Need Love
I Wanna Be Sedated
I Want It That Way
I Want To Hold Your Hand
I Want To Know What Love Is
I Want You Back
I Will Always Love You
I Will Survive
Imagine
In My Life
Iris
Jump
Just A Friend
Just Can't Get Enough
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)
Just The Way You Are
Just What I Needed
Like A Virgin
Longview
Losing My Religion
Love Shack
MMM Bop
Maybe I'm Amazed
Miss You
My Generation
My Name Is
Nasty
No Diggity
O.P.P.
Oh, Pretty Woman
One
One Headlight
Only Happy When It Rains
Our Lips Are Sealed
Papa Don't Preach
Photograph
Proud Mary
Respect
Rock With You
She Drives Me Crazy
Smooth
Stayin' Alive
Superstition
Tainted Love
Tangled Up In Blue
Tears In Heaven
The Boy Is Mine
The One I Love
The Tracks Of My Tears
Time After Time
Tiny Dancer
Under The Bridge
Vogue
Waterfalls
What's Going On
Where Did Our Love Go
Wonderwall
Yesterday
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
You Oughta Know
You Shook Me All Night Long
Your Song

Conventions of the pop genre:

- Artist wears modern and fashionable clothing

- Artist is usually always happy

- Music is most often about love and relationships

- Dance routines are usually present in music videos

- Animation is at times used in music videos

- Make up and hair play a major role 

- Lighting is high key in videos and photo shoots

Music Analysis - Anyalyse 2 artists similar to you chosen artist

Artists - Britney Spears & Jennifer Lopez

Music Videos - Do Somethin' & Get Right

Style - Both Performance & Concept based

Britney Spears - Do Somethin'

Britney is extremely similar to Aguilera. They have both been in the spotlight for the same amount of time and they started their musical training at the same stage school when they were younger. Both artists started as teen pop sensations and have been very successful ever since with a large number of chart toppers to their names.

They are both signed to the same record label (RCA), which explains the similarities in their music as well as there careers. RCA is part of Sony Music which has a wide target audience and follows the mainstream, which is why both these artists have had a long and successful career so far.

As the years have gone on they have become more different then similar to each other especially in their sense of style. At the start of both of their career they would dress the same in baggy combat bottoms with short blonde hair and fast dance routines in their videos. Aguilera then changed her style to the iconic 50's look which she now carries, while Spears matured into a more feminine style of tight short dresses. For a while there music was completely different with Spears releasing pop songs and Aguilera releasing more and more jazz and blues music. However Aguilera's style has now evolved into electro pop with songs such as "Your Body" which once again is very similar to Spears.

Aguilera and Spears both have 7 studio albums which have been released.

Aguilera - 

 - Christina Aguilera

 - Mi Reflejo

 - My Kind of Christmas

 - Stripped

 - Back to Basics

 - Bionic

 - Lotus

Spears - 

 - ...Baby One More Time

 - Oops!....I Did it Again

 - Britney

 - In the Zone

 - Blackout

 - Circus

 - Femme Fatale

There are some obvious similarities in these two album covers. Both artists are stood in the centre of the frame wearing crop tops and using their arms to show the movement in the image. Also both artists have there first name on the left side of the image and their surname on the right. Finally both album titles are written in the bottom corner of the album cover in a smaller font.

Britney Spears - Do Somethin'

This music video is set mainly in a nightclub. This relates to the narrative of the song as well as the RnB and pop conventions. The setting changes at times throughout the video and shows Britney dancing in a pink car with her friends and posing for the camera in her underwear on a bed. This relates to the lyrics "I see you looking at me like I'm some kinda freak". The song is about ignoring people who judge you and simply having a good time.

The majority of the lighting in this video is low key as it is set in a nightclub. The scenes in the bed are also low key lighting as it makes the scene look sexier and more seductive when Spears is posing in her underwear. The darkness also adds a sense of mystery to the scenes as the lyrics state there is something different about the artist and everyone is looking at her like she is a freak. The scenes where Spears is dancing in a car she is floating in the clouds and there is high key lighting. This shows that she is having a good time with her friends regardless of what people think about her and she is on cloud 9.

Spears wears 2 different costumes throughout the video. The first being her underwear in the scenes where she is acting sexy. The outfit which she wears most is a pink crop top with a bright pink fur coat and black trousers which have one leg cut off. This adds to her image of being a "freak" and shows why people look at her differently. The two different outfits show the contrast in her personality and add to the diversity of her character. The fact that Spears has gone to a club and isn't dressed in the usual mini dress and stiletto heels shows the message which she is trying to portray that you don't need to follow a stereotype to have a good time.

There is no use of props throughout this video which shows diversity and creativity. Spears didn't feel the need to use iconography to create her scenes and this worked effectively. 

The main actors in the video are Spears and her group of friends who play more diverse young girls. These girls don't follow the norm of how to dress and act and are therefore portraying a sub culture. 

The target audience for this music video would be mostly teenage girls. This is because girls this age are easily influenced and follow a stereotype of what they should look like and how they should behave. Spears is telling them that you can do what you want and be who you want and people's judgement and opinions don't matter as long as you're happy. Although the scenes are in a club, Spears shows respect to her target audience by not showing shots of alcohol of anyone drinking and being drunk. When she is with her friends they aren't acting too mature they are simply having a good time dancing around with each other and having a laugh which sets a good example to the audience.

Spears is being represented as a role model in this video as she isn't portrayed negatively and she is trying to send out a message. Her costume doesn't show to much skin and her dancing isn't sexual either, she is actually showing her dance skills. This relates to young girls as they love dancing and putting new routines together to new songs with their friends. Her more casual look shows that she isn't a party girl or a girl who takes herself too seriously. This is shown by her wearing trousers and a t shirt in the club. 

This video is a complete performance as in every scene Spears is singing or dancing to the camera. The setting being in the nightclub also shows the performance style of the video as people are all dancing to the camera as they see Spears walk in.

Link between Lyrics and Visuals

There are some obvious links between the lyrics and the visuals in the nightclub scenes. When Spears says "I see you looking at my hair" she grabs her hair as though she is paranoid that something is wrong with the way she looks. Also when she says "Will you stop staring at us...." A group of people are shown sitting on chairs directly in front of her and her friends staring at them and looking at everything that they are doing.

This video follows the conventions of a pop video as it:

 - Contains bright colours

 - Includes dance routines

 - The young girls are having fun

 - The song is upbeat

 - The song is catchy and easy to remember

 - Simple lyrics

 - Performance based

Jennifer Lopez - Get Right

Lopez is similar to Aguilera as they have Latino roots which has led them to releasing albums in other languages. As well as this both of them have music videos which are heavy influenced by dance. 

In there earlier years their clothing style was very similar, however they have both become sexier in their own different ways. Lopez wears tighter and skimpier outfits while Aguilera is more feminine. 

Aguilera and Lopez both have 7 studio albums which have been released.

Aguilera - 

 - Christina Aguilera

 - Mi Reflejo

 - My Kind of Christmas

 - Stripped

 - Back to Basics

 - Bionic

 - Lotus

Lopez - 

 - On the 6

 - J.Lo

 - This is Me.....Then

 - Rebirth

 - Como Ama Una Mujer

 - Brave

 - Love?

There are some obvious similarities in these two album covers. Both artists faces are shown in different dimensions. They also have simplistic colour themes and this is effective as too many colours can become confusing for the audience and take the attention away from the artist.

Jennifer Lopez - Get Right

This music video is set in a nightclub. This relates to the narrative of the song as well as the RnB and pop conventions. This song is about forgetting all the problems in your life and having fun for the night. 

All of the lighting in this video is low key as it is set in a nightclub. There are a lot of different characters in the club such as a stripper, a celebrity and a couple who are arguing. The darkness represents the mystery in their actions and the problems they have in their personal lives. 

Lopez wears many different costumes as she plays every character in the video as part of a concept. All of the costumes contain heavy make up and skimpy outfits in order to portray the characters. However the nerd character which Lopez plays is wearing a lot of layers and is completely covered up and being ignored by other people, which shows why she is upset. Her costume makes it clear to the audience why she hasn't got any friends and that's how her narrative links to the song. The skimpier outfits link to the celebrity who always has to look good and the stripper whose job it is to look like that. 

The above image shows the nerd character having fun as the song says she should rather than worrying that her friends have stood her up.

The target audience for this music video is mainly women as all the characters in the club are women who have struggles in their lives. This works effectively as Lopez is a woman herself so the audience can relate to the characters she portrays in the video which builds a connection. Lopez is telling the audience that for the night people should forget their problems and have fun. This is a message that everyone can relate to at some point in their life and every time they hear the song they will remember the message which is being told.

Lopez is being represented as a good role model in this video as she isn't portrayed negatively. Although all the characters have problems the actual issues aren't shown as a narrative or in flashbacks which means Lopez and the audience focus on the message in the song. Even though the setting is a club drinking isn't being promoted to the audience as everyone is just shown dancing and having fun.

This video is performance and concept based. Lopez is shown singing and dancing to the camera. However there is also a concept of her portraying all of the different characters which becomes an iconic and memorable video.

This video follows the conventions of a pop video as it:

 - Contains bright colours

 - Includes dance routines

 - The young girls are having fun

 - The song is upbeat

 - The song is catchy and easy to remember

 - Simple lyrics

 - Performance based

 - Narrative Based

Diversity of a Music Video

Madonna - Cunningham
Madonna's song "Frozen" was produced in 1997 and shows a different and darker side to the usually happy pop star. This music video is one of the most diverse video's Madonna has ever recorded as it included connotations of death from her dark and heavy use of make up and costume. Madonna is wearing a floaty black dress which is constantly moving around in the wind and her thick black hair is covering the majority of her face. This makes her look almost witch like and along with the low key lighting throughout adds to the concept of the video. By having a concept based video it makes it difficult for Madonna to build a relationship with the audience.

Madonna is singing about her heartbreak from a relationship, however the visuals do not link to the lyrics. She sings and confronts this person through the use of the second person 'you', this therefore makes it seem like she is confronting and engaging us as an audience but appears unclear as there is no focus on this person. There is no narrative in the video and no common use of flashbacks. Most videos which relate to relationships and heartbreak include flashbacks to show the breakdown of the relationship. The use of the black crows connote her anger and sadness. None of these factors relates to the conventions of the pop genre. 

This music video falls under a sub genre which is completely different to the mainstream. However as Madonna's videos and music is usually mainstream this relates to the CCCS theory. As the video is so original and diverse it may fail to engage the audience which can cause the song to become less popular.

Advantages of being Diverse
 - Shows different sides of the artist and how they can be versatile
 - Makes an iconic and memorable video
 - Conveys emotions using concepts and metaphors

Disadvantages of being Diverse
 - Can cause the audience confusion
 - The audience can lose interest
 - It is hard to connect to the audience
 - It limits the target audience

White Stripes - Gondry
The music video for "Seven Nation Army" was released in May 2003 on the album Elephant, by The White Stripes. The music video follows the conventions of the rock genre. It is very repetitive throughout the entire video. The background is constant black and white triangles with different shots of the artist standing underneath them. As the chorus comes in and the beat picks up the pace of the editing speeds up as well. The visuals in this video have no relation to the lyrics and it is all a concept. The shots of the artists become closer and closer in order to become the focal point for the audience, however this proves difficult due to the pace of the editing. There are points throughout the video when the artist points forward which touches on Goodwin's theory as it is connecting with the audience. However the audience's attention is distracted by the repetitive warriors marching which adds to the aggression of this video.  This video fails to engage with the audience and keep their attention due to its repetitive nature. 

Consider if Gondry’s or Cunningham’s style of video production would suit your chosen genre. You may identify some elements that would work well and some that wouldn't?
As our video is mainstream our artist wouldn't comply to the conventions of such diversity. However there is one scene in our video where the artist is acting as a puppet dressed in black being pulled around. This concept links to Cunningham's style of production. For the majority of our video the diverse style wouldn't appeal to our target audience and we don't feel it would suit our artist in the way we want to portray her.

History of Music Videos

A music video is a videotaped performance of a popular song. A music video usually includes dancing, performing to the camera or a narrative which relates to the lyrics. Music videos are usually recorded to create awareness and promote a song or artist. 

From 1902-1917 the phonoscene era was developed where a combination of sound recording was used with the actors lip synching to it. 1926 saw the arrival of talkies, which produced many short musical films. Screen songs were created by Max Fleischer where the audience can sing along and this is still popular today in musical films. Many infamous videos such as Madonna's "Material Girl's" are influenced by great musical films. Madonna took her influence from Marilyn Monroe who sang "Diamond's are a Girl Best Friend" in the famous musical film "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes".

In 1961 Manny Pittson began pre-recording music for the singalong jubilee, to which he later films various visuals of the artists lip synching.

In 1964, The Beatles released their first music video "A Hard Day's Night." This video included comedic dialogue and was shot in black and white. Their second video was out a year later and shot in colour. The Beatles then became famous for releasing promotional clips which were broadcast internationally. In 1967 The Beatles stepped it up by including slow motion and reversed film.

This became a trend where people were creating promotional videos world wide in order to create awareness of new songs which were about to be released. Well known British TV show Top of the Pops began broadcasting music videos in the late 70's. This was a good promotional platform for artists and pulled in viewers for Top of the Pops and viewers tuned in the next week in the hope of seeing their favourite videos again.

In 1981, the U.S video channel MTV launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" and this began an era of 24 hour music on television. This is where music videos became more popular as they could always be seen on TV and the idea of music videos grew as a promotional tool amongst artists. Artists such as Michael Jackson and Madonna owe a great deal of their success to music videos.

2005 saw the launch of YouTube, which saw the popularity of music videos increase massively as they were so easily accessed any time people wanted them. People no longer had to wait for a music channel to play their favourite video as they could find it whenever they chose to. Artists began using YouTube and VeVo as their key to promotion and the amount of views which their videos recieve is very important to them.

Subculture Theory

The Subculture Theory is a group of people who are united with a joint belief, opinion or value to go against what it believed to be mainstream. A group of people within a culture usually differentiate from the norm in the large culture which they belong to.

Theories within:

 - CCCS (The Centre for Contemporary Culture Studies)

Their theory is that all Subcultures originated from one single culture and they are against Grant McCracken's theory, which is below.

 - Grant McCracken (Theorist)

He believed that the post modern world is full of diverse people with creativity. He says that subcultures could not have come from one culture, as new ones are forming all the time as people try to be individual and unique.

 - Hebdige Theory
Although people believe that subcultures are different, they all have similar characteristics and have all originated from what is mainstream.

 - There is a large variety of groups which protest against what is believed to be mainstream. This shows diversity.

 - Teenagers will often move from one subculture to the next, as teenagers are stereotyped for being indecisive as well as forming different opinions as they mature. 

Our Target Audience
Our chosen artist is Christina Aguilera and she is mainstream. However over the years she has been known for her outrageously sexy dance moves in her video for "Dirrty" and her song "Beautiful" which tells the story of how everyone is beautiful no matter how different they are. Over the years Aguilera's style has changed from teenage popstar, to gothic and now she is known for her iconic 50's hairstyles and red lipstick. This relates to Grant McCrackens theory of dynamism as she is creative and diverse. 

Our target audience would be mainly teenagers and young women as they move from one subculture to another. This is because Aguilera is constantly evolving and changing her own style as well as her music style. Aguilera aims for a broad range of audience.

The people which we interviewed all knew who Aguilera was as she is extremely famous and has been around since she was a teenager. However most teenagers we asked said although her music is good and in the charts they rarely listen to her as she isn't extremely mainstream. This shows how young people are influenced and will listen to anything as long as it is what is deemed to be popular and "cool". When making our video the use of costume will show the style. Our video is narrative and performance based, however we do have a scene which is a concept. Usually concepts aren't seen to be mainstream, for example Lady Gaga's videos are always a concept. Most of her audience are part of a subculture who think she is different and better than all the artists in the charts who are similar to each other.

Analysing our Magazine Advert

Planning is a vital part in producing magazine adverts. When creating these and important factor to remember was including images which will best establish our artist and the album. The colours had to attract the audience and also relate to the artist. 

How did your Group Share your Ideas and Designs

As a group there are two of us and we only have one artist. However it was important to us that we both had input on the images which we felt would best represent our artist. Together we came up with a lot of ideas and as we are very similar we agreed on most ideas. This worked in our favour as we were able to agree on a design very quickly.

Evaluate the Magazine Advert
The two adverts below were both my creations. The final advert which we decided to use as a group is the second one.

What I Like about the Advert

I like the use of the image in this advert as I am looking up at the artist's name which makes it a focal point for the audience. I also like the outfit which I am wearing in this advert as it gives the audience an idea of the style of music which is included on the album and the emotions which the artist sings about. Finally I like how the name of the album is a different colour which makes it stand out. This is a vital piece of information and by standing out it makes the name of the album more memorable.

How is the Advert Conventional to your Music Genre

The use of the red is bright and vibrant which not only relates to the pop conventions but it also makes it eye catching to the audience. The use of the butterflies shows the femininity and the swirly writing represents the artists personality. The feminine style of the advert follows the conventions of the pop genre and relates to the album.

How can the Advert be Improved

The reason for which this advert was not chosen as our final advert is because there are many improvements to be made. The image itself isn't perfect at the ends of my hair look rigid. This is due to the use of the cutting tool on photo shop. As well as this we felt that the background was too red which not only looked too bright but it also made the writing hard to read. This advert doesn't look professional and doesn't portray the artist in the way we hoped. If I was to do this advert again I would fade the colour and make sure my editing on the image was perfect.

What I Like about the Advert

In this advert I like that the red background isn't as bright as the first advert and it also fades as it reaches the top corner. I also like the image as it is more feminine which portrays the artist in the way we hoped. The title of the album also fades out as it reaches the end which relates to the idea of there being different dimensions. The colour of the album title again stands out against the other writing. Finally I like the use of the leaves in the background and I feel that they suit the advert a lot more that the butterflies in the first draft. This is because they convey the artists emotions in the songs and relate to our music video and digipak. They also look more grown up than the butterflies which changes the audiences perspective of the artist.

How is the Advert Conventional to your Music Genre

Like the first advert the use of the red colour relates to the artists name "Scarlett" and also follows the conventions of the pop genre being bright and colourful. The pose of the artisst and the leaves in the background add femininity to the advert and again the swirly font shows the artist personality. 

How can the Advert be Improved

This advert is the one which we chose to use as our final advert. This is because we felt that there weren't too many colours so it shows a concept. We also felt that the angle of the image being from the left side of the artist linked to the name of the album and showed different sides to her. Improvements which could be made are making the red writing stand out more along the bottom of the advert where the background is duller. As well as this I would make the artists hair look less straight down the side as it is noticeable that it has been cut out during editing.

Christina Aguilera - Analysis of a Digipak

Digipak's are produced to help promote an artist and the background and concepts of there album. A digipak contains six panels instead of the usual four and is usually filled with a variety of pictures, which show what the artist looks like when the album is released and they relate to the genre of the music on the album. The four pictures below show the front, the inside panels, the outer panels and the back of the digipak. 

Representation of the Artist - 

This digipak contains Aguilera's CD and other information and images which are relevant to the album and help to promote it. Aguilera's representation in this digipak is more sexual than it has been in previous albums and images. This is seen in her tight leather outfit and it is also shown through her actions of biting a chain whilst wearing red lipstick which connotes lust. This shows a different side of Aguilera's personality to what has been represented to the public in previous years. It also shows the audience that this is more of a sexy and fun album rather than serious and emotional songs like her previous album "Back to Basics".

Connotation of the digipak - What is it promoting?

Aguilera is promoting her album by using the various conventions in her genre. The high key lighting and bright red lipstick show the happiness and light heartedness in pop and dance music. The sexual nature of the images and Aguilera's outfit and facial expressions shows that she wants her audience to see her as the sexy woman she has become rather than the teenage pop star she once was. The cover of the digipak shows half of Aguilera's face as a robot which not only relates to the title of the album but also portrays her personality and the meaning of the songs. 

Colours and Connotations

Throughout the entire digipak Aguilera's colour theme is black. white and red. This is really effective and black and white represent the two sides to her personality.One being her and the other being the bionic woman. Black also connotes darkness and evil while white shows the contrast of her innocence and purity. The red connotes lust and her sexual nature. This tells the audience that Aguilera wants to be portrayed this way and is maturing in her career. It also shows the themes which are present in her songs.

Design/Layout all sides

Slide 1/Cover - This close up of Aguilera shows her face in detail which shows she isn't hiding anything about herself and also portrays her confidence in herself. Her image is in the centre of the cover which tells the audience she is the focal point and the album is all about her. The artists name is in the top right corner and the dripping effect which the font has, has leading lines into her image which shows that is her name and pulls in the audiences attention. The name of the album, Bionic, is directly next to the bionic side of Aguilera's face which relates it to the image.

Silde 2/ Inside Image - This is the first inside image and is another close up of Aguilera's face. However this is from a different angle which connotes another side of her personality. Aguilera's face is the only thing in the frame which makes her the focal point.

Slide 3/CD Slot - The section where the CD is placed is a mid shot of Aguilera and she is in 

the centre of the frame. This is a more sexual image and establishes her as the artist.

Slide 4/ Thankyou Note - This slide is black and white which again continues the theme of the digipak. The writing is central which makes it the focal point to the audience and the white font on the black background makes it stand out.

Slide 5/ Inside Image - This image is an extreme close up of Aguilera's face which only shows her eyes and mouth. This shows her face in detail which connotes the idea that Aguilera isn't hiding anything from the audience.

Slide 6/ Back Cover - The track list is directly down the centre of this slide and the black font stands out against the white background. On the left side of the slide is Aguilera's "bionic" half of her face and on the right is her human side of the face. The repetitiveness of these images makes them more memorable and iconic to the audience.

Choice of the images

There are a total of 4 images in the digipak, the main one being the cover. The variety of camera angles shows contrasting effects and establishes Aguilera as an artist. The close ups and extreme close ups show the different sides to Aguilera and her personality.

Typography

The font used throughout the digipak is sharp and almost robotic which portrays the idea of Aguilera being "bionic". The writing is small as the images are the main feature in this digipak. This is due to Aguilera wanting to portray her new image as an evolving artist to her audience.

Style of the Language

The style of the language is friendly and welcoming. Most of the writing is from Aguilera herself thanking people who were involved in the making of the album such as writers and producers as well as her family and fans. Her use of language makes the audience feel comfortable and almost like they know Aguilera as she doesn't sound patronising. This makes them feel as though they are important to her and she treats them as more than just fans.

How does it Promote the Music Genre

The genre is pop therefore the use of the bright red is parallel to the genre. Red is a colour which connotes lust, strength and passion. These are all traits of Aguilera's personality as well as the pop genre. Women in the pop genre are known for promoting "Girl Power" and the idea that women are strong, sexy and are equal to, if not better than men. The contrasting use of black and white represents the many different sides and aspects that there are to the pop genre. The use of images relates to the use of colours as they show Aguilera's face in great detail which shows her self confidence as a woman. Her poses show her in a more sexual and feminine way which links back to the conventions of the pop genre. The images show Aguilera in a different way to which she has been seen throughout her career. This links to the song "Not Myself Tonight" on the album and shows how she has changed as an artist. 

How does it Attract the Target Audience

The colour scheme attracts the audience as the red stands out against the simple black and white colours. This is eye catching and as it is the theme throughout the whole digipak it shows that it is a concept which makes the album appear more iconic and memorable. The album targets a young audience mainly female. It could be most girls and women from teenagers to early 30's. This is due to the modern yet sophisticated look of the images included. The songs on this album show a sexier side to Aguilera and show her new self confidence and strength as a woman. The slick style to this album presents this idea to the audience and relates to the songs. 

By analysing this digipak I have realised the importance and purpose of a digipak and how they can be used to promote an album. Before analysing I thought that images were simply selected based on which ones looked nice, however I have now seen how they attract the audience and relate to the music which is being sold. This has helped me decide which style of images I will use in my own digipak in order to promote my genre and artist.