History of Chosen Artist

Christina Aguilera Ft Redman - Dirrty

Christina Aguilera’s song ‘Dirrty’ featuring Redman was produced in 2002, in this music video Christina has a different concept to her music video than her song ‘It’s Ok.’ Laura Mulvey’s theory is implemented in Christina’s music video as she is surrounded by men and being observed as an erotic object. This emphasises that she is aiming for a sexy and intimate music video to her audience, hence the name of her music video is ‘Dirrty.’ The camera shots and angles are changing on numerous occasions giving the spectators a view from every angle, the camera shots used are medium long shots, long shots and establishing shots. By implementing these shots in the music video, shows and emphasises how quick the beat of the song goes making it fast and catchy for the audience.

The song ‘dirrty’ is very upbeat and fun for the audience, the costume worn in the video is very revealing as majority of the time she is wearing leather pants and mini-skirts to show off her curves. Her image in the music video is very sexual and she expresses this in many different ways, for example the dance moves she uses are very invigorative, female characters who are also in revealing clothing, male characters making her seem sexy etc. She presents herself as a ‘ghetto girl’ with the dreadlocks and the heavy black eye makeup. This can also express that the song has a rock theme to it as well as pop, this gives the audience a misleading thought of whether the genre is Pop or Rock. The colour used in the music video is very dull and emphasises the urban feel to it, as well as the lighting not being effective which also expresses the whole theme.

The location of the music video is very urban and ‘dirrty’ as used same as the song title. It seems as if the location is in a warehouse based scenario, which expresses a scary and mysterious atmosphere as you can see that few of the characters are wearing masks to emphasise a frightening feel to the whole music video. The graffiti on the walls also comes across that the location is in an urban location. The characters who are used in the music video is a mix of both genders male and female, also known as binary opposition implemented in the video. As well as having less clothing which adds to this whole new atmosphere of the music video. This portrays the sexual intimate feel to the music video, as you can see males and females getting intimate in the scenario.  The whole concept of the songs illustrates well with the music video, but not as much as in some scenes there are characters in the music video in rabbit costumes which does not make sense or express what the music video is about; this forms a slight disjuncture to the music video including the audience.

Christina Aguilera – Your body

The music video of ‘your body’ shows a lot of colour and lighting, the colour range used within the music video makes it very eye catching for the audience and portrays that the song may be upbeat and fun; giving the audience an understanding of what the style and genre of the music maybe. The colour range is also expressed by the props and costume worn by the artist herself, such as the pink wig, different colour costume used within the video to show the audience she is the main focus of the music video. This shows development over the years of Christina’s music video from 2002, as the whole concept of the music video for ‘your body’ focuses on the artist herself making sure she’s centre of attention; whereas in ‘dirrty’ she and other characters are the main focus as they dance and make the whole scene energetic and fun.

In the music video the location is used in many places, one of which is in her caravan, dessert, pub and shop. These different locations do not have no link to the lyrics, but is used to make the whole music video intriguing for the audience and make them think why the location maybe have been chosen. The whole concept of the video is her loving the male figures body, and by loving it she kills them but in a colourful way making the whole scene fun and exciting.  Binary opposition is included in the video between the artist and the male character, this is to show the intimacy through the characters and express her music. Both her music videos include sexual intimacy, which does not show development but maybe because she is trying to get across her song to the audience by using this form of action in the music video.

Camera shots used are medium shots, medium long shots and long shots which link with the upbeat song, as the song is very fast and the changing of scene goes at the same pace in order to achieve an upbeat song. The angles used in her music video which shows a wide view to the audience is the track angle, this is used to follow the movement and action of the artist without missing any important parts. Zoom and reverse zoom is also included to give the spectators a great landscape view of not just the artist but what is also around her, to get the audience thinking of why they may have included these objects. Parallel sound is used in the music video to match the audio/sound to the action, for example the high notes that Christina hits is portrayed through the killing of her male characters, so instead of having an actual sound effect of ‘BANG’ the production team used Christina’s high note to express this; this portrays something different and unique.

The costume worn by the artist is very colourful as well as expressing her physique, in order to emphasise this to her male audience and male characters. Which links to the Laura Mulvey’s theory of ‘the male gaze,’ it is considered in the music video Christina getting intimate with the male character as he gets hold of her waist showing binary opposition in a sexual form. However the colour use that is included in the music video by the artist herself is very eye-catching and colourful, this expresses that she is superior to the male men within the video as the male characters are dressed in a very casual formal look; this is shown through the killing of each of her male lovers. This is conceptualised that it does not always have to be males feeling empowered and superior, but can be the other way round.

The development of the artist and her music is shown through in many ways, one of which is that the colour use in ‘dirrty’ is not very intriguing and emphasises the urban feel to the whole scenario. Whereas the colour use in ‘your body’ expresses a lot showing different emotions and changing of costumes as well as locations. And not just sticking to two locations as done so in the ‘dirrty’ music video. This also includes the development of Christina from her 2002 music video, as it shows through by her appearance. In ‘your body’ music video Christina goes for subtle make-up look and does not over do this with the black bold eyelid, as done so in her 2002 video. She tries to reflect on this by presenting herself as more sophisticated and get her audience interested in her music and music video. By comparing both music videos, Christina has developed a lot from her last video as her video of ‘your body’ is more colourful, eye-catching, unalike and distinctive.

Christina Aguilera Ft Great big world – Say Something

Christina’s music video of say something was released in 2014, this concept of her music video is entirely different to the other two music I spoke about previously. In this video the colour use and lighting is very basic and simple, throughout the music video the colour consists of black and white theme including the costume worn by her and the pianist. The lighting used emphasises the whole slow song, the lighting focuses on each character as it changes scenes including the artist. This shows that not only is the main focus the artist but the characters too, sharing the role of being centre of attention. The camera shots and angles used in the video is also very simple and changes scenes at the pace of the song, which is slow emphasising the slow rhythm through the change of scene.  

The costume worn by artist is also basic and not eye-catching which portrays the sadness of the song, including the colour of theme. Christina goes for a very sophisticated look which reflects on the song being sung, this shows the artist development from the last two videos as this shows the artist as a very mature understanding lady who’s expressing her feelings through a simple scenario. The props used are not many except the piano and the teddy bear used to portray different story for each individual character used. Location used in the music video is in a big empty hall, this shows emptiness as well as sadness to express the song to the audience. The location is based in one place, using different characters to portray the story to show that different people go through different things.

The editing that takes place within the music video is the cut edit, which changes the show from one viewpoint to another. In the music video the whole scenario is not based just upon the artist, but includes the characters who express their individual story in the music video. The song is a very slow-moving song, the whole concept of the video emphasises the genre and style of the music making it easy for the audience to understand the style and genre easily, without having to identify certain props or objects to understand.

Overall the development of Christina Aguilera shows through, throughout the years of singing and making music videos. She includes different things every time into her music video, and not just focusing on having the same style within her videos. She forms different styles of music which can either be upbeat or slow, showing two different emotions in her video and not just basing her style on a certain target audience. Christina also shows a development in her appearance as she changes her image up in all three videos, as she shows herself as an erotic object to the male audience in her video of ‘dirrty,’ where as in her latest video of ‘say something’ she changes her character completely to emphasise the sadness of the song and shows a very mature side to her. She includes a variety of music styles in order to not just aim at a niche target audience, but also others outside the circle of her target audience. It also expresses that she is capable of taking on board different styles of music in her video which shows her gradual development throughout her music video and herself.

I will use the knowledge which I have gathered from each individual artist, and represent Christina Aguilera for my ‘its ok’ music video in a different format. Without having the artist included in my music video, I am going to tell the story of the lyrics through the use of props and characters for the audience to understand and interpret. As in majority of Christina’s music video she is placed in the video to make her centre of attention, in order to make a change and make it different I want to be able to tell an emotional story through the lyrics and scenes.

History of Artists In The Same Genre As My Chosen Artist

Ella Henderson

Ella Henderson whose full name is Gabriella Michelle Henderson is a British singer and song writer; she came on X factor in 2012 to fulfil her dreams of becoming a singer. She finished off in 12^th place, luckily enough she got a record deal from Syco Music and began her career as an artist. She sold her first single ‘Ghost’, which went on UK’s singles chart number 1. She continued her song writing and sold 3 debut singles, as well as selling her debut album ‘chapter 1’ which reached first place on the UK album chart. Over the years Ella has progressed from writing songs in her bedroom and performing music at Christmas when all her family are together, to performing her songs and sharing her experiences worldwide such as in USA, Australia, UK and New Zealand. Since her first single which was sold, she has made appearances to a variety of shows such as Kiss FM radio, The Saturday Night Show, Capital Summertime Ball and many more.

She became an icon for some people, though she was only 16 when she auditioned for the X Factor she has made a great development from where she began to where she is now. Although she did not make it to the end of the X factor final, this did not stop Ella from fighting for her dreams as she continued on with establishing the career she has always desired. Ella released a number of many live cover songs on YouTube, which included mash-ups from drake’s songs and four other originals. This was presented live to her fans on webcam sessions. Ella is beginning her first tour in October 2015, and which will finish in November 2015. Ella has not only developed her career, but has also made a change on her appearance going for a more sophisticated and mature look to emphasise her song writing. She is still continuing to expand her career and her song writing.

Victoria Justice

Victoria Justice is an American artist and actress who starred in not only the famous children’s show Nickelodeon, Zoey 101 and Victorious but in several other series on Nickelodeon. Besides acting Victoria developed her singing career by performing songs for the soundtrack to ‘Musical Spectacular’ as well as expanding this career further by recording many songs for Victorious. In her early years she had done advertisements for known clothing brands such as Gap, Ralph Lauren and Guess. Victoria took a lot on board at the age of 10 from her acting career to becoming an artist. She participated in many series of Nickelodeon shows, her first album was released in 2012 on iTunes. Later that month she released a single which was her first duet with her co-star Elizabeth Gillies. A year later Justice made another album. Victoria Justice had all her dreams bagged into one, she developed her acting skills and turned her acting opportunities into a singing career.

Victoria not only wanted to achieve her dreams, but took part in several charity shows to help those in need which shows the care and compassion she has for those who are less wealthy. Victoria participated in a duet with Max and sung ‘say something’ by Christina Aguilera showing her passion for singing and emphasising this through her facial expression and tone of voice. The duet which was produced is something completely out of Victoria’s comfort zone as majority of the songs which she produced were up-beat and fun. Whereas ‘say something’ was the complete opposite and this showed the audience a different side to her, which made the music video stand out more. Over the years Victoria has developed in many ways and gained many skills to achieve her dreams, she has grown up to be a mature lady with the same appearance.

Adele

Adele Adkins is a singer/songwriter who has achieved many things in life, fortunately she was able to be graduate from BRIT School. She then had a record deal by a company in 2006 the year which she also was graduated. In 2007 she was awarded the Brit Awards and won the BBC Sound of 2008. That year her debut album was also released and was four times platinum in the UK and double platinum in the USA. She made many appearances such as the Saturday Night Live which increased not only her fan base but boosted her career in the USA. She also was awarded at the Grammys for the best new artist and Best female pop vocal performance. Adele released her second album in 2011 which had a great hit, which also lead to earning several awards and making it the longest top position in the USA since 1985.

In 2011 and 2012 Adele was clarified by the Billboard as the artist of the year. Adele started to make something of her career at a young age, and was able to follow her dreams and expand this by trying out new things. She did not know how to sing beforehand, she only began to learn how to sing when she started listening to Ella Fitzgerald. Adele’s first album was based upon heartbreaks and relationships, which expressed her life in a story. She has been known as another duplicate of Amy Winehouse. Famous singers such as Kanye West, Beyoncé, Celine Dion and Madonna praised Adele for her music. She not only has a strong career but also helps those in need, by doing appearances and raising money for a variety of charity workshops. For Adele her career went on a whirlwind from the very beginning after graduating from BRIT school, everything in her life fell together to form her career. She chased her dreams and developed her singing skills herself. Adele’s music has always been soul pop and she has expressed this through the lyrics she has sung. She is a young talented artist who has come far in her career and achieved more than any famous female artist so far in the current era; earning numerous awards and being praised by millions of people for her music.