Music Video Analysis- Lady Gaga Bad Romance

Music Video Analysis- Lady Gaga –Bad Romance.

Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance music video is a rich text. The music video seems to be about her music journey and how pressure has changed her. Lady Gaga first hit singles ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Poker Face’ which started her ‘celebrity journey’. I think that Bad Romance presents the negative side of the music industry.

 This shot is taken from Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance music video which was published in 2009. In this shot taken women are dressed in white and men in black. The colours could represent that the men are ‘bad’ and that the women are ‘good’ as white represents purity. Lady Gaga is wearing a gold costume which contrasts the bright light and the white and black theme. This instantly makes her stand out, and shows the audience that she is the main focus in the music video. Not only is her costume different, she is also sitting on a throne which represents her power in the music video. The bright lights used give the impression of a scientific place such as a lab, as the setting is bright white.

In this shot, the lighting is dark giving the audience a mysterious atmosphere and contrasts the shots shown before. The shot presents the audience with scientific looking pods. On one of the pods it says ‘MONSTER’ with a cross underneath. Lady Gaga has a large fan base which she calls ‘Little monsters’. When watching Bad Romance people emerge from these pods including Lady Gaga herself, she emerges out of the pod with text on. This could perhaps show that she is the ‘god’ of the ‘little monster’ fan base. When the people emerge from the pods it’s almost like they are being reborn which could symbolise Lady Gaga’s music journey. The text on the pod is red, this could perhaps present danger as red signifies danger.

These two shots below show the animalistic movements which are used throughout the rich text. Lady Gaga is at the front of all the dancers, her face is covered with a white mask. The colour white indicates purity, and the dancers emerging out the pods could suggest they have been reborn again. In this music video the dancing is very animalistic, when watching the video it’s almost following the characteristics of a cat. For example looking at the hand movements (shown in the red box).  Looking at the image below there is product placement of Lady Gaga Beats. Beat electronics produce audio products such as earphones, headphones and speakers. The company was founded by Dr. Dre, a music producer and rapper. Lady Gaga has featured her beats in other music videos also promoting her line of the brand. Looking at her facial expression in the shot, her eyes look big, rounded, almost like a cat. Additionally, you could also interpret that the large, feline-like eyes portray innocence. This shot contrast other shots in the music video as her face is showing, this is perhaps showing how she wanted the music industry to be like or how she was before she entered the industry.

 This shot is too show how the industry has changed her. She has been sexualised by the clothing she is wearing and being forced to ‘impress’ certain audiences. In this shot she appears to be confident in her actions which could potentially show her journey in the industry and how she has gained confidence. Before this she gets forced to the front, and she begins to go along with it. This could perhaps represent how she has no say in her actions, her free will has been stripped. This could also be shown by the lack of clothing as in today’s society women are sexualised in the music industry to try and get audience’s attention.

Lady Gaga is a huge icon amongst young females, not only this but Gaga is considered as an important person in the gay community. She has publicly showed her supported for the LGBT community. This shows that Lady Gaga has a wide audience, which she tries to cater for in her videos and songs. This is a positive, that her audience isn’t restricted however it puts a lot of pressure on her to not offend or upset anyone. 

Music Video Analysis- Formation By Beyonce

Beyoncé Formation Analysis:

Beyoncé is a talented singer-songwriter who was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She is considered to be one of the biggest pop stars and icons in the world, who millions find inspirational. Beyoncé’s recent album Lemonade features the song Formation, this song instantly was in the media as it had a different, more serious tone then her other masterpieces. Formation raises the issues in society about how women and black people are treated. The hit gives awareness to the campaign ‘Black Lives Matter’, which Beyoncé and husband Jay Z donated 1.5 million to. Additionally to this at the Super bowl Beyoncé had a Black Lives Matter theme which she sung Formation.

In the opening of the music video to formation you hear a male voice saying ‘What happened at the New Wil’ins? Bitch, I’m back by popular demand’. This is said by Messy Mya, who speaks throughout the song.  As he says this there are shots showing poorer areas of presumable New Orleans before the flooding. In 2005, New Orleans suffered from a natural disaster which lead to mass floods throughout the city. Hurricane Katrina, destroyed homes leaving one million people homeless and one thousand, two hundred people drowned in the flooding. 

In this shot Beyoncé is crouched on the police car which is submerged in water from a flood.  This shot relates to the Black Lives Matter campaign as Beyoncé is of black ethnicity and she represents the black society and the police car represents the tragic events in which the police are involved with. The car being submerged could be interpreted as the black citizens fighting the oppression and the floods could link to the powerful force they have. The body language in which she is expressing, the crouch, is of an intimidating nature, showing that the members of #BLACKLIVESMATER won’t be taken down easily and will fight until justice is served.   The houses which surround the car are all of similar exterior showing the lack of inequality between the home owners.                                         

In this scene the video is placed in the time period of where black citizens were used as slaves, this mainly being in the era of the 17^th and 18^th century. However, Beyoncé reverses character roles and is playing the white, wealthy woman of the family, who is surrounded by fellow black members who serve her. This refers back to the oppression of the black lives in which the members are trying to overcome. Beyoncé is trying to display the moments in where black lives have been segregated and belittled, attempting to show that every black life is valuable. The backdrop of what appears to be a mansion is covered in white marble, which displays the wealth of the family which contrasts the previous scene of the wooded homes in which are flooded, once again showing oppression by society.                

This scene shows a room within the home in which Beyoncé may spend her time as a wealthy wife, where the roles are reversed. Here, Beyoncé is surrounded by a group of women this time who are dressed in white; this could be interpreted as a mockery of the women as in American history the women were of white ethnicity.  The women are participating in actions which are stereotypical towards women; such as sipping tea or waving a fan, potentially because women were seen as incapable of completing any form of intelligent actions- once again showing oppression this being of women.  In the backdrop there are portraits of women, which is unusual for that era as men were seen as the more dominant so this is uncommon.          

This scene shows a young child of black ethnicity dancing in front of white policemen who are in riot gear; this could represent the riots of the black members of American society, who are protesting for equality. The flashing blue lights in the background shows the seriousness of the situation and draws attention to the 10 men stood in front.  The young boy who is fearlessly showing his dance moves shows how the oppression targets no age and targets anyone.

‘STOP SHOOTING US’

This scene is loud in terms of interpretations. This snapshot is a close-up of a wall, just after we see the child standing in front of the riot squad. It shows the pure fear in which the oppressed citizens are feeling, this can be linked to the recent organisation #BLACKLIVESMATTER   who protest to have the same rights of their fellow Americans; after the civil right movement which took place in the 50s with the likes of Rosa Parks protesting for equality, inequality still lingers for the black citizens hence the importance of this video. With the power in which Beyoncé has over today’s generation she can change the world for the better with videos such as this one.                                                                                                    

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