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.