Analyzing The Song

Lyrics: Almost Beautiful - Rachel Austin

Why is it in fairy-tales, there always is a happy ending?
Never in a fairy-tale, do you hear of the heart breaking.
Just an everlasting love, the kind that is awoken with a kiss,
If they wrote a book on us, well baby it would go something like this.

Nearly made it, could've had it all.
Climbed a mountain, just to fall,
Who's to blame now? It's too close to call,
We were almost beautiful, we were almost beautiful.

Why is it that someone else gets to have that happy ending?
If I would be someone else, maybe I could stop pretending
Of an everlasting love, the kind of love I know that I would miss.
If they wrote a book, well baby it would go something like this.

Nearly made it, could've had it all.
Climbed a mountain, just to fall,
Who's to blame now? It's too close to call,
We were almost beautiful, we were almost beautiful.
We were almost beautiful, almost beautiful.

No happy ending after all. We climbed a mountain
Just to fall down, we went through so much,
Aint it cruel to be almost beautiful. To be almost beautiful.

Lyric Analysis

Target Audience
Age: 18-30
Gender: Female based on the song being about a man.
Interests:  Acoustics, personal issues, love, poetry.
Location: United Kingdom

Ethnicity: White mainly

Analyzing Lyrics

My artist seems to be singing about an ex partner or almost partner from the past. The mood of the song is quite sad and depressing because it is about a problem(s) that faced her relationship with her partner leaving them brokenhearted. The artist repeatedly asks rhetorical questions in the song like, " Who's to blame now?", "Why is it that someone else gets to have that happy ending?" and "Why is it in fairy-tales, there always is a happy ending?" This show how her feelings have gradually overpowered her mind,so she is questioning everything that has happened. For example, she doesn't even know if there was anyone to blame due to what happened. Also, you can hint a sense of jealously in the artist because she asks "Why is it that someone else gets to have that happy ending?" So she is asking why someone else can happy ending but not her.  So i feel that the artist is singing in spite or regret, guilt and jealously.

Analyzing Music

My artist's music is a ballad. It's slow, calming and changes during the chorus. This will be popular and well liked for indie, acoustic/folk lovers.

Analyzing Tempo

The start of the song is slow and the pace is slow and consistent. When the chorus comes in at the beginning the pace and beat picks up and becomes louder, then towards the end of the chorus, it goes back to being consistent and slow again. To emphasis the tempo of the song, Rachel spaces out each line of her song. This is quite effective because it's what makes the song emotional and successful.

How would I use this song in my music video

For my own music video, I would think about using a narrative/ illustrated styled one. I would start off with the performance of my actor singing in low light at the beginning. When the first chorus was to come up, I would then go to a story (narrative) of my actress being with her ex partner  but this would be her reminiscing in her mind. So it would be 3 main scenes of my actress singing as performance, her reminiscing and smiling and then her memory of her and her ex together as a narrative. I would use this because this song is a ballad and you could put a picture of a love/drama scenario in your head. It would be relevant and understandable for my audience aswell.

My Artist's Identity

My artist is called Rachel Austin. She is a English-Caucasian singer and songwriter from Gloucestershire and her age is roughly between 20-25. She started playing the piano when she was 5 and performed songs for her school plays. She formed a band called 'Siren' in 1999 which consisted of the drums, bass and piano. Rachel's genre of music varies, because she writes and sings what she feels, but it is mostly acoustic pop. Her influences are Queen, Florence and the machine, Adele and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Clothing my artist would wear

I have chosen these clothes and accessories for what I would like my artist to wear in the music video. She is an urban, vintage girl, so i thought these clothes would be a good example of her image. Some of the clothes above are a likeness to what she wore in her photographs on her website, so that inspired me. Her style and body isn't too revealing so she should have the audience on her at all times and she can be a suitable singer for most age groups because she wears appropriate clothing. 

Typography my artist would use

These are the fonts I have chosen that my artist would use. I had gone for these fonts because they are feminine and look sweet which could portray the artist's personality. The fonts I have are of the handwriting texture and they are easy to read, showing what type of person she is and the music she produces, which is clear and sweet.

Mise-en-scene my artist uses

I have chosen these mise-en-scene for my artist because after listening to her songs, I felt that she would produce her music in these type of places like her bedroom or a piano room. This could be effective in a music video because it would show the character of the artist and show how open they are and tell the audience about them by where they perform.

Types of colours my artist would use

These are the colours I would use for my artists identity as they are natural and resembles her personality. The pink and purple represents her feminine side. The blue represents her personality which is of a calm, sweet and neutral nature. The red and biege combined together presents the type of music she sings. Because Rachel sings what she feels, she can sing it in any way and could sing about anything so the red emphasizes her power to do anything and the beige represents the mood of the song.

Imagery that evokes in my mind from songs

Mood: Sad, depressing

"If they wrote a book on us..."

"The kind that is awoken with a kiss.."

"We went through so much.."

"No happy ending after all"

"..Do you hear of the heart breaking."

"..Climbed a mountain, just to fall."

"We were almost beautiful!"

"Why is it in fairy-tales, there always is a happy ending?"

"An everlasting love, the kind of love I know that I would miss"

When listening to the song, after each verse went by, a specific image came in to my head of different scenarios. I couldn't exactly find the right picture that could described what i saw so I used the gif. version to give you the exact idea of what i was thinking. Each picture has a caption of what lyric labels it. After thinking about all the imagery that has passed through my head, I begin to imagine that this song is personal to her or just sending a message to an ex partner because this song is about heartbreak and memories which portrays her as a person.

Goodwin's ideas on Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin is a theorist that identified 6 key features of music videos. He made a book called "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" in 1992 where he analysed new ways to understand television and music. His 6 key features were:

• Iconography
• Illustrating
• Amplifying
• Contradicting
• Voyeurism
• Intertextuality

Iconography

Iconography in the media is an object that relates to a specific representation. It is an important aspect to a genre of a movie or music video. To briefly summarize iconography, a country music video, you would most likely see cowboys, forests, fields, horses and guitars in it. This is because a category of music needs a genre and a theme, either stereotyped or not. A main example of iconography I have used is 50 Cent's "Down On Me".  I used this music video because well to state the obvious, it's a rap, hip hop themed one and you can count multiple objects that states it theme. At the beginning of the music video, 50 cent (above) is seen wearing big jewellery, sunglasses, a cap and there is an attractive woman walking around dancing. They are already 4 objects used to label their theme of music. In the middle of the music video, (01:50) you notice that the featured singer Jeremih, is wearing quite loose clothing and the lighting is dark and flashing with the effect of a shaky camera. Towards the end of the music video, there is alcohol being poured into a glass, so overall there are around 7 icons in this video that is shown in the music video quite frequently. This can be used in the industry but the audience could have a different on it. In many hip hop music videos, all that is mainly advertised is money. Money is an important factor in the music industry so they would happily love to advertise it in music videos where there would be expensive jewellery, clothing, drinks and cars. The audience however could think the complete opposite. There are quite a lot of explicit music videos being aired in this day and age now for publicity and money so if a half naked woman with an umbrella is dancing around quite seductively, it would be quite inappropriate  for a younger audience and and also the lyrics itself could be discriminating towards woman or of a sexual nature therefore being to explicit and inappropriate for a younger audience.


Illustrating

Illustration in the media is when the video directly corresponds to the lyrics or to a lesser extent mood of the song. This technique is used to understand the mood and feel of the song through the video itself because this will make the music video more interesting to watch. An example of illustrating I have used is Rebecca Black's "Friday". In this music video, the visuals show the exact illustration that is described in the song. At 0:17 seconds, Rebecca sings "7 am. waking up in the morning..." as she's singing this her alarms rings at 7am and she wakes up in bed. Another example i noticed is at 1:15 where Rebecca sings "7.45, we're driving on the highway..." as she's singing this, she is presented in the back of a car with her 2 friends beside her, driving to a party. This is an excellent example of illustration because throughout the whole music video, Rebecca is singing what she is doing.

Amplifying

Amplifying is when the video is designed to enhance the style and the mood of the song. An example of show an amplifying music video would be Britney Spear's "Everytime". In this music video, Britney returned home from a concert and was being neglected by her boyfriend, they got in their hotel room and had an argument what led Britney to having a bath. Whilst in the bath she noticed blood on her head and then shortly after, passed out and went underwater. Her boyfriend then found her, tried to revive her and the scene cut to her in hospital trying to be resuscitated by doctors, but sadly she died. The camera then slides to the room next door, where a woman had just given birth to a baby girl, showing how Britney had been reincarnated. The overall mood of this video is sad, depressing and slow, the music of this video is also slow, sad and depressing. it sounds almost like a lullaby. The music video is quite interesting because you want to know what happens to Britney through out the video and if she survives. Overall, the song and music video clash very well together and is personally one of my favourite songs. For the audience this song is quite touching and emotional, so therefore they should enjoy it.

Contradicting

Contradicting a music video is when the song has a different mood and meaning to the music video itself. An example of a contradicting music video would be MGMT - Kids. In this music video the baby is being tormented by monsters and after watching this video, i feel some sort of remorse for the baby because it is upsetting. At 2:17, the lyrics say "we like to watch you laughing" but the baby is shown crying and traumatized.  This could have a negative effect on the audience because seeing this video could be quite disturbing and inappropriate for them to watch. On the other hand, it is quite interesting. The audience could want to continue watching the music video to see what happens to the demons and the baby. 

Voyeurism

Voyeurism is a technique used in music videos that show women - that are quite attractive- acting quite sexy, provocative to the male's eye for their own satisfaction and entertainment. This is used to the other way around as well with males; they are mainly very handsome, muscly and seductive on screen. This is used for the female satisfaction and entertainment. An example of female voyeurism would be Shania Twain's "Your'e Still The One". In this music video, Shania is singing about/to her extremely attractive boyfriend. His identity is like a mystery throughout the video until the end. Throughout the video, it is in black and white which adds more superstition and interest in to revealing what his face looks like. In 1:09 you see a glimpse of his body and face quite wet, making him look quite sexy in a way. From 2:02-2:09 and 2:28-2:40, it features him in the bath washing his face and back and then the gets out and there's steam coming off of his body whilst wrapping himself in a towel. This scene would entertain the female eye because it is very seductive and flirtatious. 

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is a name for when a music video is based upon a film or television programme. I have used a personal favourite which is Madonna's 'Material Girl'. This is based on the movie Gentleman Prefer Girls with the famous scene of Marilyn Monroe singing 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend' because Monroe is Madonna's inspiration and role model. In this music video, Madonna has a love interest and the video was the first to show Madonna's acting ability, as it combined the dance routines of 'DAAGBF' with the story line of a man who impresses Madonna with daisies rather than diamonds.The institution would use this to make a popular scene of a film re-recognized and so it become popular, benefiting the film and the artist by them gaining profit.

Marilyn Monroe