2. The iconography of graffiti is often used
in R&B music videos, especially from the
90s, which is an era that inspired this
song and some of Grande‟s other songs.
The audience can see in this screenshot
that the title of the song “Baby I” has
been spray painted onto the walls. Bright
colours are conventionally used in pop
music videos; the colour yellow connotes
happiness, which is promoted through the
upbeat tempo of the song.
The graffiti convention can be seen in
the 90s R&B song „Ain‟t 2 Proud 2 Beg‟ by
TLC. Furthermore in LL Cool J‟s video for
„Hush‟, we can see the title of the song
spray painted on the wall he is standing
against, just like in Grande‟s video. This
is also seen in Victoria Justice‟s pop
video for „Gold‟. Miley Cyrus‟ „Party in
the USA‟ is another example of a pop
song with the graffiti convention.
LL Cool J - Hush
Miley Cyrus – Party in the USA
TLC – Ain‟t 2 Proud 2 Beg
Victoria Justice - Gold
3. Moreover Grande is denoted mouthing
the lyrics to her song whilst on the
telephone as if she is singing to her
“baby”.
The convention of being on the phone
is shown in many other Pop and R&B
music videos. These songs are usually
about love and relationships, which
suggests that phones are an important
part of communicating with a loved
one.
Bow Wow
& Ciara –
Like You
Christina Aguilera –
Come On Over
Pussycat Dolls - Stickwitu
Little Mix – How Ya
Doin
Black Eyed
Peas – Shut Up
4. Laura Mulvey‟s „male gaze‟ theory can
be applied to a lot of music videos.
Even though it may be seen as
degrading to women, it is quite
conventional in Pop and R&B videos.
Conventionally, there will be a group of
males all surrounding and staring at one
female. This leads the audience to
believe that the female is desirable. It
is typical for female pop artists to be
depicted in this way. This can be seen
in the music videos shown on the left.
Cheryl Cole – Call My Name
Destiny‟s Child –
Lose My Breath
5. Party scenes are conventionally used
in music videos, especially within the
Pop genre. The party scene is shown in
many videos, even if it doesn‟t
directly relate to the lyrics of the
song, for example Grande‟s song „Baby
I‟ and Taylor Swift‟s „22‟ are about
love and relationships, yet the videos
are still set at a party. This is used to
promote the song as fun and it
encourages people to have the same
fun attitude. Additionally, these artists
use the party scene convention to
appeal to their teenaged audience.
Selena Gomez - Birthday
Taylor Swift - 22
In these videos, the lighting is quite
similar, whereby the background is
dark, but the artist appears
illuminated. This again draws
attention to the artist.
Ke$ha – Tik Tok
Lady Gaga – Just Dance
6. It is very conventional for music videos to
include dance in some kind of way.
Sometimes it will be a group of people
doing a choreographed dance, as seen in
the second screenshot from the „Baby I‟
video, and also in Little Mix‟s video. Other
times it will appear to be more
spontaneous, as shown in the first
screenshot from Grande‟s video, and also in
Miley Cyrus‟ video.
Either way dance is used to promote the
songs as being fun and encourage the
audience to have fun too.
Little Mix - Wings
Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA
7. Here we can see one of
Grande‟s star motifs which is
her hair being in the half up,
half down style. This can also
be seen in Grande‟s videos for
„The Way‟ and „Right There‟.
This hairstyle makes her look
younger than she is which may
appeal to her younger
audience.
8. In this shot we see another
star motif, where Grande
dances with her hands in the
air. This again can be seen in
the videos for „The Way‟ and
„Right There‟. This makes
Grande seem like a fun person
thus encouraging people to
buy her songs.
