Pop genre analysis

1. ANALYSIS OF POP
GENRE
Genre

2. DEFINITION
Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular")
is a genre of popular music, which originated in its modern form in the 1950s,
deriving from rock and roll. The terms "popular music" and "pop music" are
often used interchangeably, even though the former is a description of music
which is popular (and can include any style).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music)

3. Pop
Boybands: Boybands are very common within the pop genre, and with the boyband
label comes the stereotypical conventions such as:
-Songs: ballads, love songs, upbeat happy songs
-Shirts off and focus on the attractive members/lead singer of the band
-Stereotypical location used is the beach
-Shown to be having a good time.
Love:
A very common theme used within pop music videos is love, which
is emphasised by the love interests that are made known in a
typical pop video. The stereotypical love structure is a boy/girl
relationship with the emphasis being on one gender trying to win
the affection of the other gender.
Setting:
Elaborate setting is used within pop videos with
some of the main stereotypical settings being:
mansions, beaches
Clothing:
The clothing/costumes used in pop videos vary from
artist to artist, however, they always tend to follow
the fashionable mainstream outfits that are in
society.
Content:
-The content of a pop music video varies from each artist, however,
they are typical portrayed as being happy, whilst also enjoying and
being content with life.
-Lyrics are normally based upon and around love and relationships.
-All seems happy with the world, artist seems content.
Editing/Colours:
-Colours are normally bright and bold to reflect the positive
happy vibe; peppy colours.
-High Key lighting
Audience: The audience for pop music videos tends to be
teenagers because they feel a sense of relatability from the
partying and enjoyment.
Artist representation:
-Artists are portrayed in a very sexual and seductive way to symbolise their sex symbol.
-Make up is used as a tool to express the artist feelings whilst also the stereotypical use of standard makeup. – This is only a recent development
however, as 10 years ago, natural beauty and less extreme hair and makeup was dominant.
Camera Shots:
-A lot of close ups of the artists faces are used as well as mid-shots to show the artist off
and promote them.
-Long shots are frequently used to show the dancing and partying scenes.
Gender and Age Representations:
-Actors in the videos are typically young and have the ‘appeal’ to the younger target
audience
-Although both males and females are represented there is more focus on women
being as ‘objects’.

4. ONE DIRECTION- WHAT
MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL
The first music video which I am analysing from
the pop genre is One Direction’s ‘What Makes
You Beautiful’. One Direction are a boyband
consisting of 5 boys, and What Makes You
Beautiful (WMYB from now onwards) was there
first single. WMYB displays many of the pop
genre conventions, with One Direction as a
boyband being the first and main convention
fulfilled. Location for any pop music video is very
important, and WMYB abides by the stereotype
of an exotic beach location. The establishing
shot of WMYB is of the beach, which
immediately establishes the genre of the music
Artist representation is something
which is very important within any
music video, and WMYB focuses on
the band a lot. The use of close ups
on the band highlights them as an
image of ‘5 teenage boys’, which
appeals to their target audience of
teenagers and especially girls. The
close ups and mid-shots reveal their
clothing, which in this case is a white
shirt and summer trousers- which is
very typical of a pop music video as
they are trying to establish the ‘fun’
factor that their artists are
representing. Furthermore, there is a
master shot which shows the band in
the sea topless, which initially
emphasises how ‘fun’ the band are
and how ‘happy’ and ‘content’ they are
with life, and then it also plays upon
one of the stereotypes of typical

5. Representing the band as having fun and being content with life is
something which is very important to a pop video because they want to
show their artists as having fun and being happy people. A lot of shots
are focused on the band playing guitars, football, having BBQ’s,
laughing and chatting. This highlights how fun the band are and
therefore shows how content they are with life. The mise-en-scene is
very minimalistic with the location being on a beach and so therefore
using natural lighting which is bright and reflective of the ‘happy artist’
image because there is not a cloud in the sky and is all sunny-
reflecting how life is sunny and not cloudy.Love interests are something which are very popular within music videos, and in the WMYB video the love
interests are focused on a lot as well- there are a number of shots used to highlight the females. To begin with a
master shot is used to show the females in a car where they are represented as having fun and being happy. The
females themselves are the typical ‘model’ figure which is a stereotype of music videos where they show the
‘pretty’ females as the desired love interest. Close ups are further used to emphasise the beauty that these girls
have, and to highlight what the boys are looking at. Additionally, there is also a mid-shot of one of the girls with
who is classed as the lead member, Harry Styles. This mid-shot is important because it shows how the main boy
has this love interest with the pretty female girl, which is the typical structure for a pop music video.

6. KATY PERRY- I KISSED A
GIRLKaty Perry is an American pop artist who after establishing a career for
herself as gained the label as ‘pop princess’. I Kissed a Girl was one of
Katy’s first songs, and therefore first music videos so does show a huge
contrast in her music videos now, which evidentially have much more
budget for them. Artist image was very important for Katy within this music
video as this established her as an artist. The video heavily includes a lot of
close up shots of Katy’s face and of different parts of her body, for example,
the camera lingers on her legs, bum and boobs. This supports Mulvey’s
theory of the women being for the pleasure of men because it suggests that
Katy has done this to appeal to a male audience and therefore ‘pleasure’
them like in Mulvey’s theory. The outfits that she is wearing are very
revealing and emphasise particular parts of her body such as legs, bum and
boobs. This shows again the parts of the body which males tend to obsess
over and therefore gives Katy not only the pop princess reputation but the
reputation of a sex symbol which will increase her sales.

7. As it is important for Katy to establish her brand image and create a reputation, it was interesting to see the frequent
use of long shots to show how Katy is having fun with her friends, which also heightens the sense of relatability
between her and her target audience which is teenage girls because everyone can relate to having fun. The long
shots show Katy in a party environment, having pillow fights and overall having fun. Although it shows the party
environment it also further emphasises the ‘sexiness’ of the video because the other actors, who are all young and
female, are all in revealing clothing and their body parts emphasised. The colours within the music video are very
bright and ‘peppy’ which instantly establishes the pop genre and this is supported with the location which seems like
a very well detailed house with lots of materialistic items in the angle of shots. The content of the music video links
with the lyrics of the song; the love interest however is more controversial and explored. Stereotypically, there would
be a male love interest for Katy, however, she opted to focus on a more explored theme where she is saying that
she “Kissed a girl and she liked it” which is focusing more on the issue of homosexuality averse to typical
heterosexual love interests which are portrayed in music videos. This would have opened up Katy’s target audience
because people who were also young like the actors and Katy and who were ‘experimenting’ would be able to relate

8. LADY GAGA- APPLAUSE
Lady Gaga is classed as a controversial artist within the pop genre, and often pushes the boundaries to what is
included in her music video. The clothing and make up that is used within Lady Gaga videos is that of a standard
which is very wacky and ‘different’. This promotes her as an artist and gives her the unique selling point of being
different to other pop artists such as Katy Perry. The close ups within the video emphasises the use of wacky
hair and make up that Lady Gaga has used.
Although Lady Gaga already brings a different style of
music videos to the pop genre, she still subjects herself
to the males in her videos, which again supports the
Mulvey theory of women being there for the males
enjoyment. Close up of Lady Gaga in a very skimpy
lingerie outfit and mid-shots of her dancing on a males
knee shows how she is trying to promote herself to the
male audience as again, a ‘sex symbol’.

9. 9
A very well polished and perfected dace routine is also the centre of this music video with Lady Gaga being the
dominant dancer and leading all of the other dancers in the music video. A dance routine is at typical convention
of a pop music video, and a lot of long shots and mid-shots have been used to highlight this dance routine, which
contains a lot of sexual dance moves and has all the young females including Lady Gaga in very revealing
outfits. As the dance routine focuses on Lady Gaga it is obvious that she is the main attraction within this music
video, and the video’s purpose is not only to provide a visual to the song, but is there to promote Lady Gaga as
an artist herself.