1. INTENTIONS
Changing Mileyʼs image “Star
Persona”
Before: Innocent, clean cut, funny,
child-friendly, witty
Appealed to young teenagers, 12-14
Now: New star persona : Risque,
promiscuous, raunchy, older, edgier -
design to appeal to grow with her fans
To promote the new single
To promote Miley Cyrus as an artist
To act as a revenue stream (most
watched video on YouTube in a day)
Get a mainstream audience
REPRESENTATION OF THE ARTIST
Emotional, sad and hurt (See her
crying, briefly stops lip syncing)
Angry (vident imagery, literal
destruction, facial expression)
Attempting to create image of a strong
woman using her sexuality HOWEVER
uses iconohrapghy usually associated
with pornography
RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS
Slow soft opening - close-up on face
Builds up to a crescendo - Stillness of
close-ups
-slo motion used
-simple imagery - basic lightning
Ballad
Chorus - music swells
Verse - softer
Instrumentation -guitar, studio
produced digital quality
Drums - wrecking balls hit the wall
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS
AND VISUALS
Wrecking ball in lyrics - we see
wrecking ball
Broken heart/relationship - destruction
of the wall
stripped to her emotions - she has no
clothes on
Embracing the path - she licks a big
sledgehammer
VOYEURISM (NOTION OF
LOOKING)
Hammer licking - focuses sexuality
explicit intimate moments
Explicit nature of the video

2. -obvious the viewer is being played
with
were watching - emotion, raw, crying
INTERTEXTUALITY
Oblivious reference to Sinead
OʼConnorʼs “Nothing Compares To
You” video
In terms of ʻframing addressʼ and tears
of emotion
TYPICAL OF GENRE
SAME>Song is about love
DIFFERENT>the show of emotions is
so raw
SAME>Imagery relates directly to
lyrics
SAME>Abstract imagery & drama
similar to Lady Gaga
DIFFERENT>overly explicit`
WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE
Miley Cyrus fans who have grown up
New older teenagers/early twenties
WHY WOULD THIS APPEAL TO
TARGET AUDIENCE
Older Miley Cyrus fans: The fact it is
“new”, “different” and “mature/older”
Emotion and love - experiences similar
to demographic
Will enjoy the confident, strong, female
image

3. MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS
Artist: Miley Cyrus
Track Name: Wrecking Ball
Genre of song: Pop
Director: Terry Richardson
Format: 3m 42 seconds – Studio Based Performance
New Audience: edgier Gaga influences
shedding of “Disney” persona
Itʼs risque, itʼs weird, itʼs get people
talking > Heavily promoted