This paper is an analysis of a piece of popular music and how it represents gender. The chosen piece of popular music for this paper is Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You (Sheeran, 2017). The outstanding musical characteristic of this song is its chorus. It repeatedly praises the woman’s body shape, therefore sexualizing her. It also assures the woman of emotional support, displaying one crucial role of men in relationships. It helps to pass along the message of the entire song effectively through a catchy melody that is easy to sing along to. The song characterizes women as beautiful human beings who should be loved and adored. The artist describes the woman’s body and shape throughout the song in the chorus with admiration. There is the objectification of the woman as the artist focuses on her body during the majority of the song. During the song, the woman breaks up with the man, leaving a note behind. The man follows her across the city, indicating a lack of acceptance for the woman’s departure. The man refuses to lose her on her terms. He follows her to clear things up, indicating men’s inability to accept the finality of a relationship they have no control over.
The man freely expresses the desire for an intimate relationship with the woman in many parts of the song. He talks about the intimate things that remind him of her, such as her smell on his bedsheets. The song presents the men as the natural pursuers of women for a relationship as the woman waits for the man to make advances towards her and take her out on dates. Non-heteronormative genders are not represented in the song as the artist only focuses on relationships between the man and the woman. The song presents the role of providing financial support as a man’s responsibility. The video depicts the man taking the woman out on dates and paying for everything. The man’s role is to provide emotional assurance to the partner, as occurs throughout the video. The artist assures the woman he is wooing of emotional support if she accepts his proposal and also comforts her in the video when she is sad.
References
Sheeran, E. (2017). Ed Sheeran – Shape of You. In YouTube. Web.