Deborah Rouse talks about the art of making music videos. She explains that production is a complicated process that unites the worlds of film and music. Rouse specifically talks about black video producers who work in a highly competitive environment. Some famous black producers, such as Hype Williams, explain that video production entails envisaging the spirit of the song and transforming into a thrilling visual experience. Production involves video editing, hiring extras, coordinating choreography and many other components.
One must work under a lot pressure because most artists have strict deadlines. Music videos have the capacity to transform an artist’s and producer’s image. Nonetheless, other players believe that they create a grand image that artists cannot live up to in person.
On Lady Gaga
The writer, Neda Ulaby, explains that shock value has always been used by artists, but it is more difficult to shock people now. This is partly because music videos are easily accessible in the internet. Those who succeed with this strategy use it subtly and purposively.
Conversely, Elizabeth Scalia compares Lady Gaga to Madonna. Madonna became boring because her take on sexuality lacked depth. Likewise Lady Gaga is renowned for embracing the inner monster. However, unless she adds depth to the idea, then she will be forgotten. Shana Naomi Krochmal believes Gaga is a genius because she is unpredictable. Gaga’s dressing, music and performances are scary, and this makes her stand out.
How Hip Hop Lost Its Way and Betrayed Its Fans
Brent Staples believes that Hip Hop music perpetuates dangerous race stereotypes, which have turned the genre into a violent and socially-unacceptable industry. Famous rap artists market themselves as convicts, drug dealers or gang members. They also capitalize on feuds between rival rap singers, which may sometimes turn violent as was the case with Notorious BIG and Tupac Shakur.
Even record producers are in on this scheme. The strategy is toxic to black listeners who are made to believe that murder is normal. Furthermore, it is spiraling out of control and may reach a tipping point where the whole genre will become rejected by the rest of society.
Hip Hop and Youth Culture
This article delves into the complex world of Hip Hop. It began in the street as far back as the 70s but has become one of the most appreciated music genres by the youth. They identify with it because it is unpretentious and representative of a radical culture.
Young people from non black communities particularly subscribe to it because they want to listen to something that is alien to their culture. Since it is alien to white-middle class culture, then it is forbidden and attractive to them. Hip Hop is not just a genre of music; it penetrates into people’s way of dressing, their way of thinking, sporting, marketing and television watching.
Don’t Blame Hip Hop
Kelefa Sanneh talks about the controversies surrounding Hip Hop Music. Although the public accuses Hip Hop of sexism, propensity for riots and greed, the author believes that the problem is not inside the genre but within society. He claims that society has become cruder, so it is difficult to judge Hip Hop on the basis of its vulgarity.
Efforts by famous personalities like Oprah and Russell Simmons to censor offensive words have not worked because of shifting moral priorities. Now, rap music is criticized for its sexism rather than it vulgarity, and this keeps changing. Attacks against the genre continue even when relatively clean rap songs are currently in the mainstream.
Two Perspectives on Beyonce and Female Empowerment
Dodai Smith claims that Beyonce’s “Run the World” anthem is an anti-feminist song. It contradicts the very essence of female empowerment through its hypersexualised video. The author claims that Beyonce’s lyrics in the video were hollow. An attached video clip talks about how females are discriminated against in society, so the do not run the world.
Conversely, Arielle Loren claims that Beyonce represents a new wave of feminism which is removed from the male gaze. She explains that women like Beyonce embrace their sexuality but still perform multiple roles at work and in their homes. This multidimensionality is what Beyonce was trying to portray in the ‘Run the World Video.
Analysis
The video chosen for analysis is Beyonce’s ‘Run the world” song. It features plenty of colorful and eye-catching outlooks. In one scene, she stands beside a burning car and maintains a cool aura about her. In another scene, she confronts a group of uniformed men with the assistance of scantily clad women. There is no doubt that the artist put a lot of thought into the creation of the video. Not only did she travel to Africa to get inspiration for the choreography, but she hired a range of experts to bring all her ideas together.
Dodai Smith in “Two perspectives on female empowerment” claims that the video betrayed feminists’ intentions because of too much sexuality. However, what this critic and many others in the internet forget is Beyonce is a commercial artist who must sell records. When creating the song, the singer needed to think about her female audience (and feminists in particular) as well as the male audience.
It is likely that the song was meant to empower women while the video was meant to entertain. If the singer got too carried away with her role as a feminist advocate in her video production, then chances are that it would alienate her male audience. Additionally, as Arielle Loren in “Two perspectives on female empowerment” rightfully points out, women have to juggle plenty of things in this world to get ahead.
Beyonce needed to accommodate the wishes of industry leaders, her male as well a female fans, and this explains why she dressed scantily. If one were to analyze the pop industry today, one would accuse almost all female artists of being hypersexualized. This was not a phenomenon that was unique to Beyonce; she was simply representing values that the industry has come to extol.
In the video clip attached to Dodai Smith’s blog, the speaker claims that females are not empowered, so they do not run the world. She believes that the “Run the World” video is a lie since equality is a far-fetched dream. However, this bloggers and her contemporaries have taken the lyrics to the song too literary.
In the video, Beyonce might not necessarily be talking about what goes on overtly in society. She might have been focusing on the unacknowledged contributions that women are making in their world. Speaking as an African American woman, Beyonce knows that most black households are run by women. Their husbands either abandon them or have been locked away in jail. Consequently, these women end up raising their children alone, working more than one job and keeping their families together.
The singer probably drew inspiration for this song from the image of strength that many African American people associate with women. Therefore, the song was a description of what really goes on in her world, and not what people see superficially. Women run the world in the same way that worker-bees run their hives. They might not get any glory or enjoy royal treatment, but without their input, their colonies would fall apart. Likewise, women all over the world work in blue collar or low-wage jobs.
They cultivate land and support agricultural industries in the developing world; it this modest industriousness that holds everything together. Men may get all the prestigious positions, but it is women who make everything around them work perfectly. Beyonce was praising this unappreciated group through her song.
Lastly, mainstream songs rarely focus on feminist ideas at all. Therefore, when one female takes up this role, then her efforts should be appreciated rather than bashed. Internet bloggers have had a field day about how Beyonce neutralized her message through sexual imagery. These critics need to laud her for making an effort.
She might not have been the ideal representation of feminism, but at least she tried. Women today need something that can empower them, in a relatable and enjoyable way. Conventional brands of feminism have been too isolated from the mainstream. Perhaps the popularity of Beyonce’s song among many ordinary women is an exposure of feminists’ outdated or overly conservative approach.