Analysis of a Star and Dyer's Theory - Miss Miller

Many artists in the music industry tend to reinvent themselves for a number of various reasons. Some choose to change so that they can keep up with the modern and current industry, ensuring that they can still attract a large audience. An example of an artist who has done this is Madonna. She has changed her appearance slightly, by having surgery, including a nose job and a face lift inferring that she wants to stay looking youthful and show that she can still perform and create songs like she did years ago. 

For example, how she looked when her music career first 'set off' (1979) is very different from the way she is now (2015) - fashion and trends also have a part to play.

 

Madonna has been one of the longest serving artists to date, and with the manipulation and development of the pop genre, it has meant that as Madonna's songs are predominantly pop, she has had to change with the genre as well. Technology has also changed, meaning that new genres have opened up and have become more popular with today's generation. For example Madonna's song released in June this year 'Bitch I'm Madonna', is classed as 'electronic dance music' in genre. As technology is developing, original genres such as pop have become less popular as the branch of new genres such as this one (electronic dance music) have meant that people are more interested into listening to a genre they may not have heard before. By Madonna releasing a song from this genre, it means that she is likely to appeal to the majority of today's audience as this genre is more likely to appeal to them.

Another reason why stars may feel the need to reinvent themselves are because of a bad past. If an artist has received bad press and negative publicity, they most likely want to diminish this reputation of themselves and create a new identity to achieve this. A way they do this is either changing their look, their name or their style of performing. Some also go absent for a period of time until the media dies down and then become apparent again in their new identity. 

Other artists such as Miley Cyrus, want to breakaway from a previous image that they may have had. She was a childhood sensation playing the lead in the award-winning, children's comedy TV programme, 'Hannah Montana'. Miley played the main role of this programme from 2006 to 2011 and started when she was only aged 11 and so was primarily recognised as being this character (even when she was no longer filming for it). A film 'Hannah Montana The Movie' was also released worldwide, giving the artist more recognition for this character on a more global scale. After finishing 'Hannah Montana', Miley wanted to shed this image that people had of her from her childhood. She wanted to be an artist who was recognised as Miley Cyrus herself, not 'Hannah Montana' who everyone assumed she was like. 

On the left, you can see Miley as 'Hannah Montana' with long hair and non-revealing clothing, acting as a young schoolgirl, living the dream. However, there is a distinct change from the left picture to the right - hairstyle, clothing and even attitude and pose. Miley Cyrus also reinvented herself to gain more publicity and get the message across that she has changed and she is not the character that everyone thinks she is. For example, when she released her 'Wrecking Ball' video, this was the first time that she had released a music video as her 'new' self. This video went viral extremely quickly and has gained over 797 million views so far. Having this much popularity drawn to it so quickly, made the media pick up on the video immediately to comment and review the new release. Receiving this much publicity in such a short amount of time made Miley one of the most-talked-about celebrities at the time as her transition was so diverse and shocking as opposed to the image the public initially had of her.

Ever since Justin Bieber was discovered in 2007, his music career was destined to be a consistent and ongoing success. Since being in the industry from a young age, he has been through some changes as he has grew older to develop and reinvent himself into the artist he wants to be. 

One Time

'One Time' was Justin's first single released in 2009 when Justin was 15. 

Goodwin's theory is supported in this video through the link between the lyrics and visuals. When the lyric remarks 'me plus you', the artist gestures to himself and then points at the camera (to the audience) - as seen in the screenshots below. These gestures are used throughout the video, as this lyric is often repeated frequently through the song. Having the artist doing the gestures that match the lyrics makes the lyric more catchy and engaging. As the audience are the ones being pointed at, they are more engaged and involved in the video, making them believe that the artist is being more personally directing to them as an individual - especially as 'you' is very direct. His target audience of 13 - 16 year old girls appeal to this as they want to feel as included with him as possible and with him making these gestures they are made to feel included.

This video displays many genre conventions of pop. For example, in pretty much every pop genre music video, there is love interest. In this video, we see the artist looking at a girl several times since she walked into the party. He then is shown sitting, talking and dancing with the girl as well as laughing and essentially singing to her. On the bridge of the song, starting with the lyric 'shawty right there...', there is a change of setting as the two of them go outside and the focus becomes more on them as most of the other party members have their backs turned and attention elsewhere. This shows to the audience that the artist is willing to draw all of his attention on her and also displays the meaning of the song. It reflects the way the artist feels about the person he is singing about - inferring he is talking about the girl in the video. The target audience feel engaged because they want to feel empathetic towards the girl as they are attracted to the artist.

A further pop genre convention displayed in Justin's 'One Time' music video is the numerous close ups of the artist. The close ups of the artist display the emotion the song is trying to portray and also shows the audience how the artist feels through the facial expressions that they show. Having close ups of the artist also maintains the focus purely on the artist and the way they are performing and interpreting the lyrics of the song. The target audience appeal to this convention found in pop genres as it allows them to see their artist in more detail and in a more intricate way. Close ups act as a more direct and personal shot to the viewer and so the audience enjoy seeing these type of shots as they feel like the artist is singing more personally to them. 

Dyer's theory is displayed in this music video. The video represents the artist as being innocent and genuine from the way he doesn't commit any offence or act in an antisocial way. Justin could be viewed as a product in this video as his haircut was a very iconic feature of his at the time. Many boys copied his look getting the same haircut in the hope that more girls would be attracted to them.

He is shown in the video as being ordinary as he is dressed in casual clothes and doing social things with his friends - for example as shown in the screenshot where he is sat on his phone with his friend. He is also shown as being ordinary as he is relatable in this video for many boys of this age are looking for a girlfriend or are trying to impress a girl. Some don't know how to express their feelings, so the way he is singing to this girl makes it seem possible to express feelings in this way. Furthermore, Justin is shown as being ordinary through the way he has organised a party in a sort of unapproved way where Usher acts as a parent figure in the video. He doesn't tell him that he is organising a party but decides to invite everyone over for one any way. This is fairly common at this age as many teenagers tend to organise parties, some without parents' approval. Therefore, this makes him ordinary as he is relatable to the audience. 

At this time in Justin's career, his target audience was 13 - 16 years old. This was when Justin had just been discovered so this was his first, original target audience which did change slightly as he got older and grew as an artist. 'One Time' music video was released in November 2009 and is in accordance with the era. At this time, a large majority of the songs being released were pop in genre and were based on a love interest. The initial message of the song is that he the artist is trying to show a girl that he loves her which is demonstrated in the music video. The first verse talks about how when he met the girl which is reflected in the music video as he keeps looking at a girl when she walks in. As he is with her throughout the video, it shows his message of how much she means to him, even when there is so much going on around him.

Boyfriend

'Boyfriend' is a song from Justin's third album and was released as a single in 2012 - Justin was 18 in this video. This video shows the gradual change in the artist from the simple change of his haircut to the way in which he acts in the video performance wise.

Goodwin's theory is illustrated in this music video from the way that it is primarily performance based. Throughout the video, the artist is seen dancing, singing and playing the guitar making it a distinct performance video. The majority of the video, he is singing and it is only later on in the video where he is shown playing the guitar whilst singing. He is still performing when he is with the girl in the video also. The purpose of the artist doing this allows them to express other talents they may have other than singing (for example, dancing and playing the guitar in this case). It shows the audience that they are more than just what people originally associate them to be and that they are more impressive than they may have been seen before. The target audience appeal to this as it makes the artist more attractive knowing that he is multi-talented. Another purpose is to make a more direct connection with the audience as they are able to witness how the artist performs and expresses the emotion that the song portrays. Personality is also demonstrated through this and familiarity with the artist can be developed for example, picking up on certain characteristics that the artist may do.

The genre of this music video is R 'n' B and many genre conventions are visible throughout. 

Firstly, the close ups of the artist allow the expression of the artist's emotions to be shown clearly and most intricately as possible. R 'n' B music videos tend to have close up's of the artist to make the artist seem more attractive to the target audience and to be more direct to them. Songs from the R 'n' B genre often have quick lyrics and so, having the close ups included in the music videos enables the audience to be able to see how the artist perform and interpret the lyrics. In contribution with the filters used in the video, the artist is seen looking airbrushed and complexion perfect. This is able to be captured through the frequent appearance of the close ups. Having this effect shown and elaborated through the use of the close ups makes the artist seem more attractive and effortlessly immaculate.

Another genre convention demonstrated in the music video is that there are expensive items displayed in the video through the artist's use. Firstly, one of the first shots to the main video is this one below of the artist driving a clean, smart and expensive-looking car:

This particular shot shows the artist driving the expensive car with the title of the song 'Boyfriend' spread across it. This is conventional to the R 'n' B genre as R 'n' B artists like to flaunt how much money they have and show off the items that they can afford and own. Having expensive items can reflect success and so can make the artist seem more attractive as they are seen a in a more positive and impressive light. As Justin is only 18 in this video, it also further emphasises success as it is rare that someone can be so rich and successful at such a young age. The way he is singing about being someone's boyfriend makes him seem more in urge to impress and display his assets - one being the large amount of money he has. The amount of money he has is also displayed through the jewellery he is wearing:

On the artist's wrist there is a visible gold bracelet that he is wearing. This item looks very expensive and clearly the artist doesn't mind 'showing it off' from the way he raises his hand as illustrated in the screenshot above. The jewellery however, is subtle and although it does show that the artist has money, it is not too flashy and doesn't distract the audience away from the artist themselves. This is conventional to the R 'n' B genre as the artist is still able to show their talent and way of performing as the main feature and most impressive aspect of the video.

Dyer's theory is displayed in this music video. The artist is represented as being popular and mature, but also youthful. He has met up with quite a few friends in their expensive cars and is shown to be attracted to a girl - he spends most of the video interacting with and singing to her. As the girl does not show any disinterest, Justin is represented also as being smooth and attracted to by girls. The way that at the beginning of the video Justin's name is displayed on-screen, creates an instant sort of watermark and the audience immediately know that the video is his:

Having this essentially promotes himself as he is making himself recognisable even if he hadn't appeared on screen yet. The way in which he is represented makes people want to buy into his lifestyle as he makes it seem relaxed and successful with a positive vibe created throughout. Justin is shown in the video as being extraordinary. This is from the way he looks like he is wearing expensive clothing with sunglasses on which are seen as being glamorous as most celebrities tend to wear them to avoid a bad shot of themselves. Having the talent of the artist playing the guitar and also dancing also displayed in the video, means that they are seen in an extraordinary way. Moreover, the way he artist skids in the car could be seen as being talented and extraordinary in this way as not many people can successfully (and safely) do this and so he is seen as a rarity. The video places fans for hegemony as they are easily influenced into falling into the artist's lifestyle. He makes it appear calm and happy and so having expensive cars, limitless friends and a love interest makes his lifestyle seem a good one to be influenced by.

The target audience of the artist at this time was girls around 14 - 17 years old, however, more boys became fans since is music started becoming more R 'n' B style. Comparing to 'One Time', the target audience has changed as the artist has become more mature, so have they. In 'One Time' the artist is seen as being more sweet and innocent, whereas in 'Boyfriend' he is seen as being more mature and serious. The change in genre from pop to R 'n' B is a more popular genre that a higher majority of males listen to and therefore, this is why the target audience changed slightly in reference to gender. In general, around this time of release, the R 'n' B genre was gradually growing and becoming more popular as more songs from the genre were released. Therefore, this music video fitted in coherence to the era in which it was released because of the growing popularity of the genre at the time. The literal message in the video is showing that you have to have good assets for example, money and values in order to be a good boyfriend/girlfriend. The artist is trying to be impressive saying how good he would be as a boyfriend because of all the qualities about him that could be seen as attractive. This has changed since the last video I analysed ('One Time') as all he could offer before was dedication and the girl being his 'one love' and saying that would always be 'making time' for them, when in this video he shows being more closer to the girl saying how he'd 'never let her go' and giving her the label of a 'girlfriend' makes his intentions seem more mature and serious.

What Do You Mean?

'What Do You Mean?' is Justin's latest single, released in August 2015 -  Justin is 21 here. This single was released after having released no new music for around a year. A 30 day countdown was created for this single to be released along with the music video with numerous celebrities promoting its countdown from James Corden to Michael Bublé - many got involved. This created a hype around the single and video before they were released and a high expectation was also created for the song and video due to the large build up that was created.

Goodwin's theory is displayed in this video. This is shown through the link between the lyrics and the visuals. The lyrics remark 'what do you mean when you nod your head yes..' which is shown in the first screenshot. The girl is showing interest in the artist and is approving of his affection to her as she welcomes it with no sign of disinterest. However, the following lyric says '..but you wanna say no, what do you mean?' which is when the second screenshot appears. This shows the girl pushing him away from her but only to return back to their initial interaction. This is used to show how the artist feels about the impression the girl is giving him, that maybe she doesn't want to be with him but can't help herself from being attracted to him. This makes the artist seem sexually magnified and the audience get to witness how this is shown through the way the artist and the girl act in a sexual nature. 

This song is more drifting towards the genre of dance music. There are many conventions of  the dance music genre that are shown throughout the video. 

Firstly, one convention of the dance genre is having strobe/neon lighting. This is shown most clearly when the artist is sitting on the end of the bed performing to the camera. The light captures the scene so that the artist can be seen vividly but also making sure that the light does not distract this at all, from its resplendent nature of the colour of the lights. It also allows the scene to be set for the intimacy between the artist and the girl as the lighting is not too light giving off too much exposure, but also not too dark that would lack any visual image onscreen. Many dance music genre music videos include strobe/neon lighting as it gives off a party atmosphere. In this particular scene, this is not initially created - not until the end, however it gives a glimpse and insight to the audience for what is to come. In the second screenshot, the artist is displayed the centre of attention within a crowd (party). This is another convention of the dance music genre as it shows what the music created is for and the effect it is meant to have. People are seen dancing and socialising all together in this part of the video giving off a positive, welcoming dance/party vibe. Having the artist as the main focus at this point makes it seem as if he is the one who has created this positive dance vibe and that he is the centre of attention. This is used to show that the song can also create the same effect of being positive and giving off a dance - as it is intended to do.

Dyer's theory is also shown in this music video. The artist is represented as being youthful and socially popular from the way he creates this positive atmosphere near the end during the party scenes. This is through the way he is the centre of attention and he achieves what he is supposed to. Furthermore, he is represented as being heroic as he manages to rescue the girl from her kidnap and also manages the retain her love. As well as this, just before the artist and girl jump out of the door:

Justin asks "do you trust me?". The way that they both end up safe and happy in the end makes him seem not only heroic but trustworthy. The artist can be viewed as a product for example, he is promoting Calvin Klein in the video as he wears them visibly to be caught on camera and to enable the audience to want to buy into the product because he is wearing them. This also self promotes himself as he was part of their recent campaign that has been widely spread across the media. The artist is shown being extraordinary and ordinary. At first he is shown ordinary as he seems like he is doing a 'dodgy' deal with someone that you may not want to be associated with in order to stay out of trouble, however, as the video progresses it is abundantly clear that he becomes extraordinary. This is from the way he manages to break the girl out of the place she is captured in, he has knowledge on how to get out of situations for example, when he uses a lighter to burn away the rope that they are tied to:

As well as the fact that he is shown to be one step ahead, as if he knew he was going to come to a door that had no other side. He persuades the girl to jump with him as he knows that they will be safe as well as her. The video essentially displays a modern day fairytale where Justin acts as the hero rescuing a damsel-in-distress, resulting to a happy ending. The video places fans for hegemony as they are influenced to act like the artist for example in reference to sociability and his heroic nature displayed in the video. 

The target audience for the artist now at this time for the video is girls aged 16 - early 20's. The video shows a lot more intimacy than the previous videos that Justin has been in before and therefore, the target audience is more older and more mature. Boys are still also part of the target audience, especially from the new branch of genre from his original pop genre reputation to more R 'n' B, dance music genre material. Dance music is a very popular genre of the modern day and so this video works in coherence with the era as a wider audience has been able to like it purely because of the genre it is under. Not only this, but music videos have increasingly been included more sexual images and behaviour within which is also mirrored in this music video. The artist is displayed in a way that exposes him a lot more as opposed to his past videos for example in this video, there are many frequent shots of him topless. 'One Time' shows Justin fully clothed, likewise with Justin in 'Boyfriend' although he is illustrated as being more stylish, he is still fully clothed even when both of the videos still demonstrate a love interest within. Sexual magnetism is largely shown in this video portraying how the artist clearly wants to show how he has grown up and matured into a new re-invented artist, branching away from his innocence and sweetness that he was initially associated with. The artist's message is inferring that here isn't enough time to wait for something that may not happen. This is more displayed through the lyrics whilst the video shows more that dedication and perseverance pays off and is worth it in the end.

In conclusion, many celebrities have reinvented themselves in order to seek a new identity or new intended perception. Justin Bieber has had a whole image change as he has matured and developed into an adult. Not only visually in reference to his appearance, but also his music genre has changed over his career from being a predominantly pop genre artist to becoming more associated with R 'n' B and dance music material. I believe that Justin changed his look to show how he had matured and to escape from the innocence and young 'baby face' look he initially entered into the music industry like. Changing his hairstyle was one of the main noticeable features that caught the attention of many 'Beliebers' - from then on it seemed that his appearance gradually changed more and more. Since then Justin has coloured his hair numerous times, resulting it to be a dirty blonde at present, which could show how free he is to express the way he feels and wants to look as an artist. Doing campaigns for the likes of Men's Health and Calvin Klein meant that as an artist he had to look his best and so decided to work out a lot more. This also changed the way he looked and reinvented his image to be a more healthy and fit role model. I think that Justin has reinvented himself to enable him to morph into the artist he wants to be and to step away from the pop artist he was originally known for being. My research for this post  will help me to decide on an artist to choose for my music video as it will ensure that I take into account how my artist would have changed (if they have), taking into account their past and what they were/are originally known for. It also allows me to recognise any common features that mirror all the way through their transformation (if they have one). It is important to identify and maintain a target audience as an artist wants to stay as successful as possible and so with maintaining a target audience, it creates a certainty and a definite, secure and dependable audience. Having this ensures that the artist continues striving for success and is still recognised as a valued artist in the music industry.