Research into chosen artist- Miss miller

RESEARCH INTO CHOSEN ARTIST

Introduction

My chosen music artist is Adele. The song i have chosen by Adele is Hometown Glory, which has the genre of soul. Most of the songs that Adele has produced have the genre of soul. The reason for choosing Adele as my chosen artist is because she produces music that is understandable and has a meaning that her audience can understand. I feel that each of her songs show emotion through her lyrics and her performances and relatable and enjoyable.

Artist profile

Adele's full name is Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, and was born on May 1988. Adele has been writing songs nearly all her life, and this was taken to life when she graduated Brit School in 2006 and was given a contract with XL Recordings where she started producing her music. Adele's first single was released when she was 19, with the song Hometown Glory. This song was written by Adele when she was 16, and got the inspiration from her surroundings when she lived in Tottenham in London. Adele's second release (chasing pavements), hit number two in the charts and stayed there for four weeks. Adele's record label is XL recordings. As Adele grew popular in the UK, she become recognised worldwide. Her second album was released in the UK and US, with the album being inspired by a recent break-up with her last partner. Adele changed her genre from her first album, as now her second album had the genre of country and roots music. As the years went on Adele performed in many places over the UK and in 2011 performed an emotional song called Someone Like You and the Brit awards where she was named outstanding by the audience. The song was then number one on the charts for several weeks and was loved by her audience. To promote some of her albums she produced tours to perform her music live to her audience/fans. Her 'Adele Live' tour sold out its North American leg. With the releases of songs up until this point, it was released that she was writing and composing the theme tune for the new James Bond movie SkyFall. Adele told her audience that producing this song was one of the proudest moments of her life. The single sold 261,000 copies in the first three days of release in the US and was named the Golden Globe award and Best Original Song. Adele to this day is said to be releasing her third studio album in November 2015.

Artist music video analysis

The first video i have chosen to analyse which was sung by the artist Adele is Chasing Pavements.

The song was inspired by an incident Adele has with former boyfriend of Sixth Months, after learning that he had cheated on her, she went to the bar he was at and punched him in the face. After being thrown out of there home together, she walked down the street alone and thought "what is the point of chasing? chasing empty pavements".

The point i have chosen from Goodwin's theory is the use of close up's from the demand of record label. The close up's are used frequently throughout the music video as they show her singing and facial expressions. The use of close-up's show Adele's emotions as she is singing about a previous heart-break. The screenshot that u have taken shows her looking down, which represents her feelings towards the mood. Her make-up shown within this close-up is very minimal, as she has a look of a pale face, with peach/red lipstick and black eyes. This represents her as innocent and upset. This also shows her connection between the audience and artist as they can feel the emotion behind the lyrics that are being sung. This is relatable to the soul genre as soul songs are based on experiences and conventionally create a relationship between the artist and audience easily, as this is the way record labels are sold quickly.

Dyer's star theory's first point is audiences and institutions. Adele is modelled around her past experiences, and sings about them continually. Her target audience can relate as they can relate to what she is singing about and if they have experienced the same things e.g. within this song its heartbreak, and this is seen relatable and because of this she can create a relationship between the audience easily and quickly. The audience within this music video is ordinary as she is relatable towards her audience. Adele doesn't represent herself as performing within the video, and is just seen within the shot as sitting within a car and telling a story through a video towards her audience. For Hegemony the audience don't see her as a role model and won't seen to be imaging her for her costume or lyrics etc. We don't see Adele to be fashionable within this music video, as we do not see a long shot of her outfit at all, and cannot relate to her outfit type.

The artist is represented within this video as sad and lonely. The music video is set around Adele, as the story line shows her world being turned upside down due to her breaking up with her boyfriend. The setting is set around adele as we see her ex-boyfriend sitting next to her, but she does not relate to him, look at him or make any reference to him at all throughout. Her emotions are quite low, ad she goes into deep meanings within her lyrics. She is represented as being heart-broken and going through a hard time within her life at this point. This is conventional of the soul genre as within this genre we normally see the artist being represented as depressed or very low within there music as this is how they connect with there artist and get them to listen. The target audience of Adele is between the ages of 16-30 years. The audience of this age can normally relate to the emotions being sent out to the audience due to past experiences that they have felt the same. The younger aspect of the audience may enjoy her music as its nice to listen to and has an up-beat that they might enjoy. Also this song is very repetitive and the lyrics are easy to remember, meaning he audience go back and listen to the song over and over again, and as they sing it out loud there friends or peers can hear the song and learn the tune too, which is a source of promotion.

The style of the music video is narrative, within this video there is no element of performance. Adele tells a story to her behind her heartbreak and how this has made her feel. The meaning behind the song is why should she be chasing empty pavements, which means that her ex-boyfriend isn't worth fighting for any more. Adele isn't involved within the story line we see people acting out how she is feeling. The opening seen shows Adele to be sitting in the passenger seat of a car where she is sat next to who is believed to be her ex-boyfriend. In front of her we as the audience see a car crash that has just taken place involving two people. They act out a story of being hurt, but still being in love with each other as they act out a love story. This is being represented as the way that Adele is feeling, and how she is hurt. This is relatable to the soul genre as it is conventional not to see a performance based style of music video as the narrative is the basis of the song and is worked around this to catch the right target audience and make sure they remember it.

The first use of mise-en-scene used is the location. The location is set within a park/street. The screenshot on the left shows the evidence of the car pile-up from the crash, and the setting which involved greenery, old houses as well as the setting having a filter used, and the smoke which adds to the effect of the setting. The setting is conventional to the soul genre as it is has a very dark effect, and there is nothing in the background that is seen to stand out or be important. This is effective as the main focus is the narrative that is taking place and Adele singing. This helps the audience create a relationship with the artist and understand the meaning of the song as they can see clearly what is happening through shots such as long-shots. Moreover, the artist's costume. Adele's costume is only seen very little throughout the music video. When we do see her costume its through a long-shot. Her costume entails a black baggy top, with black trousers, black shoes and a light brown coat. The black portrays her as down, and having low emotions and dark thoughts. The black connects to the emotions she is

feeling, also the fact that she hasn't made a lot of effort within her costume which shows she isn't bothered about what she looks like and isn't a very strong person. All the colours within this image are very dark, which allows the audience to feel what the artist is feeling and mimic her emotions from what images she is portraying. Moreover, the positioning of the characters shows the artist to be in only a few places on the image. As Adele is not part of the scene being acted out for the audience, we generally see the narrative although when the artist is shown we see her through the use of close-ups or in the centre of the shot. The images when we see her positioned in the centre of the camera shows her singing over the narrative taking place which portrays her as having the power and control over the situation. The lighting within this music video is minimal and very dull. Filters are applied to create a darker scene to add to the effect and portray Adele's feelings to her target audience. As the music video is filmed outside, only natural lighting is included within. This adds to the effect and is conventional of the soul genre. Within the soul genre lighting is not normally used, and when it is its only natural lighting as an effect is normally added to make it darker, as the narrative conventional holds it to be about heart-break or family etc.

Artist music analysis

The song I have chosen to analyse by Adele is Rolling in the Deep.

From Goodwin's theory I have chosen to analyse the point of the music matches the visuals. When the music is playing there is someone dancing to the music in time, and changes depending on the tune. When the pitch is on a high note and Adele is singing fast, the man dancing starts dancing faster in time with the music, matching them. This scene is extremely interesting and This scene is extremely interesting as it shows a dancer moving around which makes the powder on the floor fly throughout the room.  This always gives the video an extremely dramatic feel, as well as giving the video an artistic edge. The second point from Goodwin's theory is the use of close-ups. The use of close-ups on the artist are used frequently within the music video, as it shows her singing and allows her audience to understand the meaning behind her emotions and create a easy and quick relationship with her. The use of close-ups is conventional of the soul genre as they are use to create a connection between the artist and audience as soul songs usually have deep meanings and relatable.

The artist within this video is represented as strong due to a heart-break and break-up with her boyfriend. Adele said that her life is lonely and rubbish, and isn't a weak person just because she doesn't have a boyfriend. This shows her as a strong minded person and this video is to prove a point to her audience that she can do whatever she wants even if she doesn't have a boyfriend and is still happy within her life. Adele is proving a point to not just her target audience but to a wider audience that she is capable and a strong person. With conclusion to this, also linking in to who Adele's target audience is for this music video. For this music video the target audience is from the ages of 16-30. The audience of this age can normally relate to the emotions being sent out to the audience due to past experiences that they have felt the same. The younger aspect of the audience may enjoy her music as its nice to listen to and has an up-beat that they might enjoy. Also this song is very repetitive and the lyrics are easy to remember, meaning he audience go back and listen to the song over and over again, and as they sing it out loud there friends or peers can hear the song and learn the tune too, which is a source of promotion. Dyer's star theory's first point is audiences and institutions. Adele is modelled around her past experiences, and sings about them continually. Her target audience are relatable as they can

relate to what she is singing about and if they have experienced the same things e.g. within this song its heartbreak, and this is seen relatable and because of this she can create a relationship between the audience easily and quickly. Adele is represented extraordinary and ordinary within her music video. This is due to the fact that she is very relatable. A lot of women within her target audience will feel the same way she does about break-ups and the fact that to be happy you don't have to be in a relationship. She is relatable in that sense and is very meaningful within her music and lyrics. Although within this video Adele is displayed as extraordinary as the dancing that reflects on her music and the iconography and props shows her to be experimental and is not really conventional of the soul genre. The dark abandoned room is conventional, but not really to see cups of water surrounding her and bouncing to the music. The close up on the glasses emphasises the effect of the water further, which matches the beat. This gives an extremely dramatic effect.

The next point I am going to analyse is the style of the music video. The style of the music video is performance and narrative. The performance aspect isn't performed by Adele but someone else, whereas she tells a story through her lyrics. Her narrative tells her audience how she is still strong after breaking up with her boyfriend and tells her audience and meaning that you don't need to be with someone to be happy. This is a strong message Adele sends out to her target audience and will be very relatable for most of her audience, as they can understand her emotions just like Adele wants them too. From this Adele creates a relationship between her and the audience as her narrative means she can create a connection and reach a wider audience. The performance shows someone to be playing the drums as well as dancing. The scene of the drummer is very dark at the beginning of the song, however, towards the climax of the song a light comes on which matches the tone of the song.  The use of sudden light has positive connotations and symbolize the artist's hope. This scene is extremely

interesting as it shows a dancer moving around which makes the powder on the floor fly throughout the room.  This always gives the video an extremely dramatic feel, as well as giving the video an artistic edge. The first use of mise-en-scene is the setting. The setting of the music video is an old large house with not many items in. This works well as there are many things going on in the background. Plates are thrown at a wall and  symbolizes the singer's broken heart and how she is currently feeling. The fact that the video shows the plates actually being smashed, emphasises the artist's anger and hurt further and makes the audience question whether or not it is her throwing the plates. Also, The scene of the drummer is very dark at the beginning of the song, however, towards the climax of the song a light comes on which matches the tone of the song.  The use of sudden light has positive connotations and symbolize the artist's hope. This connects with the second point of mise-en-scene which is lighting. Again like most soul songs the lighting is very minimal, although spot lights are used around Adele to show her off as the artist. There is spotlights used to open the effect of certain things within the shot. As the walls are covered in sheets, spotlights are used around the artist, and to add effect to the dancer, as we can see him in more detail and the specifics to what he is doing. The positioning of the characters within this music video shows Adele to be sitting in a empty room, sitting on a chair

singing at a wall. The chair is positioned in the centre of the room, and is seen through various shots such as long shots so we can see her place in the room and close-ups. This position shows she has authority and holds the power within the video. Her singing control what is taking place around her, for example the smashing plates and water jumping according to what she sings. The is conventional to the soul genre as the soul genre is normally relatable although sometimes tings are used to catch the audiences eye in a different perspective. The iconography within this video is the drums being played and various other things. Throughout the video drums are being played to the music, and in time. The drums add to the effect of the music and adds a beat to the background which is conventional to the soul genre. This may catch the audiences eye as a musician is not normally seen within a soul music video, only heard.
A long shot from the micro-element cinematography shows Adele to be sitting in a room on her own singing. From this long shot we can see her to be singing at her audience. The long shot switches throughout the scenes, as we switch from Adele, to someone dancing, to someone playing the drums, and to plates being thrown at a wall. The whole setting is taken place within one house, although just within different rooms. The switching of the camera adds effect as it keeps the audience looking out what is next, and waiting for the artist to come back on screen. The second use of cinematography is zooming in. When the person dancing in dust appears from the switch from Adele, the camera zooms in towards the dancer, this shows an image to the audience of what the dancer is doing and connects to the sound of the song, as the tension rises the zooming in takes place. This is conventional to the soul genre because the lyrics of the soul genre are usually quite personally and this zooming in to a close up helps the audience relate to the emotions of Adele.

For the points of editing i have chosen to analyse slow paced editing. This editing skill occurs at the beginning of the music video when adele starts singing. The scene changes from her singing to a man dancing on a consolidated room full of white dust and sheets hanging from the walls. The slow-paced editing occurs when he starts spinning round, and i can see this is slow paced editing due to the speed that he is turning and the way that the dust is turning and rising slowly. This has been slowed down to add to the effect of the song and how it is slowly rising in pace. The song at the beginning is slow and calm, and towards the middle of the song the beat rises, and then in comparison so does the dancer, he is in line and speed with the song the whole way through.

The second piece of editing i have analysed from the music video rolling in the deep is a jump cut. A jump cut takes place throughout the music video several times. This happens to show a new scene taking place, for example the camera jumps from adele to the man dancing, adele to the water in the glasses and adele to the plates being thrown at the wall. These all take place to show a new scene that hasn't been introduced yet. The man dancing represents that he is trapped, representing just how adele is feel in, so he is there to support and show her feelings, rather than her show them throughout her facial expressions, this ways it keeps the audience guessing. Moreover, the glasses on the floor full with water in a whole room represented life. The way the water is filled up to different levels in every glass shows that different emotions are being expressed, and the jumping of the water with the beat may show her feelings and emotions are alive.
Conclusion
My research on my chosen artist will assist me with planning my own music video for this soul genre because i can see similarities and differences between the videos so i can differentiate between what are conventional aspects of our genre and what are not. This includes the frequent use of close ups shots and extreme long shots show the artist fully so we can see how there outfit/costume link into the way they are expressing their emotions and the close-ups shows there emotions and feelings as they are singing, and the hidden meaning within a soul genre is normally easy to see. The two different songs by adele has allowed me to see what conventions are used to address her target audience and if they have been met or not. Different features have also been used from all analysis which has allowed me to think about what i will use in my own music video and how it effect my target audience's relationship with my artist.