Textual Analysis (Akon)

In this short essay I will be analysing the hip-hop/R&B song ‘Sorry, blame it on me’ by the artist Akon. The music video for this song is a Narrative with some performance shots in there as well.

The lyrics in the song talk about three different stories, the story of a son getting arrested and put in jail while his mother watches, the story of an underage girl going into a club and a man getting charged and the story of a man who ignores his wifes calls and forgets his sons birthday because he was out partying. These stories are shown in the visuals and portrayed through the lyrics. This music video is directed at any type of audience too watch.

In the performance parts of the music video they are predominantly close up shots which promote the artist by showing the audience who is singing the song and getting people to recognise the face, while in the story parts of the music video there is a variety of different shots to catch the action which is going on, for example the close ups on the wife’s face which shows the emotion she is portraying when she leaves a message on the husbands voicemail. There is also panning shots, long shots, establishing shots showing what is happening when the son is running from the police etc. The video is shot in a very cinematic style, with fast cuts and short shot durations showing a high action scene in the music video, which shows the genre as it is in a suburban area with a black male stealing a car, which wouldn’t commonly be found in any other genre of music except hip-hop. There is many slow motion close ups on some of the actors faces to show emotion and portraying their image, all of these editing and camera techniques appeal to the audience as there is always something going on so it doesn’t get boring for the audience to watch as it isn’t the same thing happening at all times.

In the performance side of the music video, there clothing and setting are very stereotypical of the hip-hop genre as when the artist is shown, he is wearing expensive brand clothing and a big chain representing his wealth and success in the music business, he is also set in a big penthouse apartment with a scenic view overlooking the whole city. The lighting in the video during the performance parts are very dark which is also stereotypical to the hip-hop genre and also emphasises the artist himself as he is in the light with darkness all around him. In the narrative side of the video the three stories are set in two also stereotypical settings for the hip-hop genre: A club and a suburban run-down area with poorly built cheap houses. This represents the genre in a stereotypical way as these types of setting and clothing are commonly found in hip-hop.

The mise-en-scene in the video illustrates the genre (Hip-Hop) by putting in stereotypical settings, props, clothing etc. For example there are club scenes throughout the video which is stereotypical, also there is stereotypical traits for example big cars, expensive watches, expensive bracelets all showing wealth in the person which is stereotypical to the hip-hop genre.

There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals as the lyrics tell a story and the visuals portray that story for example ‘I’m sorry your son was a car thief’ and the visuals are showing the son stealing a car and the police chasing him.

There is also a relationship between the music and the visuals as the scenes cut in time to the beat. There is also a lot of close ups of the artist himself in the performance side of the music video which fits into the demands of the record label. There is no intertextual reference at all in this music video but there is some type of notion of looking where there music video is of a tv screen showing the artist being talked about on the news.

This music video would appeal to its target audience of mainly teenagers and early adults, because its got everything that appeals to a younger generation for example the cars, women in clubs, expensive clothing and necklaces etc. This genre is predominantly listened to by teenagers therefore the video would be aimed more towards that age range.

In conclusion it is evident that the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals play the biggest part in the music video as it is a predominantly narrative music video, the camera shots for example the close up shots, tracking, panning, establishing shots etc. also play a massive part as it shows the story clearly and shows what is going on without losing the interest in the audience. This music video clearly shows the genre of the music and also promotes the artist with the few performance shots but promotes him in a good way by showing the emotion in his face with the close ups.

Henry Kidman.