Music Video Analysis (Goodwin's Theory)

"A music video is a short film that integrates a song with imagery, and produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings."

Andrew Goodwin supports this definition by stating that a music video isn't primarily a commodity form but a promotional one. Music Video's are often how listeners associate artists with a song, by visualizing them.

1) Shakira - "Hips Don't Lie" ft Wyclef Jean

To begin with, this music video was created in 2006 for Shakira's hit song “Hips Don’t Lie,” featuring Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean. It was a salsa and reggaeton-influenced international pop song. The theme of the video has a carnival atmosphere throughout the video and portrays Shakira’s signature sensual belly-dancing in various outfits and linking it to the song's title. This makes the music video a combination of type 1 performance and type 2 narrative. The song is about a woman telling a man to “read the signs of her body” because her “hips don’t lie". It is a very sexualised song describing a woman's body, making the male-gaze audience voyeuristic. There are frequent references to the notion of looking and the voyeuristic treatment of the female body. The notion of looking includes Shakira being portrayed seductively in many different ways whilst she dances, as well as the direct address she frequently gives her audience. Wyclef’s lyrics include stating that the way she moves her body and hips is driving him so insane that it makes him want to speak Spanish. This is because Shakira is from Columbia and speaks Spanish (in addition to Portuguese and English). Part of the song also includes Wyclef singing simple Spanish phrases, like “como se llama” (what’s your name?), “bonita” (pretty/beautiful), “mi casa” (my house), “su casa” (your house). The music video has various close-ups as well as mid-shots on Shakira dancing. Moreover, the intended aim of the video is to perhaps show the world how much fun they have in Colombia, and they do so by creating a party out of the video. Shakira is contradicting the idea that women are objectified in music videos, as she is slightly objectifying herself especially in her music video using promiscuous outfits, seductively singing the sexual lyrics as well as acting and dancing in a vividly sexual manner. Wyclef also mentions that "she's so sexy every man's fantasy a refugee". It is a very stereotypical lyrics, objectifying women and treating them as a man's "fantasy" or "refugee". This would spark up various debates on why should male artists use women's bodies to sell records and not the women themselves. Shakira and many other female artists created their own sexual images

and music videos in order to sell records.

2) Cheat Codes x Kris Kross Amsterdam - "SEX"

"Sex" is a song by American DJ trio Cheat Codes and Dutch DJ trio Kris Kross Amsterdam. The song was released on February 19, 2016, and has since achieved international success. Re-using the chorus from the 1991 single "Let's Talk About Sex" by hip hop trio Salt-n-Pepa, "Sex" takes a more pro-sex approach, as opposed to the original's talk about safe sex. To begin with, the music video is a type 2 - narrative typology as it's set in a male only classroom, with a seductive female teacher giving a lesson on sexual education. The video brings back a dangerous stereotype that has been frequently portrayed in the media for a long time - the "student teacher" relationship. There has been a lot of teacher fantasies that Hollywood has created, and now it has become quite normal for us to see a "sexy teacher" portrayed in a film/TV show. In the video, the teacher gives a lesson on safe sex but there is a comedic aspect to it as she brings various metaphors that all link to sex. Moreover, the teacher is obviously portrayed as a sexual object as we see various shots and close-ups of her body emphasizing on her legs, bottom or breasts throughout the video. She is perceived as mere object in front of all her male students, and she's there to provide "eye candy" in order to please men. "The observations made by feminist scholars relating to the inequality that women face in modern society can be applied to the music industry when considering that it seems to be that sexist music makes the industry large amounts of money. Therefore, male artists are making money off of the exploitation of women." Furthermore, the lyrics are very explicit, "let's talk about sex baby, let's talk about you and me" this insinuating that all men want from women is sex. The video is clearly suggesting that a woman is an object, especially a sexual one, for example "i'll eat you like a cannibal, you're sweet like cinnamon". To conclude, it is clear that the video was made to satisfy the male gaze.