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Music Video Analysis Unit
In Comp class, our current unit is a "music video analysis". That includes, obviously, three parts: the music, the lyrics, and the images.

On Wednesday we talked about the importance of music. Check out these lyrics.

If you've never heard the song before, what would you imagine the style of music would be? Most people say they imagine it would be country. But that's wrong. The song is actually by the Kaiser Chiefs, from 2004! And it's been covered by the sassy Lilly Allen this past summer.

If it were country, the words would be whiny. Since the Kaiser Chiefs' version is alternative and has some screaming, it becomes a more angry, I'm-taking-action sort of thing, as seen in the music video on YouTube.

The Lilly Allen remix has a completely different background, for one. Instead of guitar and drums, it's all synthesizer and high brass, and it's very free-form and easy compared the original. As for the way she sings it, that's very important too. While the original is formulaic and rather repetitive, she's got a real ad-libby feel to it. She can also be heard on YouTube, but I will warn you that in it she is animated and her animated character is a little freaky-looking, at least in my opinion. The Kaiser Chiefs themsleves appear in the video, look out for them.

On Friday we talked about the importance of the actual video. We watched No Doubt's "Ex-Girlfriend" and discussed it, but we also watched Pearl Jam's "Do The Evolution". It's a bit graphic, but it is a cartoon, if that helps, slightly anime. It's incredibly moving. Keep an eye out for historical references. Thank you once again, YouTube!




The video I am choosing to do my own paper on is "Toxic" by Britney Spears.