Love SongSara Bareilles

•Released 2007•Epic Records•Directed by Josh Forbes•Starring Bareilles & Adam Campbell•Peaked at number 4 – UK₁ 7•Genre – pop/rock/piano pop

1 - UK Official Charts Company

NarrativeForbes music video is narrative based – there is a story being told through the visuals and performance.

In the case of this particular music video, the meaning of the accompanying soundtrack is portrayed through the visuals. ‘Love Song’ was written by Bareilles as a response to her record label who had rejected her previous work, with no given reason.

“So I kept turning in new songs, thinking like, 'Is this what you want? Is this what you want?' And it was always a big thumbs down, and I ended up writing 'Love Song' out of frustration.“

Bareilles, 2011

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/media/video/131594.html

Therefore, meaning is created in the video, through the shots of Bareilles performing herself. In following Goodwin’s theory, and the notion of looking, many close up shots of the artist performing herself are seen. This meets the needs of the record label, who wish to promote the artist through many images of their performance, but it also represents a link between the music and the visuals, in which the songs meaning – Bareilles’ refusal to write a generic, “radio friendly” song, is emphasised.

The narrative, which consists of Bareilles performing from inside a jukebox, is a direct link to the lyrics of “Love song”, in which the performers refusal to sing a certain style or genre of music is evident throughout, with the images of the pink ‘Love Song’ jukebox being a heavy contrast to the music genre which the audience hears being a style of gritty pop rock.

VoyeurismWithin the narrative of Forbes’ video, a voyeuristic treatment of females is portrayed. A regressive attitude towards women is presented within this media text – with female, Bareilles, trapped inside the jukebox being commanded what to perform by the male shop owner and jukebox customer. This creates a representation of female artists within the music industry as having little autonomy and being owned by the controlling male producers and entrepreneurs.

A low angle shot of the male, played by Adam Campbell, who represents the music producers, presents the attitude that the music industry is dominated by males. The above shot, which shows the male to be threatening as he looks over the female performer and keeps control of her like a puppeteer is a reference to Goodwin’s theory in which it is stated that there is often a voyeuristic treatment of women. Following this particular shot, high angle shots of Bareilles further emphasise the idea of females being weak with the male character in control.