http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdajYjsf77I

"Pray" is song by boy band Take That. Written by Gary Barlow and released on July 5, 1993, it was the second single from their second album Everything Changes. It is the first of 11 singles by the band to reach number one on the U Singles Chart, staying at number one for four weeks and starting a streak of four consecutive number one singles. The song has received a Gold sales status certification for sales of over 400,000 copies in the UK, won Best British Single and Best British Video at the 1994 Brit Awards, and was the finale of the Beautiful World Tour (2007) .

“Pray” is a pop song that uses a performance video. It is about a person who has lost there love and the song talks about how they ‘pray’ to get them back.

Soon into the video you see a topless man, portraying them as sex objects. This differs from if it was a woman as it would cause controversy because it is seen as wrong by society to view women as sex objects. But because its a man, and sexism is only seen as one way it means that nobody would really see this video as sexist. The setting of the video was set against a tropical island and beach. This adds to the sexual ‘feel’ of the video as normally you would see people being more revealing showing more parts of their body.

The video is homoerotic as it portrays the male sexuality and arouses the female desire. Homoerotic means concerning or arousing sexual desire centred on a person of the same sex. They purposely do this as Take That is a young boy band and the main targeted audience of boy bands are women. Throughout the video there is barely a time when you don’t see one of the Take That members with barely any clothes. The video would target the homosexual community as they are “attractive” young men and because they are wearing hardly any clothes.

The lighting used in the video is mainly natural sunlight on an abandoned beach which signifies their love has been lost and they have been deserted. The scenes have been edited into a black and white effect. The men are hardly in any clothes however the women are shown as less revealing as they are mostly covered up.

Through most of the video, the placement of the men are in one third. For example:

The music video shows the band in an exotic location and cuts between the group jumping in and out of bollards to individual set pieces. Jason is making contact with a woman using reflective mirrors. Mark is on the beach with a woman behind him on a large pole. Robbie is with a woman who is half tree and he's holding onto the branches. Howard is by a fountain with a woman there also. Gary is shown singing the song and looking out towards the ocean. The video alternates between black and white and colour. During the final chorus with the choir the band are shown with lots of people jumping in and out from the bollards. They mainly use mid-long shots to help portray the males as ‘sex objects’ as they are mostly shown as topless. This attracts the targeted female audience.

They do not focus on one particular scene for long which means the audience does not become bored. The movements of the people in the video are slow and sad looking as they are singing about they have lost their lover. If it was about if they were in a relationship and with the lover, they would be more happy and the movements would be faster and less sad looking. They would not feel abandoned. The video is predominately black and white with mainly the chorus being in this effect. In addition the women are also mostly not in black and white. It could be reflecting on the males moods as they are all dark and feeling lonely inside. The can empathise with the feelings that they are displaying, which are feelings of pain, sorrow and tragedy.

The sound in the video is non-diegetic as the music is added in over the top of the video. The lyrics refer to the past which contrasts to the ‘bleak’ present.

Symbolism of the Lyrics

The song is about someone who is in love with someone. He wants to be with them and tell that person how they feels about that person. this is apparent from the line “All I do each night is pray Hoping that I'll be a part of you again someday”. The song also refers to a past the singer has and that is why he is not telling the person he loves them this is hinted from the line “If you can't forgive the past I'll understand that, Can't understand why I did this to you”. This also shows that he has hurt the person he loves and he wants a second chance. The lyrics play to the woman’s emotion as they sound romantic and more feminine. The lyrics would be less effective if the women says them to a man as they would think they are being ‘sappy’. The lyrics make the men seem vulnerable and alone.