Music video analysis re-done

The music video I am analysing is Champagne showers by LMFAO ft. Natalia Kills. The genre of the music video is Electro house. The track was released on May 27^th, 2011 and was directed by Redfoo GoonRock and Audiobot. The record label of this track is Interscope and consists of 80% narrative and 20% performance. I will be analysing this video through the use of Goodwin’s six point analysis. Throughout the song, at certain points, the lyrics are illustrated throughout the visual. For example, as you can see from the close-up below, the main artist is holding a champagne bottle, which illustrates the lyrics ‘champagne showers. Also, towards the end of the video, the two main artists actually ‘champagne spray’ everyone, which directly illustrates the lyrics as there is a champagne shower.

   

Throughout the video, when the music slows down, the video slows down too. For example, at the start, when the beat is being played, everyone is dancing and moving about, including the main artists, but when the music slows down for the first part of the chorus ‘I’m gonna make you wet’, the 2 main artists slow down and perform to the camera. Also, the camera is focused a lot on the character sitting down on the sofa when the music slows down she is not moving about like everybody else.

Champagne showers relates to their previous video, ‘Party rock anthem’, in which the two characters are ‘infected’ by a beat of music, causing them to dance uncontrollably. This narrative is carried forward in champagne showers. Firstly, the two main artists are wearing the same clothes as they were in party rock anthem, which shows that there is a continuous motif. Also, at the beginning of the video, there is reference to Party Rock Anthem.

The image of the artists being represented is that they are ‘party animals’ and that they live for a party, it’s all that seems to go on in their everyday lives. They come across as fun and exciting which portrays a good image of the artists. The record company is looking to sell the track as a continuous narrative so that the audience want to keep watching LMFAO’S video’s to see what happens next in the narrative. It gives the video a twist and that’s what attracts the audience.

There are many sexual references in champagne showers. The female shown in the video can be seen as seductive, especially by the way she is dressed- a corset and a furry coat. She is represented as sexy, and this is also shown when the music slows down, the camera focuses a lot on her which represents her femininity. There is also sexual reference in the lyrics; ‘I’m gonna get you wet, I’m gonna make you sweat’, this can also be seen in a sexual way to certain individuals depending on social class, background etc. The dance that is shown in the video can also be seen as sexual, by the hand movements used. Some people may take this in an inappropriate way, even though the lyrics link to the dance, ‘champagne showers’.

Another sexual reference in the music video is the lady vampires that stand behind the female character. They are also dressed in black corsets which stereotype them to be promiscuous and ‘ladies of the night’. The women in the video are also represented as sexual objects, objects because throughout the video they appear as objects as they do not seem to move around a lot, and to a man, they can be seen as good at one thing and one thing only. This is a negative view on women as they are presented throughout the ‘Male Gaze’, and represented as only good for one thing, which is to fulfil a man’s needs.

The only other music video Champagne showers relates to is Party Rock Anthem, their previous track. As the video is a continuous narrative the characters have stayed the same, Redfoo and Skyblue are still dressed the same. Also, the video, Party Rock anthem was based on the two ‘shufflin’ which they continue to do in this video.

Overall, the video is performance-based in the way they perform their dancing but is also narrative based as the video is a continued video of their previous track Party Rock Anthem.