In this essay I will be analysing the music video to Rhianna’s single ‘Only Girl’ which is directed by Anthony Mandler.
The video’s genre is R/B-/Dance, which is pretty stereotypical for Rhianna. There are broad ranges of characteristics of the genre that the video has ie; the camera is focused on the artist and the theme is very glisty glamour, slight dance routine and a lot of change of clothes.
Throughout the song there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, and the release of the chorus and verses are complimented by stage directions and choreography. Some examples to back this up is that there is a use of different flashing images, and when she sings “And in winter you aren’t leaving me, be my prisoner for the night” at this point in the song she opens her arms wide and tilts her head back as if she is sighing with relief. This is probably used to show she’s ‘real’ and has feelings too.
Another type of relationship that features in the video is one between the music and the visuals. For example the video cuts to the beat, by dancing, images cutting for effect.. all according to the beat. No instruments are shown in the video because this isn’t really a characteristic in this genre of music video.
When the music speeds up so does the narrative and choreography. For example, the final minute the song is at its fastest and Rhianna is dancing, fireworks are going off and everything is spectacular.
There are close-ups of the artist and star image motifs. The record company is looking to sell this track as a fun, young dance track, and make girls want to be her. And in the video the image of the artist is being offered as a fun, sexy, single woman, this motif has been used previously and does not represent a change of image.
In the video there is reference of the notion of looking, you get the sense that the artist (Rhianna) is on sexual display, but not in a trashy way. She still has a lot of sex appeal but at the same time looks beautiful, which will appeal to men and will inspire women. The camera work, costumes and dance all make her look beautiful and well composed.
In the video there are no intertextual references that relate to tv programmes of films or even other music videos. What happens is pretty simple and fairly new. I found that the video is concept based.
In conclusion to sum up the overall essay I found that the video is something that really express’s Rihanna’s passion for music. I found this by studying the camera shots, music, editing of the music video and her voice. I believe that the song and video wont just be a great success for Rhianna but her team of editors too.
