Music Video Analysis of Maroon 5:Sugar

Andrew Goodwin TheologyBy Kenya Bell

Andrew Goodwin 1) Music Video demonstrates genre characteristics (e.g. Stage performance in

metal videos, dance routines for boy/girl band)2) There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals( Either illustrative,

amplifying or contradicting)3) There is a relationship between the music and the visuals( Either illustrative,

amplifying or contradicting)4) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of

the artists and the artists may develop motifs which recur across their work.( e.g. A visual style)

5) There are frequent references of the notion of looking (screens within scenes, telescopes) and particularly voyeuristic(sexual) treatment of the female body

6) There is often intertextual references (to films, TV programmes, other music videos)

7) Weather the video is primarily performance based, narrative-based or concept- based and how elements are used in it.

Genre CharacteristicsMaroon 5’s song ‘Sugar” is classed as disco, funk-pop and blue eyed soul. The instruments typically used are electric guitar's, drums etc. All of these elements are seen in this music video, as shown below you can see all the different instruments.

Adams image shows him to be angle like for example on the video there is a bright light behind his head showing he is more important than the others. His image is very smart he is never dressed casually he is always in a suit but he has to be because he has to look smart for the weddings.

The genre does not have typical locations, because every music video is unique and keeps up the bright colors but never the scenes. The only locations that are the same are the studios where it focuses on the artists rather than the narrative.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals

“Yeah you show me good loving” the man singing this song does not reive any love apart from him just being present at a wedding because is a well known artist but this contradicts him singing the song because it is almost like he is the spokes person for all the grooms and brides that show each other love.

He sings the lyrics “You are the one thing. The one thing, I'm living for” which is the main principle of the video that there are people who are getting married because they cant live without each other.

“I just wanna be there where you are” This part of the lyrics fit well into the visuals because he is traveling to where the wedding party's and when this line is song he is at the venue.

Intertextual ReferenceThe crashing weddings idea has a link to the film “Wedding Crashers”, this film focuses on two males crashing weddings and hiding there own identity. This links to the music video because the band hide their identity until the last moment when they reveal themselves to the wedding party.

During the music video the main singer ends up alone, just like the male blond character in the film. This links to Andrew Goodwin's, theory because it shows that this music video is centered around the narrative. In these two pictures they are wearing the same costume, which shows the producers are bringing elements from the film into the music video.

Intertextual references

Most of weddings on this video where not real they had actors and models as the bride and grooms. However the weddings nearer to the end where real weddings, this links to the film because the film was all staged also to give the audience more background to intrigue them.

There is another intertextual reference to the film where the film ends with the couples driving away mentioning to each other about crashing more weddings and them the music video starts off with the band in the car taking about crashing weddings.

Relationship between music and visuals

There is a steady beat of a guitar and drums at the beginning of the video this link to the visuals as the visuals show the scenes just being set up ready or the main event.

There is a scene which shows someone playing the drums this goes to the beat of the music.

The noises are screaming go with the huge crows of the wedding party that are seen on screen.

Then near the middle of the song Adam is alone with a very low guitar playing, which shows that he is the main focus of this scene and music should be over powering him at this point and neither should any of the other people who have been in the previous scenes.

Are there close-ups of the artist and star

image motifsThroughout the music video the main singer has many close-ups. He is always seen in the video even throughout the narrative he take the priority, some close-ups are obscured by the wedding guests but they are blurred as they are not the record labels main priority.A motif is present more frequent nearer to the end of the music video because the video is coming to an end meaning the produces want to round up the full video in a couple of seconds reminding the viewers of what they have seen.

Is there references to the notion of looking?

There is a notion of looking when it comes to the wedding party waiting for something to happen from behind the curtains, them making a big deal about this encourages the audience to also do this. We are shown the wedding as an outsider because neither the audience nor Adam was meant to be at the event as is is a personal time, which makes this even more spectacular that we are apart of it.

Adam looks into the camera to make himself seem desirable, he is reaching out straight to the audience, using himself to draw them in. He is the main focus of this scene and they have managed to do this by making everything around him black so the audience only pay attention to him.

Is the video category illustration, amplification or contradicting? How much of

each?“Im hurting, baby, I’m broken down I need your loving, loving I need it now” These lyrics contradicts the visuals on the screen because he is content and happy on the video but the lyrics would lead you to think that he would be unhappy. The reason for this could be because he needs to feel happy so he try's to make others happy to make himself feel better. He hides the fact that he is hurting inside. The curtain comes down on the chorus of the song, which link to Adam because he is hiding his identity so that represents him hiding his feelings behind a screen. Although there is a contradiction because the curtains do come down however he does not show his try feelings.