Detailed Music Video Analysis

The first frame of the Girls music video shows us the motif The 1975 carry with them – the monochrome theme. Since their formation, the band has had this theme, which people associate with them. The rest of the video challenges this as it bursts into vivid colour and plays with the idea of pop culture. At the release of the music video for the song Sex which shows the use of colour and of the band straying from monochrome, people began to question if The 1975 had conformed to a major label after being signed by Interscope. The dialogue at the beginning of the video presents the band dismissing the idea that they are a pop band and that they need to stick with the black and white theme, which became iconic for them. This is a reference to people who began to wonder if they had conformed as they poke fun at people’s views of the music industry.

“Everything feels totally wrong… We’re not a pop band… It needs to be black and white for a start.”

- Dialogue spoken by frontman Matty Healy in the video

This can also serve as intertextual reference to music videos for pop songs in general, and it plays with the iconography used in them such as the bright colours and clothes later seen being worn by the girls. However the band themselves are seen to be wearing all black as they usually do, standing out against the colours used throughout which is showing them playing with the genre barriers whilst making sure that they are still portrayed as the same band

Song: GirlsArtist: The 1975Director: Adam PowellRelease Date: October 23, 2013

Description on YouTube:Music video by The 1975 performing Girls. © 2013 Dirty Hit Records, under exclusive license to Polydor, a division of Universal Music Group Ltd

people know them as. The 1975 are allowing this video to both challenge and enhance their visual style.

It soon becomes obvious 14 seconds into this music video that the aim of it is to play with the idea of bands having to stick to their own genre as it begins to show elements of a classic pop music video.

This video shows clear use of the key aspects identified by Andrew Goodwin that the audience should look out for. 33 seconds into the video is where we first see a close up shot of singer Matty Healy lip-syncing. This introduces us to the Star Image idea meaning the record label has included close ups of the frontman of the band in order to make the band recognizable and for the audience to start to identify him as an icon in the music industry. He’s the only member of the four piece band seen in a close up face shot which implies that the record label wants people to focus on him the face of the band as well as the voice.

Thought beats are used through the band playing their instruments – guitar and bass – first at 16 seconds into the video. Whilst this is a classic part of a music video, including them through the instruments allows the band to still be portrayed as one of the broad rock genre. The clear use of the instruments show the audience what type of band The 1975 are if that hasn’t already been made clear by audio alone.

This video is an example of an illustrative music video as the song is about girls and the video features four girls. There isn’t a particular storyline to the video. However it could also be called an amplification video. Whilst it does show features of being simply illustrative, there is a deeper meaning to the video which links back to the earlier idea of the band referencing people who accused them of conforming for a record label. Dialogue and visuals shown clearly portray this video as the band making fun of that idea and creating a music video about a record label’s attempt to enforce conformity.

Girls does deal with the voyeuristic treatment of the human body, but in an ironic way. Girls in underwear would be naturally related to a pop or rap music video. Arguably, each artist uses this in a different way. For example, some videos will show women being exposed for entertainment purposes and will use a range of

different shots to show the body from more than one angle. Usually they won’t serve a purpose other than to be there to please viewers, presumably males. However, the models used in this particular music video are used ironically in that they’re shown in underwear but the band shows little interest to them. They’re shown in a range of costumes and shots, even playing the band’s instruments at some intervals. The girls in Girls serve a purpose being there because the song is about having a relationship with a girl. Also, their bodies are now shown in close ups or in a manner that tells the audience they are there purely as a sexual object. On metro.co.uk, Matty Healy said: “The last thing we’d do is make a video with girls in their underwear, so that’s exactly what we thought we’d do.” I believe this proves that the girls are part of the bigger concept of the band making a video about not wanting to make a video due to record label demands.