Andrew Goodwin’s Rules – Music Video Analysis

Andrew Goodwin’s Rules – Music Video Analysis

The Rules

1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)

2) There is a Relationship Between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)

3) There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)

4) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist my develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)

5) There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6)There is often intersexual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc)

Super Bass – Nicki Minaj

‘Super Bass’ is a song by Nicki Minaj from her studio album Pink Friday (2010). It was co-written by Nicki. Ester Dean, Roahn Hylton and Daniel Johnson (who also produced it alongside JMIKE).

The song fits within the genre of pop, hip-hop and electronic music. It also features rapped song verses by Nicki.

The song has been complimented by critics for its up-beat catchy chorus and beat.

Minaj said: “Super Bass is about the boy that you are crushing over, [...] and you kind of want to get your mack on, but you’re taking the playful approach”

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)

Super Bass is a pop hip-hop song and it’s music video genre is image. Andrew Goodwin’s rule states that certain music video genres have certain characteristics. One of the characteristics of an image

music genre is focusing on the artist and their physical appearance. We certainly see this rule taking place in this music video. There is a lot of focus on Nicki Minaj’s face, body, make and costume throughout the entire video.

In image genre music videos there is also a lot of attention given to visual detail (e.g. mise en scene; costume and props in Super Bass).

Image music videos often include choreographed group performances with back up dancers. Super Bass certainly has this feature, so it fits its genre

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

In Super Bass, Nicki Minaj raps and sings about a man whom she is attracted to, she gives details about him in the lyrics and they are illustrated during the video.

The image of an airplane appears on-screen when she Nicki raps ‘he is always in the air’

The torso of a muscular man appears on-screen when Nicki describes him as having the ‘right kind of build’

Piles of bank notes appear when she says ‘he got stacks’ of money.

Nicki and her back up dancers also illustrate the lyrics during one of their dance routines. They move their hands towards and away from their chests when singing ‘Boy you’ve got my heartbeat running away’ to imitate a beating heart.

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

A relationship between the music and visuals is established throughout the music video. At the start of the video, during rapping lyrics with the faster music, the scenes are sharper and shorter to keep up with the speed. The opposite happens for the slower parts of the song, the scenes then are longer and the camera movement is slower.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JipHEz53sU

The relationship between music and visuals in the video is perhaps most evident when Nicki and her dancers move to the beat of the Bass and beat of the song during their routines.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (e.g. A visual style)

Pop and hip-hop culture songs almost always follow this rule. Super Bass is no different, music videos are a way to promote the song and the artist so the record label will ensure that the video is successful- after all, it is a business.

Close-ups of Nicki Minaj occur constantly throughout the video showing her bright, extravagant make up.

Nicki Minaj also adopts a quirky, bright and bold visual style in this music video. There is also a colour scheme which is followed throughout the video.

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

Nicki Minaj music videos such as Super Bass are highly sexualised, she is well known for her body image so her signature look is very apparent in her videos, this means that this rule is found extensively across the whole music video.

Very obvious references to the sexual treatment of the female body.

The Scientist - Coldplay‘The Scientist’ is a song by the British band Coldplay from their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002). It was written by all members of the band collaboratively.

The song focuses on a man’s loss and regret for the accident and desire to live the old days.

It is built around a piano ballad which was praised by critics. It also won three MTV Music Video Awards for its use of reverse narrative.

Chris Martin said: “That’s just about girls. It’s weird that whatever else is on your mind, whether it’s the downfall of global economics or terrible environmental problems, the thing that always gets you the most is when you fancy someone”


The Scientist by Coldplay is a music video of the narrative genre. As explained it is a story about accident and lyrics reflect the emotion of the singer about the event. In this music video a reverse narrative is cleverly used to show the character going back to when there was no accident and they were happy. The effect was achieved by playing the story and the accident backwards. One key feature of narrative

videos is that they tell a story. The Scientist certainly follows that rule by playing the accident and the events building up to it

Narrative video may also show the artist singing the lyrics and performing during parts of the video. Again, this is found in the video.

Narrative videos do not necessarily have to include the members of the band and may include actors.


Because of the nature of this video, there is a relationship between the words that are being said and the video. The lyrics ‘Let’s go back to the start’ are constantly repeated in the song and since the video is played backwards, there is a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics throughout the music video.

Some obvious instances when this happens are when he says ‘Oh, let’s go back to the start’ at the exact time he starts moving backwards in time. At the start of the song, the

artist says that he is ‘Sorry’ about what happened and he ‘needs’ his partner. At the same time he is lying down on a dirty mattress on the pavement, matching the nostalgic and melancholy lyrics.

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

Throughout the music video we have scenes where the artist is singing in time with the song, showing the relationship between the music and visuals. Having these scenes establishes him as not only a character in the video, but also the artist who performs the song.

We also notice a relationship between music and visuals when the artist sings ‘Oooh’ at the end as the car drives away. The melody almost imitates the movement of the car.


We see a lot of close ups of the artist performing in this particular music video. This could be to establish the role of the artist in the video and to bring them close to the audience. Music videos are a way to promote the song and the artist and close ups allow the audience to see the artist singing the lyrics to their songs.

The way the artist sings and delivers the song in this video and the way the video is presented sets a melancholy visual style to the music video, this style and mood is carried through to the end of the music video.

Go with the Flow – Queens Of The Stone Age

‘Go with the Flow’ is a song by Queens of the Stone Age from their album Songs for the Deaf (2003). It was written by Nick Oliveri and Josh Homme, who also produced it.

It won Best Special Effects and was nominated for Best Art Direction at the 2003 MTV Music Video Awards. I was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 46th Grammy Awards.

The video follows the band performing on the back of a pick-up truck driving down a highway.


Go with the Flow by Queens of The Stone Age is a performance genre music video.

Lots of footage of the musicians playing the music is a key characteristic of performance music videos.

There is evidence that the band is performing their song throughout the whole music video.

This means that in a performance video there is always a relationship between music and visuals.


In the music video for Go with the flow, the band is performing on the back of a moving pick up truck, the truck travels down a desert highway for the whole of the song, perhaps to illustrate that they are going with the flow.

At the start of the song when the artist sings ‘She said: I’ll throw myself away’, the artist throws a cigarette butt at the same time as he say the lyrics, this is an obvious link between lyrics and visuals.


Because of the nature of this video, close ups on the artist face do not have the same effect as they would on other videos. However, close ups are still done, and look very unusual, perhaps this was done on purpose to make the video more interesting.

This video certainly has its own visual style. The record label and/or artist may have chosen to make the video unusual because since performance videos are very similar they need something engaging and unusual to help promote their song.

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

This aspect of music videos is certainly apparent in Go with the flow. The silhouette of a woman doing a provocative and sensual dancing is a reoccurring in the music video.

Some images clearly symbolise sexual activities.

A trident like object stabbing through a snake clearly suggesting ideas of penetration or intercourse

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Andrew Goodwin’s Rules – Music Video Analysis