Analysis of a pop video. James Egan

For my 2nd interpretation i will be looking a much different type of song, this is a mixture of pop and rap as this particular artist has catered for a mass audience by making this sort of song.

As the video starts we see Kendricks name come up in a strange font followed by the song title. The video continues with the backing music but no lyrics, we see our artist falling through darkness flaling at the space around him, yet he does not look worried, he is wearing very stylish clothes and gold chains indicating he is very well off. As the artist falls through darkness it could later have a subtle link to the song.

As we cut from this to a plain background we see a beautiful/sexy woman, this attracts many viewers simply because she is eye catching. Now that we have seen these two people in quick succession, we instantly link them together. After seeing the female and hearing the words "Drank' we see a glass bottle being smashed, since the bottle is upside down this may suggest a feeling of disorientation. This instantly allows for the viewer to gain a understanding that alcohol is involved with whats happening in the video.

We see the artist in an abandoned house looking at pictures and specific items whilst hearing lyrics about his grandfather, this allows us to see that the artist seems troubled, we also see a bottle of drink in his hand, confirming the possibility that the protagonist is an alcoholic. By seeing these things it becomes clear that this video is structured to be very illustrative and literal.

The artist continues to rap/sing about previous party's he had been at, and that he had been drinking frequently, allowing for the lyrics to gain a new meaning when we see our protagonist struggling and/or drinking in sorrow. As the chorus is being sung we go back to the very start of the video, and see the protagonist falling in reverse. This may make the viewer feel as if they are seeing the protagonist beginning a road to recovery almost.

As we return to the basic backing music, the setting changes to a party, we are unsure if this is a flash back or present as the protagonist is slipping in and out of what may be recovery.

As the verse proceeds through this setting we see people partying and the protagonist briefly rapping the the viewer, as the chorus comes back however we see our protagonist in multiple different costumes and he seems intoxicated. By now the viewer is completely enticed in the story and the music seems to further its meaning by being so closely linked to what we are seeing.

The chorus fades out and instead of going into another verse we hear a different type of music, the tempo is lowered significantly and our protagonist is now well dressed and representing himself as people would want to see him. By standing next to the large and expensive car it makes the viewer think that Kendrick is very rich, stylish and cool. In this section he talks about shooting a gun, this adds more context to the video and makes the viewer think of gangsters.

As the video draws to an end we a re-introduced to our original base music. We see a montage of different settings, ranging from Kendrick himself, to the party, then to the woman at the start follwed by Kendrick falling into a swimming pool as the music comes to an end, we see a unidentified person help him out of the pool.

This video was structured as a very easily seen story and allowed for the artist to be seen as a cool gangster. This means that people are going to be more likely to check out other songs as we have the idea in our heads that his music is well woven, has deeper meanings and that the person himself is very cool.