Music Videos

 Emeli Sande - Heaven

Sande's first music video/establishing single, 2012 was a big year for diversity.

Emeli Sande:

Camerawork - Shots from a low-angle establish her stardom and importance, regardless of her current perceived lack of notoriety. For a lot of the video the camera is at eye level with Emeli Sande, rather than being a star she is a person and it establishes the idea that she is down to earth rather than arrogant about her status. 

Mise-En-Scene - Modest black robes emulate priestness, but there is a lack of specific religious iconography. This links to new age spirituality in which faith is more about the personal things you get out of it rather than fearing going to Heaven. Links to how the lyrics are more about personal fuckups rather than sins that prevent her from going to the literal definition of heaven. Her clothes also break female stereotypes when establishing new artist, more about her music than her body.

The diverse cast which represents taboo topics suggests that we are all human in combination with the street life theming which suggests a more positive representation of drug addiction (Smoking peeps), Homelessness (Homeless guy) and sex work (Woman in the red dress), Sande cares for everyone, not just those within the established paradigm, goes against bell hooks.

The video was first released on YouTube, which displays how Sande is willing to against industry standards alongside her label. This use of the new internet platform was unorthodox and suggests that YouTube allowed freedoms that standard industry music video distributors like MTV did not. Represents her as experimental and hip with the new internet generation.

Radiohead - Burn the Witch

Released in 2016 during one of the biggest migrant crisis in recent years, people were scared of how this would effect jobs alongside talks of Brexit. Notable right wing politicians were stirring up witch hunts against migrants (See Donald and the Giant Wall), always related it to traditional values of given home ('Make America great again'). 

In the music video, we are shown a closed off village where an outsider looks in on barbarism and sees how the villagers see it as a good thing. The whole narrative is akin to the contexts, as well as the production and medium chosen. The ducking stool is used as a seesaw and the noose is covered in flowers, the old horrific traditions are seen as normalised and fun activities, ideas of paganism are direct references to the Wickerman.