Stereotypes & examples of 'Powerpop'

A definition is: Powerpop is pop but with a or some powerfull voices, usually powerpop is a one powerfull voice & therefore powerpop artisits are usually solo artisits. Modern examples of powerpop artists are: Leona Lewis & Mariah Carey. Leona Lewis & Sophie Pentecost are similar artists in the sense that they both have the same kind of style both musically & appearance wise & also they've both done covers of Other bands music. Leona Lewis with 'Run' by Snow Patrol & Sophie Pentecost with Coldplays, 'Fix you'. After looking at stereotypes of Powerpop video's (Faith Hill, There you'll be) (Leona Lewis, Run) & (Steps, The way you make me feel) we came to the conclusion that Powerpop video's tend to have a story to suite the song. Usually powerpop will be a love song either with an upbeat tempo or in balad style. My choices for example are are a mixture. Steps, 'The way you make me feel' is quite uptempo with a clear meaning behind the song, whereas my other two songs are in balad style, most of Leona's music is of the same manner, whereas 'There you'll be' is one of Faith Hill's only songs. Steps is the longest going song choice, over the years Steps were together generally stuck to the same genre of music, with the only variation being the tempo.








Some other Stereotypical Power Pop artists/ bands are:

Analysis of two music video's of the same Genre as my chosen artist

I've already done an anaylsis of one 'PowerPop' video, (Steps - 'The way you make me feel') Unlike my chosen song it's a powerpop song by a Band, rather than the stereptype which is a solo artist with a powerful voice, whereas in this song there are a number of poweful singers. My other two songs are 'Leona Lewis - Run' & 'Faith Hill - There you'll be', I picked Leona Lewis - Run as I though it would be a good choice as like Sophie Pentecost Leona has covered another bands song & therefore by analysing this song, It is something similar to what Would be expected of my music video.

Analysis of 'Run' By Leona Lewis

Link to Video:

Analysis of 'There you'll be' By Faith Hill

Link to video:

This song is from the film 'Pearl Harbour', The video links with the song & therefore many of the images used and ideas behind shots in the music video come from the film, all the charactors, other than Faith that appear in the music video star in the movie. The song begins with a brief musical introduction, this is too set the scene, then as the music starts we see a plan take off and too anyone that has seen the Film the links would immediately be apparent. We then see two little boys watching a plane fly by only by having seen the film would people understand why they are relevant to the story. Through-out the video there are numerous links and by watching the film the viewers understanding and enjoyment of the film is enhanced. The shot then switches to one of the Singer 'Faith Hill' she is sat in what appears to be a barn like surrounding with lots of white sheets, however she is dressed in black, this shows a contrast in colours. Then there is a close up shot of the two men (who appear in the film) looking at each other then hgging. I think this shot is meant to represent when the two have to say goodbye when going off to fight in the film. The immediate shot after this is a close up of the women (in the film) this is too try and give people who havent watched the film an idea of what is going on or more to the point an idea of the characters and their situation in the film. As we come to the chorus there is a long shot that gets closer of Faith Hill (the singer) she is dressed in clothes of the era and the props used ie: The car, aeroplanes and ship also portray the same period in time. There is then another quick shot of the areoplane and then straight back onto a shot of Faith in the car, this then switches to a long shot of Faith against a sky background, this is meant to portray the idea of Faith being like the aeroplane, in the sky. Throughout the video there are quick shot black and white flashbacks that are used to try and portray the idea of what it was meant to have been like in that time period and especially with the war going on. There is then a shot of the leading lady and one of the men cuddling and kissing before she watches his boat off, then we go back to a shot of Faith singing in the car this then fades into a shot of a figure looking into the sunset, I think this shot is meant to represent the end of the mans life (as the sunset is the end of the day). We then see a shot of Faith in front of a united states flag which denotes loyalty to the country and this is also shown by the men going to war. The next shot is of the other man reading a telegram, this starts to give the audience an idea of what the storyline holds. The next shot is of Faith singing once again. We then see an air battle in a number of shots and we see lots of planes being blown up, From looking at these shots it is apparent that somebody will have died. Then the final shots are of Faith singing amongst white curtains, this gives off the impression of heaven and makes the audience wonder if the deceased from the battle are going to end up there, and then the final shot is of the women kissing the first man.

I think that in mixing narrative and performance the video is succesful. Many other powerpop artists mix the two, because in doing so the video is balanced.

Background Information about our chosen artist

Sophie, originally from Winchester, has been involved in music all of her life and is has just completed her third and final year studying music at the University of Chichester, and has recently been accepted to do the Masters degree there studying Music Performance. Sophie first started training classically at the age of 13 when she became a chorister at Winchester Cathedral and is still persuing classical singing along side pop at university. Sophie frequently is hired for events and weddings, singing classical style of music. Since a young age she has appeared in many theatre and musical productions. Sophie writes her own songs and also helps in the production of her own songs and is also a talented pianist which she uses to her advantage in creating her unique sound.

Sophie's music is described as 'Power pop', signed artists that are similar too her are artists such as Leona Lewis & Mariah carey.

Grouping choice & song choice

We were unable to be certain on our group choices before the end of term as we didn't know exactly who was going to be coming back this year. However on the first day back after seeing who was going to be in the class this year, I realised that the person I initially wanted to work with was still doing Media & therefore we decided to still work together. Me and Tara have different stengths & weaknesses so by combining our strengths together we though that we would make a good team. I will be coming up with the ideas, as my strength is creativity and Tara is better at the edititing aspect of the task.










We browsed unsigned.com and at first we found it really difficult to find the kind of song we were looking for (As we said we wanted somthing 'PowerPop') , Then after a while of browsing we finally found Sophie Pentecost. The song we chose was 'Fix you'. "Fix You" is a cover of Coldplay. Sophie and her friend Jon Hunter (on guitar) thought this would be nice to cover as an acoustic with the help of Untapped Talent who mixed the track down. Sophie, as far as genre & image goes could be compared to other artists such as: Leona Lewis.

Analysis of the music video for 'It's The way you make me feel' by Steps

Link to the video:
http://www.last.fm/music/Steps/_/It

The song & video are typical boy and girl love story. The Narrative links well with the events which take place. It is apparent to the audience that the video is set in the olden days in a wealthy setting (with the chadeliere and the ornate staircase) The video starts with a panning shot, this sets the scene, the scenery itself is in the countryside which suggests romance. The scene then skips to what you would assume to be an old country house, the girl in the shot is dressed in white and the sceneary behind is also white, this suggests neutrality. There is then a quick shot of a male, this suggests to the audience that he may be the male in the love story. The shot then switches straight back to her, the rapid shot change suggests interaction between the two. There is then a close up on another girl, this gives off the idea that she may either be involved in this love story or she has her own love problems. As the song reaches the chorus. We see the girl in the cream dress sat at the table with a mysterious male, but as the chrous progresses we see. what appears to be the same man chase the girl dressed in blue up the stairs, we then see the mysterious man peek at the girl dressed in blue through a keyhole, At this point in the storyline it appears that the blonde girl and the dark haired man in the dark suit are actually an item, however they both seem to be interested in different people. (The blonde girl the blonde male & the dark haired man the brunette). The next verse consists of the brunette talking to the man she wants to be with and the blonde also doing this, The lyrics the brunette sings in this verse go. 'Baby cant you see your the one for me, But you belong to another' , this is an example of the narrative linking with the storyline. To conclude the verse the blonde sings 'I dont wanna hurt nobody, but my heart just cant hold back'. By this point it is apparent to the audience that the couple are going to break up and be with the people they actually want to be with. The scene then skips to a shot of a ball of some kind, where everyone is dancing, there is a panning shot to set the scene once again. Everyone at the ball are dancing with the people they want to be dancing with. In the last two choruses there are numerous close ups of the couples dancing, this is to emphasise there new found intamacy with their new partners, The carriage shown half way through the video id effective and links in well with the storyline, Cinderella got to be with her prince Charming in the end even though everything appeared to be against them, just like in this video. The blonde girl in the pink dress contrasts with the other two because she was with the person she wnated to be with all along and therefore didn't really stand out in this video. I think the message of the song is that people should always go with their heart however much the odds may be against it because if people want something enough it will always happen in the end.

Analysis of two CD Covers

This CD cover is 'Locked up' by Akon. I think its fair to say that it is typical of the genre of the artist. The stereotype for male rappers album covers is :

Usually a picture of themself on the cover (sometimes the picture will be of the artist topless)

There is a tendancy for the colours of the background of the cover to be darky colours.

The album cover itself is pretty much straight and to the point, the artist's name, album name and picture are all apparent. On the other hand the typiality of an indie band who be somthing a bit more complex and may have more of a complication to it. The band itself is not always on the cover with this genre of band. Another genre of group that go by the simple idea of a CD cover are popbands, such as: JLS or Girls aloud.

Another typicality of a rappers CD cover is the 'Parental advisory' symbol. This is normally a neccesatty for this genre of music because many rappers produce material that has inapropriate language. Although some indie bands will also have the 'Parental advisory' symbol it is more of a typicality of that of a Rap artist.

The font used for Akon's name is distinctive and therefore once seen people will immediately be associated with the artist. The backgroud of the CD cover blend well with the picture of Akon and the title of the artist and album name also blend, this is effective because it makes the CD cover stand out

Some of Akons single covers are as follows:

This CD cover is the Saturdays, Just from a first glance it is obvious that it is typical of its genre. Numerous pop bands have themselves on the album cover, this is to make it distinctive to themselves & also maybe because pop bands tend to target a younger audience aswell as a mainstream audience and therefore if the band we're to have a complex album cover with no picture of them their younger audience may not realise it is their CD and therefore not buy it, The title to the saturdays album is distinctive with the way 'The Saturdays' is written, it would be apparent to the audience as to the fact that it is actually the saturdays album, At first glance at the album it appeared like something you would excpect from a similar band such as Girls Aloud,

The stereotypical features for a Girl Popbands album cover are as follows:

The girls all dressed in nice clothes, usually co ordinated in what they wear, make up etc. In this instance all the girls are dressed in white top halfs and all different coloured bottoms. They all look well preened, like you would expect from a girlband.

the album cover the saturdays is printed distinctively, with the A's linking into the letter beforehand. Something as simple as this will distinguish the saturdays from just the day saturday.

Two Single covers from the saturdays are as follows:

By comparing these two with The saturdays album cover it is apparent that that saturdays always go by the stereotype expected of them, all three use the tradmark A's accosiated with the saturdays, Also in all threee video's the saturdays are well dressed, this is so the album cover is asthetically pleasing to the audience, maybe to attract a male audience aswell as to make it apparent that it is the saturday's. Also the saturday's are always stand out from the background, as in these cases we're there is a tendancy for the background to be a greyish colour & for the girls to be dressed in brighter colours to make them stand out from the background. To conclude I think that the saturdays go by the stereotpe expected of them as far as layout & style of CD & Album covers goes.

JLS Album cover

This is an album cover and back of an album i designed for JLS, I chose to design it how I did because I though it would suit JLS's style. I went for a black background to try and make the pictures and writing stand out. Typically of a pop band i decided to put a picture of the group on the front, I looked at numerous pictures trying to find the most appealing, I chose the one I did because i though it has two of the distinctive colours in and also it shows the bands togetherness. By making the background black it makes the picture stand out. I did the title in Blue, red, green and yellow. This wasn't just beacause these are all bright eye catching colours, but beacuse they link with the band, all the members of the band are accosiated with a colour, it could be described as their trademark. JLS Hoodies are avaialbe in these colours & therefore I though by using these colours it would make the CD cover distinctive to JLS. I also did the same with the back of the album cover I did the title once again in the distinctive colours, and the background part to to the numerous songs will all be in one of the four colours, and the actual writing itself will be in black, this once again will make the four distinctive colours stand out.

I think the album cover I designed worked well because It was typical of what you would expect from a band such as JLS.