Analysis of R&B

The idea of r and b music came around in the 1940s with the influence of jazz, pop and blues music this genre of music developed through the merging of these sounds this mostly occurred in the America and has moved globally over a long period of time. R and b songs show a lot of emotions and most songs involve a sexual element the two main themes of r and b songs are either love or some sort of heartbreak these allows the artist to show high levels of emotions. Some r and b artist include ne yo, drake, Chris brown, r Kelly and Kanye west; these artist have all become famous through making and expanding the r and b genre. I have watched a few music videos for r and b artist and have found there are many conventions of r an b music videos from the audio to the visual of the video; some of the main conventions in which found in all the videos I watched was the dance element and the sexualizing of females in the videos with females often showing a lot of skin, while the males are often covered up.

  The first video which I felt demonstrated a large range of conventions for r and b is Alicia keys- no one(2007). One of the main features which are shown in the music video is the idea of females being used and shown as a sexual object this follows the idea of Laura Mulvey's Male gaze Theory. Throughout the video Alicia is shown with a lot of skin on show and is also shown performing in a very sexual manor this shows her venerability also which is a very key convention in r and b music videos it is also very fitting to the song lyrics as she is singing about love and heartbreak; her being shown as being in love may be viewed as her showing her vulnerability as she is visibly upset and in a unsure state which helps to secure the idea of this.  The idea of females being sexual objects is very stereotypical as males expect females to show there availability by showing their skin as well as being sexual objects for the public however on contrast to this females are expected to be demure and calm also as they are viewed as mother figures they are expected to do both roles and this is demonstrated in the music video as Alicia is shown in a sexual way however is singing about heartbreak which is viewed as being vulnerable.  As well as the idea of Alicia is shown in a very vulnerable way in the beginning of the video however is shown was confident towards the end this shows a very key contrast; this could be as women are often expected to show both these qualities as males like the idea of being in control of the female as they are seen as under them however when she shows the confidence at the end it shows she is adhering and subverting the stereotypes.

    Another video which shows very key conventions is the song so sick ne-yo (2009) this music video shows very conventional as the song lyrics are very negative and are very similar to blue lyrics which is the whole basis of r&b music. The music video shows a different predictive from the first video as it is a male singer rather than the female singer; this helps to show different conventions which r&b videos follow. The first thing which subverts the stereotype of males in general is the idea that the male is showing his heartbreak and venerability however this is not normally the emotions which males show as they are expected to be masculine and to not show to much emotions so that they can fulfil this stereotype so by ne-yo showing his upset and anger at the breakup goes against this stereotype and shows an alternative side to males. Another convention which is subverted during the music video is the cutting from shot to shot the shots were cut very slowly compared to must r&b music videos and the shots were all very different from each other which help to reinforce the idea that the video is trying to subvert the normal editing stereotypes of quick cuts but with similar shots. However the costume which ne-yo is wearing is very stereotypical of something that would be seen during a r&b music video as he is shown wearing big oversized clothes and one of the key features which he is shown wearing quite frequently is fur this shows his wealth this is something which is very common in r&b music videos as the artist is normally worth a lot of money so would want to show this ne-yo has done this through his costume. Something else which is a very key feature to creating the r&b video is the representation of the female character she is shown in a very stereotypical way with lots of skin being shown and through this being shown as a sexual object of the male; in the music video so sick ne-yo is shown fulling clothed throughout the whole video this is contrasted by the female who is shown in underwear on many occasions this is so the female becomes/comes across as desirable to the male audiences this could make the video become more popular to the male audiences; another reason for the female being shown in minimal clothing is that it gives off the idea that females are vulnerable and the males are often in control of the situations these views and opinions are very often portrayed in music videos.

  Another more recent r&b music video is Chris brown back to sleep (2016) this video shows the conventions which are being presented to us in the most recent day and shows the development which has happened since the first two videos. This video like the other two uses the female as a sexual object and shows the male as dominant in the situations in the music video for back to sleep this applies very heavily and he whole concept of the video evolves around the idea of sex this has become much more common and frequent in r&b music videos in current day; one of the main thing which shows the male dominance over the female in this video is the clothing they are both wearing the male is fully dressed whereas the female is shown in only underwear the male is therefore viewed in a normal manner however with the female being only in her underwear she is shown in a very sexual and vulnerable state as she is so exposed and is showing so much of her body. Something else which shows the males control over the female is the idea that the male is always on top of the female in the first scene where both male and female are shown the male is stood on the floor with his hand around the female and the female has no control over the situation as the female is unable to move or to leave the situation as the male is stood over her. This video doesn’t have much of a narrative and also has an element of performance this is very common in music videos it allows the artist to showcase here performance ability while still keeping he audience interested in the video this video therefore adheres to these stereotypes which are presented.Another key feature which helps to adhere and subvert stereotypes is the camera angles and editing that is used throughout the cutting between shots very quickly this is very common in r&b music videos as the songs are often very fast pace and this is therefore often presented in the music video as well; it also allows the artist to show many different areas and different experiences throughout the video.