Lyric Analysis

Lyric Analysis

Our task was to analyse the song lyrics from our chosen song for our music video. The lyrics in which we had to analyse were from Adele's song "Hometown Glory" which was released from her album "19" in 2007. The purpose of analyzing our artists lyrics to the song is so that we can look for hidden and deeper meaning to the lyrics. This helps us with certain planning techniques as we will be able to incorporate certain aspects of the video which relate to the lyrics of the song and will help the audience to not only understand the lyrics but also the narrative which we have created. By conforming certain parts of our music video with the lyrics this makes it engaging for the audience as they can relate and realise the relevance of specific points of the music video.

We have categorized our annotations into different, and specific points. The separate points which we have analysed in the lyrics are, hidden meanings which are meanings which are not necessarily seen at a first glance but when are thought about in detail make sense and are an in depth analysis of the lyrics. Another point which we have analysed in the lyrics are how the artist is represented. This is what is mentioned in the lyrics and how this may represent and portray the artist in regards to feelings and emotions. Additionally we have annotated ideas of mise en scene styling as certain sentences within the lyrics could relate to a specific scene which helps the audience to understand the narrative more clearly. Lastly, we have annotated points in which will help to build a relationship between the artist and the audience members as this may make them feel a certain way towards the artist as they may be able to relate to the situation which is mentioned in the lyrics. The hidden meanings of our song Hometown Glory include the artist and how she feels about the way her life has changed and how she felt about the people which were included in her life before she found fame also. The annotations will assist with planning our soul music video through the codes and conventions in the lyrics. Firstly, the line "missing out the cracks" referring to cracks in the pavement as she is walking down a street. This line has connotations of possibly the artist being superstitious which can therefore represent her as weary and paranoid. From these representations the audience can also infer a sense of self-consciousness which the artist feels about herself. This is conventional to the soul music genre as the artist conventionally lacks self confidence possibly due to the subjects that they are singing about. This also represents the artist as relatable as many members of the audience may be able to relate to the lack of self confidence portrayed by the artist, aswell as they may also follow these rules of "missing cracks" in the pavement as this is a common thing to do, showing the artist as down to earth and ordinary creating a relationship between the artist and audience. Furthermore, "air so thick and opaque" suggests a hidden meaning that the artist feels a sense of entrapment and that there is no way out of the current situation she is in. This could also possibly mean that there is no escape from the way that she is feeling, the low and depressive emotions have submerged her and their is no way out. Conventionally to the soul genre, feeling trapped is a common topic which is included in the artists lyrics, suggesting how lonely and vulnerable they are feeling. Audiences may be able to relate to this situation as they may have been in a similar situation where they feel there is no way of escaping their low emotions. Annotations of the lyrics also help in assisting the cinematography of the music video. A certain line in the lyrics is where the artist is repeating her words which do not mean anything which could suggest humming. This could represent to the audience as though the audience is bored which could suggest of her life and how she has nothing going on and is feeling quite down and lonely in which she needs to fill up her time. At this particular part of the song we will include a close up shot to show clearly the facial expressions and body language of the artist which can help the audience to see and understand how upset and lost she is in regards to the direction of her life and how she wants to go back to how it was before she found fame. Additionally to this the line "people I've met are the wonders of my world" the wonders of the world are regarding to  places and buildings which are seen as magnificent and significant, this could help to represent and emphasize the fact that she misses the people which she used to surround her self with and helps to demonstrate to the audience how lonely she is now. This could be shown through the use of a mid shot which shows her reminiscing on memories of her surrounded by her family and friends. Furthermore, annotating the lyrics from our chosen artist helps us with planning editing styles. The line "Round my hometown" could be used in conjunction with a panning shot of the City of London, which helps to re-literate the narrative towards the audience which helps them to understand that the music video is based upon the artists journey to fame. Also in regards to the same line in the lyrics "Round my hometown" an editing style which we could also include is filters, which at this particular scene which would include memories of the artist before she found fame could be in black and white. This colour helps to portray to the audience that this is the artist lowest moments of reminiscing. Black could help to represent the artists depressive emotions and negativity about finding fame as she is reminiscing. White however, has opposite connotations of black which helps to display happiness and innocence which could help to suggest how happy the artist was again, before fame. The two colours contrast each other as one has positive connotations whereas the colour black has negative connotations. This could suggest to the audience that the artist is reflecting and reminiscing on her memories before fame. Annotating the lyrics also helps to assist my group when discussing mise-en-scene. The line, "Everybody's taking different sides" could help to suggest the artists different emotions, about how she felt before and after fame.This could be represented through different uses of lighting. For example, high key, natural lighting may be used when the artist is reminiscing on the past of fond memories of herself surrounded by friends and family. Whereas, the darker, low key lighting could be used when the artist is in the present day and there are multiple close up shots which helps to express the artists emotions and helps to convey how low and depressed she is feeling. Additionally, "and tutting my heel and strutting my feet" could be shown in conjunction with a close up shot of the heels which the artist will be wearing. This reiterates the point of the artist being represented as weak and fragile. The close up shot used at the particular scene helps to portray the instability of the artists feelings and emotions which could infer to the audience possibly that she needs somebody of something to help her and hold her own on her journey through fame. This could help to represent the artist as weak and vulnerable as she requires assistance due to her unstable emotional state. Additionally "Is there anyone I could call?" could be used at the same time as the artist being seen in a telephone box in London. This may emphasize to the audience the sense of the artist feeling lonely as she is asking the audience for somebody to call, which makes them sympathize for her. Furthermore this helps to demonstrate to the audience the location of the scene which is in London which can additionally help for the audience to understand the narrative more clearly. Annotating the lyrics helps to establish the music video style more clearly in which we have discussed which style would most suit the lyrics and the hidden meanings. Our music video is mainly based on narrative and performance. This is because the lyrics are relating back to where the artist originated before fame and her journey towards where she is today and throughout fame. We wanted to include this style as it helps to engage the audience and gives them a better understanding of the lyrics and what the could mean and how they should be interpreted. Furthermore, we will additionally use the performance music video style  as this is conventional to the soul music genre as this helps to display the artists emotion and passion towards the music and lyrics than a different style of music video usually would. This helps to build a relationship between the artist and the audience as the lyrics which help to plan the different elements of the music video enable the audience to relate to the artist in some way. An example could be the camera shots used, and editing styles used help to portray the artists emotions because of the subjects which her lyrics include, the audience may be able to relate to this in some way and sympathize for the artist. Additionally, by analyzing our chosen music video lyrics this enables us to think of different techniques and uses that we could include in our music video which will help to engage our target audience. This could include certain shots which help to explain and for the audience to understand the lyrics more easily which could in turn, engage them as they may be able to relate in some way.

In conclusion, the annotations which we have included on the lyrics to our chosen music video will help my group to start preparing and planning our music video in more detail. This is because this helps us plan conventional aspects of the video which help the audience to infer the lyrics and what they may mean. This could result in the audience being able to understand the lyrics and therefore understand the narrative of the music video more clearly due to well thought of references which also makes the music video more engaging as the audience may be able to relate and hasn't referenced to scenes which are nothing to do with the music video.