2. At the start, the camera tilts downwards towards the house to show the large “wendy house” in which
Trainor lives. It gives a barbie feel to the setting as it’s very put together, for example, the hedges
have been shaped very perfectly and you can also see a little tea party set up outside the house.
We can also see a girl on a bike which “wipes off” the title of the song “Dear future husband” and it gives
a very 1950’s feel. This is because we can see her bike which is very old fashioned. The girl is also
dressed as Meghan Trainor and she’s 1950’s inspired as teenagers wouldn’t normally dress like this.
When we enter the house, we can see old suitcases and record players which amplifies the idea of the
1950’s set. Also, young girls during this time would dream about their “future husband” being the
perfect guy who buys her flowers and takes care of her whilst she does the housework.
All the men who tries to appeal to Trainor would stand still at the start before greeting her in a doll like
manner which portrays the “Barbie and Ken”.
Narrative and Intertextuality
3. Iconography
Throughout the video, Trainor wears very girly and “barbie like” costumes. She also wears a fabric
headband which is something they used to wear during the 1950’s.
On the other hand, she is also very sexualised as she is wearing the leopard print top which quite a lot of
cleavage and she is also wearing a lot of leather which can also have sexual connotations. This
contradicts the traditional 1950’s costume as their dresses would usually be neck high and long
whereas Trainor is wearing smaller dresses with lower necks. Even when in the all black ensemble
she still keeps it traditional and colourful with a red gingham apron.
Barbershop quartet that are dress in pink amplifies the 1950’s theme that runs throughout the whole
song and the colour helps to suggest love and admiration. There movement illustrates and amplify
the 1950’s theme and it is very comical because their actions are heavily exaggerated for example
they always move with the “oohs”
She is constantly flirting in front of the camera and gives off a “bubblegum girl” feel to her songs. Her
videos are always bright and the focus is always on her as the centre of attention.
4. Voyeurism
In the video, Trainor cleans the floor in a very sexualised manner by leaning
forward which creates a sense of voyeurism. The way that she is dressed in
black leather jacket and black pencil skirt makes her look sexualised because
black can be seen as alluring and sexy. She also touches herself quite often
when she says “treat me like a lady”.
We as the audience observes her daily life and her quest in finding a “husband”.
The young girl and boy who is in the video throughout, foreshadows how
american girls dream of finding the perfect husband. This is shown by the boy
giving flowers to the girl.This is a very personal moment between the two and
we are being invited to watch over them.
5. Lyrics analysis
Trainor starts to sing the song from a traditional housewife perspective such as “take me on a date...and
don’t forget the flowers every anniversary”. Women during the 1950’s would expect their husbands
to “treat them like a lady” and be “gentle”.
“I’ll be your perfect wife”, here Trainor is on the floor cleaning which shows that she is going to do all the
housework and make sure that her husbands environment is clean and perfect.
However, at some points during the song, Trainor contradicts this by saying things such as “You got that
9 to 5, but baby, so do I. This is the typical office shift you would expect when working and here she
is saying that she is also working which subverts the typical housewife stereotype.
Furthermore, she also says “So don’t be thinking I’ll be home and baking apple pies” which is amplified
and illustrated by the fact that her apple pie is literally on fire.
“...even when i’m acting crazy” here she is refusing the food that her “husband” made for her and she
then says “tell me everything's alright” which contradicts the video as he is not comforting her, rather
forcing the food in her. This foreshadows what happens in the future as we can see he is not treating
her right and then we see a “fail” stamp to show that he has actually failed.
6. Illustrate, amplify or contradict
This video overall does all three.
The video illustrates the lyrics of this song by doing what the lyrics say for
example, when she burns the pie.
The set and props generally amplify the song such as the barbershop quartets
dancing around and also when Trainor was in the boat there were fake waves
and she also pretended to vomit which was dramatised.
At some parts the lyrics contradict what is happening at the video, for example,
when she says she works 9-5.
