2. "Hold On, We're Going Home" is a song by Canadian recording artist Drake. The song
was produced by OVO Sound's Majid Jordan, Nineteen85, and Noah "40" Shebib. It is
the second single from his third studio album, Nothing Was the Same, and was
released for digital download on August 7, 2013 following the 2013 OVO Fest. It was
later released to mainstream and rhythmic contemporary radio on August 13, 2013.
The song peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The music video is labeled a short film and takes place in 1985 Miami. It was directed
by Bill Pope and released on September 24, 2013. In the video Drake plays a kingpin
who gets his lover kidnapped by a rival gang. Throughout the video, Drake does
everything in his power to rescue her. Cameo appearances in the video included
Fredo Santana, Steven Bauer, Johnny Simmons, Majid Jordan and ASAP Rocky among
others.
3. The video is 7 minutes long and presents a short story. The video starts with a short speech of a group
of people at a night club. They all have Champaign and are celebrating something. Drake (the artist) is
in the video and appears to be the main character. After this scene
is an establishing shot of a mansion. It is extremely luxurious which
shows wealth and then we are presented with a female who is
dressed in heels and lingerie with her hair and make-up all done
up. Almost immediately she is kidnapped. This is the initial opening
to the actual song.
The whole story is about Drake who is extremely successful and wealthy who has just got
engaged. Someone (a gang) is extremely envious and wants something from him, therefore he
kidnaps his fiancé. Drake and his 'crew' are determined to find her and kill the suspects.
However it turns out one of his own are actually on the opposite side.
As the lyrics begin 'I got my eyes on you, you're everything that I see' we see flashbacks of Drake
when he proposed to her and 'happy' memories. As the lyrics proceed with 'I can't get over you,
you left your mark on me. I want your hot love and emotion endlessly' and the visuals presented
are all of the men collected guns which links to the story line but not the lyrics.
4. When the chorus begins 'Just hold on we're going home. Just hold on we're going home. It's
hard to do these things alone. Just hold on we're going home.' It is simply different cuts of the
men all putting on there balaclavas which has no relation to
the lyrics. Even though the aim is to get her home and
that's what they're preparing for the actual lyrics have no
connection.
As he sings 'coz' you're a good girl and you know it' Drake is shooting a gun towards the enemies
so there is clearly a war happening between two gangs which again holds no connection
between the lyrics discussing a girl when the isn't even a girl present on screen. However when
he sings ‘it’s hard to do these things alone’ we are
presented of the venerable woman tied up crying and
desperate for help.
Throughout the video it is hard to find much connection
between the lyrics and visuals at all. The genre of the video
neither matches the lyrics. A lot of violence is presented,
through fighting and also weapons and there is no evidence in the lyrics of this behaviour.
However, the generalisation of the video (a fiancé being kidnapped and the partner rescuing her
to take her home' does link in the lyrics and the romance genre of the lyrics.
5. Similar to the connection between the lyrics and visuals, the music and
visuals do not show much relation. The beat of the song is mellow and
quite calming, especially compared to a lot of other songs from Drakes
'Nothing Was The Same' album, where he is rapping quickly. He is
singing the whole way through and it is very calming. Even though there
is a strong/powerful beat, it continually repeats and becomes quite
addictive. There is a section towards the end of the song where the tune
becomes extremely mellow and the main beat stops, it becomes almost
like a shadow and the lyrics change from the repeated ones which run
throughout the song, at this part of the song the visuals become slowed
down which reflects the slowdown of the tune. Then after this the beat
and singing picks up again. Other than this 15 seconds of the song, the
pace stays the same throughout.
6. Drake is not only the artist of the song but the main character in the music video. This promotes his record
further by making his audience not only listen and buy this track but to become popular on YouTube by a lot
of viewers watching it.
The main focus is Drake, more so than the girl. At the start of the video, Drake
and his friends are celebrating and congratulating him with something.
Therefore it is focused on him, and we see him smiling and enjoying himself.
He is also wearing a white suit which stands out from the others and draws
the attention to him.
So many close-up cuts are used to present Drake and show his different emotions - this helps the
understanding of the storyline. As Drake enters the mansion, it is
straight away suggested that it is his. He enters to house first and
whilst his fiends collectively walk off together, he stays and stares up
the stairs, this is when we are presented with flashbacks of when
they were together and happy 'at home' - hence the title of the song.
Throughout the video, the crew are seen mostly together and at least in a group of two, however we see a
lot of Drake alone - this reflects his emotion and care for his fiancé. It also shows a contrasting side to the
artist. Normally in Drakes music videos (as analysed in Branding of a star) he is surrounded by woman who
are most likely strippers. There is normally a lot more alcohol present and sometimes even drugs. However,
in Drakes previous music videos he is always with people (not necessarily in the shot) but arrives/leaves with
his 'crew, very similar to this music video. Nonetheless, Drake has taken a whole new spin with both the
song and the video for this track, which became very popular reaching No.1 in the charts. As I previously
mentioned, he doesn't rap at all in this song so it is very different and unlike him.
7. The female which is presented is wearing nothing but stockings and lingerie which gives a very
sexual appeal to the video. When the shot of Drake and his fiancé happy and laughing, the room
is filled with candles which again shows a romantic genre to the video.
There is no massive suggestion of male sex appeal, they're all wearing either casual suits of
dressed in all black with balaclavas. This is done to represent the vulnerability of the female. By
having he dressed almost naked, it shows she
has nothing protecting her. Whereas the men
are fully dressed and have guns which shows
strength and superiority. the contrast of the
female all in white, connoting purity and
angelic like, whereas the men dressed in black
to show power and darkness.
The use of close-up and mid shots allows the viewers to focus on bodies and expressions, for
example when the camera follows the female toe the head. It shows her heels and stockings
which creates attention to her body and sexuality.
8. The music video 'Hold On We're Going Home' is very much narrative based. Not once does
Drake perform in the video, which again is very unlike all of his previous videos. In most of them
you see him singing/lip syncing to the lyrics and he has never produced a 7 minute video
before... Even though he likes to have a narrative running through his music videos, for
example.. ‘H.Y.F.R.’ And ‘Best I Ever Had’ a lot of them are performance and concept based., with
not much storyline at all. Completely unlike this one. And because it is so different to the other
ones, it is almost like a fresh image for Drake and this is why I think it became so popular and a
lot of his fans/audience enjoyed it. Even though (as discussed in previous slide) the lyrics and
music don't entirely match with the visuals, the video still really works. The genre of love and
passion fits in what we can see, however the violence linked with the narrative doesn’t match
with any of the lyrics; even though the whole idea of this is how he’s getting his girl back links
and makes sense. It also adds to the image of wealth and the whole ‘gangster’ image linked with
the time and location the video is set in. Also, it brings in the whole sense of what Drake is really
like. Not necessarily, shooting and killing people, but very much involved in gangs, woman,
money and respect – a lot of what is shown in other music videos. There is nothing concept
based in this music video which again is unlike previous videos. I think the producer of this video
wanted to keep it purely narrative based; taking a risk – which proved to be a risk worth taking.
9. To conclude my analysis of Drakes music video ‘Hold on we’re Going Home’ in terms of
Goodwin's theory, I believe it has helped me and allowed my knowledge for analysing
music videos and seeing what works best and what could potentially fail. Drake is obviously
a very well-known artist who has continued to succeed every since he entered the industry.
This means he is wanted by a lot of other artist to collaborate with, as well as other high
end people of the industry, such as producers and directors. Mainly because all of Drake’s
work is successful and this will allow others to get their name well known and more
popular. Therefore the director of the video wanted to take a risk with this song, and doing
so with no performance (a popular think which is ongoing in Drake’s music videos) or even
any concept throughout the video. However Drake has the
money and is managed by high end companies which
allowed them to go all out with the eccentric settings and
scenes (such as the mansion) .
Goodwin’s theory has allowed me to analyse videos in
more depth than before and this is really positive as now I can take points such as linking
between lyrics and visuals, pace, and concept/performance and narrative aspects into
consideration when making decisions with my own ideas for our video.
