The music video for Beyoncé's 2013 song "Pretty Hurts" uses imagery and lyrics to critique unrealistic societal standards of beauty. It depicts the struggles women face both onstage, where they must appear happy and flawless, and behind the scenes, engaging in painful beauty rituals and unhealthy dieting. Through a narrative that contrasts her public persona with private suffering, as well as symbolic costuming and lighting, the video powerfully conveys that "perfection is a disease" and beauty standards damage women. With its meaningful message and Beyoncé's soulful vocals and central role, the video exemplifies a subgenre of "power pop" that breaks pop music conventions to focus on how women are pressured

1. 2013 Beyoncé- Pretty Hurts
Music video Analysis
Abbie Rawlins

2. Lyrics
The lyrics in the music video ‘pretty hurts’ had
relevance to the visuals that appear on screen.
The title and the main lyric ‘pretty hurts’
represents societies expectations of women,
and essentially Beyoncé as an artist, is trying to
challenge the constraints of being perceived as
‘beautiful’. She does this by saying ’My
aspiration in life… would be.. To be happy’ as it
is clear the character needs to be happy in
herself in terms of beauty. The lyrics tell us a
story of her emotions as she states that
‘perfection is a disease of a nation’ these
unrealistic assumptions are what have the
potential to damage girls and young women as
a whole.

3. Music
The track begins with a slow paced tempo in
order to fit the mood of the song’s message. She
begins the song acapella which leaves her
vulnerable as vocally she is exposed but she is
also exposed in the sense that she is being
scrutinized by the judging panel based on her
appearance and looks. After a silence and slight
applause from the audience the song then
officially begins with it’s studio version of the
track as there is a soft piano sound that bases
the music. The song begins to build momentum
turning into to Beyoncé's signature pop and R&B
sound. This again relates to the action on screen
as she is seen as smearing her makeup off from
her face, this added aggression coincides with
the music as it begins to increase in terms of
pitch, pace and volume.

4. Genre
The genre of the music video Pretty Hurts is Pop, but not just any pop this video
portrays power pop. This is because this video has a strong message which has effective
and emotional lyrics. Including her incredibly amazing soulful vocals. This song does
contrast Beyoncé's normal upbeat pop tracks.
This video follows the conventions of a pop genre, for example fashionable, meaningful lyrics
etc. however also breaks them, Due to no male dominant character, the video features just
women who seem powerful. Pretty hurts has more of a dark color scheme to match the feel of
the song.
The video focuses on how women are made to feel pressed to be a certain way.

5. Camera Work
Beyoncé motivates the cuts of the camera as
it consistently follows her movements in the
video, therefore she gains the prevalence in
comparison to the other characters as it is
typical as its typical for the artist to be the
main performer.
The variety of close up and extreme close ups
fit in with the message of having your beauty
judged and how it can effect you, the camera
works fits with the story line.
Other shots used to portray pain is a long
shot showing her whole body to show to the
audience that they have to be the perfect
size.

6. Editing
The editing used within ‘pretty hurts’ starts with relatively quick cuts between shots this
forms a montage to show the hard ships that girls face being in a beauty pageants, for
example the extreme beauty rituals waxing , hair etc.
Beyoncé is always main focus because she is in the center of the frame, in terms of rule of
third she's enlarged taking up most of the screen showing she's got the most prevalence.
A key editing technique used throughout the
video is flashbacks, as when they are all lined
up competing she's thinking of what she had
to go through to get there.
Another key editing technique used in this
video is focus pull and shallow focusing,
drawing attention to Beyoncé to make her
stand out from the rest.

7. Narrative/performance
‘Pretty Hurts’ is all about the narrative! It tells
an incredibly significant story about how
women struggle be be what society see as
‘pretty’ and ‘beautiful’.
In this video you see two different sides which
is why the narrative is so effective. One where
Beyoncé is on stage appearing happy and
composed on stage. She looks stunning and
looks like she got nothing to worry about.
Whereas later on it shows what goes on behind
closed doors showing how painful life is for
example being sick and later on showing her
anger of smashing her trophies.
Therefore the performance and narrative
shown throughout this video is so meaningful
and strong

8. Mise-en scene – Lighting and setting
Within this video different colors are used to set the mood of what is seen. When the
girls are on stage bright colors and sparkles are used to portray them as being happy
and proud.
However the setting of the stage contrasts the setting of the dressing room as the
create different tones and moods for the audience. For example in comparison the
dressing room has low key lighting which highlights the difficulties that the young
women are facing in order to meet a specific standard.
The prime example would be the rundown
bathroom that shows Beyoncé coming out of
a cubicle looking ill, this implies to us as
viewers that she is forcing herself to be sick in
order to meet weight requirements.

9. Mise-en-scene – Costume and Props
Costume- Conform to the stereotypical representation of beauty pageants, for
example figure hugging dresses that accentuate their figures as this is a key feature
that they are judged upon. In addition a key part that emphasises these social
standards is the lack of costume that is present behind the scenes- this particularly
shows that not only do the judges scrutinize their bodies they do this to themselves,
by measuring their waists and cosmetic procedures to create ‘the perfect shaped
face’.
Props- Her sash is a key item of iconography as it represents the title that she has
achieved as a result of all the pain she has endured.
The card with a number on also reinforces this idea of being hidden within this
industry as she is not represented by a name and as a human being, rather by a
number that symbolises the number competitor she is.
During the video beauty products/ accessories are used in order to portray what they
have to do to themselves to make them standout and look ‘pretty’.

10. Star image/brand
The star image and brand is associated with Beyoncé, who is the main star in this
video, she takes lead. The reason behind this could be that she wants to express
her feeling through the narrative in the video, this making her fans feel closer as
its personal matter to her.
The use of Beyoncé's costumes, narrative, lighting etc created an image she
envisioned sticking to the pop genre but showing a different side, more negative.
The way Beyoncé looks in this video is key, everything within this video is related
back to the narrative the whole point of the song and video.

11. Voyeurism
In the media today and modern society as record labels are
aware that essentially ‘sex sells.’ (A prime example of this is
the highly controversial video created by Robin Thicke
‘Blurred Lines’.) It is clear within the music video ‘pretty
hurts’ that there is elements of voyeurism especially in
regards to the lack of costume- Often female artists have to
fit to the perfect idealised women in order to sell their new
track or music as females tend to idolise women that they
strive to achieve. This is something Beyoncé has since used
to her advantage as she is known with worldwide
recognition as ‘The Queen’.
In addition the lack of clothing and ’skimpy’ outfit are also
used as a tactic by record companies as stereotypically men
want to view females in this way, although not always the
case, it is a technique used in order to increase record sells
as it aims at both genders.