Razorlight is a British indie rock band formed in 2002 by lead singer Johnny Borrell. They are signed to Mercury Records. Their 2006 single "America" reached number 1 in the UK charts. The music video for "America" was filmed while the band toured America and features shots of the band performing and American cultural imagery.

1. Razorlight are a British indierock band formed in 2002. The
band was started by lead singer and former solo accoustic
singer Johnny Borrell. The music video for ‘America’ was
released in 2006, and had reached number 1 in the charts
when released in 2006.
Razorlight are signed by Mercury Records/Vertigo Record
which are part of Universal Music group. Mercury Records
operates as a standalone company in the UK and as a pat of
the 'The Island Def Jam Music Group' in the US.

2. ● Razorlight are classified under the'indierock' genre. Their song
'America' was part of their self-titled album 'Razorlight'. It was
released as their second single from that album in October 2006. It
became the band first number 1 single in the UK. It was the UK's
seventeenth best selling single of the year, and had reached the top
20 in 8 other countries, including Australia and New Zealand.
● The song is directed at American Culture, which links in to the
music video as it is recorded whilst the band are on tour in America.

3. ● There are many general characteristic which fall into this genre of
music. The indie genre tend to have a high performance based
element within their music videos.
- Indierock derived from 'independent',
which represented the small and relatively
low-budget labels where there is a big emphasis
on the do-it-yourself mentality by the bands.
The influences and styles of the artists and
bands have been extremely diverse, including punk,
rock and country.

4. ● The music video for 'America' has connotations to America itself, as
the video is shot in America while the band are on tour.
- Within the music video there is not a lot of
correlation between the lyrics and the visuals.
Therefore the lyrics and visuals are mostly
contradicting.
- The music video has many connotations
to the 'indierock' genre. As the video is
highly performance based with shots of
the band, the individual members, the
setting and instruments.

5. - Although there is not a lot of
correlation between the lyrics and the
music, there are some cuts in between
the shots of the band to some
illustrative shots.
- The lyrics 'I got the movie script
But I don't know what it meant' have
connotations to the shot which
appears on screen of a movie script
which seems to be
left/misunderstood.
- Another amplified shot within the music
video, is when the lyrics 'there's trouble in
America' are heard and images which are
reflected onto a screen from a projector
appear. The images are of snapshots of
America, which connotes the struggle in
America, and the mundane colours of the
image also represent the ‘trouble’ which is
going on.

6. The last image on screen at the end of the video is of a damaged
car, parked in the middle of the studio which the band are
performing, in front of a projector screen where the images of
‘America’ are being shown. This is amplified, due to the fact the
lyrics have now stopped and it is only the music playing at the end
of the song. However this image of the destruction of the car, could
represent the damaged to ‘America’ in which the band are singing
about.

7. Goodwin’s theory highlights the fact
that in order to ‘meet the demands of
the record label close up shots are
needed to introduce the band to the
audience’. In Razorlight’s ‘America’ the
first shot of the lead singer is a close up.
This establishes who he is to the
audience and what role he plays within
the band.
Then the drummer of the band is
introduced by a medium close up.
However this is strategically done as the
image of him is shown as the drums start
within the music, so the audience know
clearly that he is the drummer.
Also the due to the individuality of the
band they must meet the demands for
them to take the generic ‘indie’ style,
with casual clothing, and long ‘messy’
hair.

8. There is no reference to
voyeuristic treatment of the
female body within this music
video. Firstly it does not fit in with
the narrative of the video and
also the indie boybands have a
big percentage of girls within
their fanbase, so by using
voyeuristic images this could
discourage the girls within their
fanbase from watching the
video.
However there is a reference to
notion of looking. This is seen
within the image of the shot of
the band being shown on a
screen within the screen.