The music video for will.i.am's "It's My Birthday" prominently features product placements for technology brands like Beats and Vine. It displays postmodern qualities like self-awareness, as will.i.am pokes fun at his love of social media. The video also exaggerates cultural and racial stereotypes for comedic effect rather than to seriously establish them. There are intertextual references to other works, like Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" dance move, that contrast with the close relationship of the video's imagery to the song's lyrics.

1. Postmodern Music Video
It’s My Birthday
will.i.am ft. Cody Wise

2. Product
Placement

3. Product Placement
Throughout the video there are product placements
related to technology and social media, an area
will.i.am is a notoriously big fan of. The video begins
with a shot that quite clearly displays the “Vine”
logo. This is later dubbed as will.i.am writes on it
displaying a sense of self awareness. Both the
product placement and the awareness of doing so
are qualities of postmodernism. The most dominant
piece of product placement is of the Beats audio
brand, as both the Beats Pill speaker and Beats
headphones are featured at more than one point in
the video.

4. Self Awareness

5. Self Awareness
The video displays a sense of self awareness, an element of
postmodernism. Fans of will.i.am comment on his love of social media.
In the video, this is made comical by having will.i.am take a picture and
share it on his iPhone whilst his wife is in labour. Furthermore, the
video was the first music video ever to be created using the Vine
software (this contributes to the video’s fragmentation), a popular and
relatively new social network. Also, will.i.am’s love of technology is
brought into the video with the repeated use of his new phone watch
(Cody Wise also wears one) and him posing in front of a robot.
Another way in which the video presents self awareness is through the
subtle addition of will.i.am’s ring which has the will.i.am logo. Lastly,
the addition of will.i.am dressed as a preacher in church comments on
his early life and background, as he has spoken in interviews about his
religious mother and the impact this has had on him as a person and
his career.

6. Exaggerated, Stereotypical Representation

7. Exaggerated, Stereotypical Representation
Exaggeration of cultural and racial stereotypes are used
throughout the music video. For example, the repeated use of
cash as a prop (connecting to the lyrics of the song) is
stereotypical of the music genre. However, this is included in a
light-hearted way to create humour and mock the stereotype
rather than to seriously establish genre. This technique is
repeated in the stereotype of rap/hip-hop stars with the use
of female dancers, a room of pizza and gold neck chains.
Racial stereotypes are exaggerated to create humour,
particularly when substituting a bouquet of flowers for a
handful of Mexican food. Also, Cody Wise dresses in costumes
stereotypical of both Mexico and Japan. Again, these
stereotypes are not taken seriously, and this is done solely to
create humour and for entertainment purposes.

8. Intertextual References

9. Intertextual References
There are several intertextual references, a common
component of postmodernism. Firstly, the signature lean
from the music video to Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth
Criminal’ is recreated by Cody Wise. A reference is made
to superman, in which will.i.am wears a similar outfit with
the ‘S’ logo replaced by a ‘W’ for will.i.am. Lastly, a
biblical reference is made through will.i.am’s costume
that he wears during the party scene. All of these
references do not link to the lyrics of the song. This
contrasts to the rest of the video, as the actions depicted
in the video very closely, and sometimes literally, relate to
the lyrics of the song.