This document analyzes the evolution of music videos in the pop genre from the 1980s to 2000s through a comparison of representative videos from each era. Key differences identified include sexuality and complexity. Older videos from the 1980s like Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" had more innocent and comedic tones with less explicit sexuality compared to newer videos like Rihanna's "Umbrella." Newer videos also featured more complex, nonlinear narratives that were less directly connected to the song lyrics. Representations of gender also changed, with men less frequently exposed sexually in newer videos compared to acts like Bananarama in the 1980s. Overall, the analysis shows how pop music videos became more explicit

1. Representations of Pop Genre. Past & Present

2. Evolution of a Genre. One perfect music video that really helps sum up the evolution of a genre or more holistically music itself would be Pretty Girl Rock by Kerry Hilson.

3. Pop Videos of 1980. I have chosen 3 music videos within the pop genre that were created during the 1980’s. These help to represent every aspect of the pop genre that can be seen from the music videos of that decade. Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Mel & Kim – Respectable. Bananarama – Love In The First Degree.

4. Pop Videos of 2000. I have chosen 3 music videos within the pop genre that were created after 2000. These help to represent every aspect of the pop genre that can be seen from today’s music videos. Rihanna – Umberella. Jedward – Bad Behavior. The Saturdays – Missing You.

5. Comparison of Pop Music Videos. If you compare Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ to Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’, you will straight away see many obvious differences between the two music videos. These differences are what signify the change in representations of Pop music videos over 3 long decades. One of these differences would be how dominated ‘Umbrella’ is with flaunting a woman’s sexuality. Rihanna is seen in many different dresses all with plunging necks as well as using an umbrella provocatively throughout the video. This indicated how the Pop genre has become much more explicit from 30 years ago, where Cyndi is seen in a not-so-provocative pink dress and also pajamas, which reflects the more innocence and comedy of the videos of that time.

6. Comparison of Pop Music Videos. Another difference that can be seen between music videos is the complexity of Rihanna’s video in contrast to Cyndi’s, and what this means about the message being given. As seen above, Rihanna’s video features shots such as her naked and covered in silver paint. Compare this to Cyndi’s video which has a small storyline within it, clearly showing a linear narrative from beginning to end. This storyline is reflected by the main message of the song, which is that girls just want to have fun, shown by having her dancing around and partying,est. This shows a clear link between the content of the video and the message of the song, however Rihanna’s video is much more pointless in the sense that hardly anything that is shown in the video is reflected by the words of the song, except the frequent use of an umbrella. This ultimately tells you that Pop songs 3 decades ago had a little more meaning in their music video with the use of a linear narrative, in comparison to videos nowadays which are a little less meaningful or in connection with the song, but rather symbolic or metaphorical if any.

7. Comparison of Pop Music Videos. If you now compare the differences between The Saturday’s song ‘Missing You’, and Bananarama’s song ‘Love In The First Degree’, you will see other differences in the way the Pop genre has changed not only for artists but also bands. Again we see how more literal the older Pop videos are between the connection of the video and the lyrics by having them in jail due to talking about jail in their song, however The Saturdays talk about missing somebody, but are set on a beach, with the amount of shots used being another difference. One thing I noticed immediately was how all of the dancers were male and had very little clothes on in Bananarama’s song, this shows an ovbious contrast to Pop songs today where females are much more frequently exposed sexually as are The Saturdays. This shows how the Pop genre has changed so that men are hardlyas exposed as they were.

8. Comparison of Pop Music Videos. Another interesting point to make would be that if you look at the photo above of Bananarama’s song that was also shown on the previous slide, it is very similar to shots that’s are used in Rihanna’s video in which she is crouched down to further show her in a sexual way (shown above). This a clear example of how the representations of different genders in the pop Genre have changed. A similarity between both music videos going back to The Saturdays would be that they both include choreographed dancing during sequences of the song where all of the band members stand beside each other and perform in sync. But going back to how older Pop videos are more literal than the videos we have now, Bananarama’s dance sequence would act act words that were being said in the lyrics were as The Saturdays dance was more subtle.

9. Comparison of Pop Music Videos. One final comparison that I feel had to be made was between Jedward and Mel & Kim by showing the other main differences between the Pop genre then and now. One very obvious difference which can be noticed straight away is how in Jedward’s video, many different shots are used with many different scenes in the music video. Compare this to Mel & Kim’s video in which 2 main scenes are used throughout the video (being in the alleyway and on the catwalk) and many of the same shots are used such as a long shot of the girls as they dance in the alleyway and also as they dance down the catwalk. One similarity I did notice however are how the two videos both promote acting badly in some way. Firstly this is seen obviously by Jedward as they are having a party as their parents are away, and also Mel & Kim as they explain how you can like us or not like us were never going to change for you and are seen ruffling up a police officer in the alleyway. One final difference I noticed was how in ‘Respectable’, the video is mostly focused on their performance and less on the storyline which is contradictory to what I mentioned previously. This contrasts to Jedward’s video which focuses less on the performers but on the message of the song, which in essence promotes acting badly. This could tell you that Pop music has changed by becoming more influential to the audience than decades before.

10. The End. By Harry Luke Mulvany.