Selena Gomez's song "The Heart Wants What It Wants" describes her struggling with her emotions in a relationship. The introduction shows her alone and feeling lonely as she deals with the situation by herself. Throughout the song, she expresses that there are reasons she should end it but her heart wants to stay with her boyfriend despite becoming unhappy. In the video, she is shown crying while unable to escape the relationship. Near the end, it depicts happy memories with him but acknowledges there won't be a happy ending. The song expresses that she can't imagine life without him, even as she knows he isn't good for her.

1. Selena Gomez “The Heart Wants
What It Wants”

2. Lyrics
The beginning of this song starts with a one minute clip of Selena talking about her emotions and how she felt whilst
being in a relationship. However, the lyrics in this song all relate to how she felt and what she is going through in the
present time “The future that we hold is so unclear” represents that she is so unsure on what to do and how their
relationship will turn out. The star herself is always alone in the introduction of the video, which shows she is lonely
and feels like she has to deal with the situation by herself. “There's a million reasons why I should give you up” shows
that star herself does not want to give up what her and her boyfriend have even though there are loads of reasons
too. She goes by the lyrics “the heart wants what it wants” which is also the song title; meaning she goes by what her
hearts wants, instead of what is right. This corresponds to her actions in the music video as she is shown to be crying
and becoming very unhappy, but she feels she can not leave him because she is still so in love. Towards the middle of
the song “Every sec is like torture” followed by “baby baby no I cant escape” which ties all the lyrics together showing
that she cant escape the relationship she is in. Near the end of the video, we are shown a montage of her and her
boyfriend laughing together and messing around along with the lyrics “ this is a modern fairy-tale, no happy endings”
shows she is very aware there wont be a happy ending like normal fairy tales but even though she feels this way she
cant let go. “I just cant imagine a life without breathless moments” expresses she feels he gives her everything where
to the point she can not imagine life without him.

3. Music
The music itself starts off with more of a talking introduction where the star explains what she went through
in the past and how she felt whilst being in love with this boy. Following that introduction to the song, itself
starts with a slow paste with a repeat of the title “the heart wants what it wants” to emphasize the meaning
of the song. The beats of the music are matched to the cut of the shot to make it flow much better but the
main beat in this case is the clicking of fingers with a harsh beat in the background. This is to make the
rhythm stand out which then helps the music to become much more distinctive. The lead up to the chorus is
very much the same medium paste, however when the chorus does appear, a drum beat is added in the
background to make it a bit more intense; even though the beat before has stayed the same. On the other
hand; Selena’s voice has become much faster with more of a different tone to show her feelings through the
lyrics, therefore coming across more believable. To still fit in with the “love” scenario, the music has still got
calm and mellow instruments such as a tambourine and chimes faintly in the background. In the montage
part of the video the music slows down a far bit to fit in with the shots where there are videos being shown
of the couple, this just makes it a bit more dramatic as the memories of them are being shown.

4. Genre
The Heart Wants What It Wants song was released by the singer Selena Gomez
featuring on her album “For you” back in 2014. This was through Hollywood
records. The song itself is a romantic love song, but fits into the genre of POP
and R&B. This is because Selena is a well know artist who fits into the category
of popular songs in todays charts and streaming sites. Her type of music is
aimed at mainly girls of teenage years and her own age around 23+. Her songs
also can be very relatable to some people going through similar things which
therefore makes it very popular and relevant.

5. Mise En Scene / Colour and
Setting
The setting throughout this music video is very simple but creative. The star is not set
in loads of locations to make it look complicated, she is set where it makes sense and
where the music video relates too. At the start of the video Selena is set in a
dressing room on her own which comes across very solitary showing she is very
lonely not only on the inside which we can tell from the lyrics but on the outside.
Throughout the video there are only a good three locations which she appears in.
The main scene she is concentrated on the most is sitting down next to her boyfriend
whom is surrounded by a bunch of people at a party; which she therefore looks out
of place, as by the facial expression we can see she is hurt and feels like an outsider.
All the settings in this song, look very small which shows exactly how she is feeling,
becoming a metaphor.
In this particular music video, the colours are edited to black and white to represent how the singer is feeling and the dark times she
is going through. Black on its own connote bad things such as sadness, death, evil and mostly grief. However it can connote elegance
as well much like white. White is normally seen as a colour of purity, goodness and light. The colour white is more present in the
montage, where Selena is shown in her happy moments with her partner, which I can see to be a good memory so therefore white is
shown a lot more. Also bright lights are shown to be part of the focus in the montage scene to show that she was at her happiest
point, where normally light represents hope and happiness. We can contrast this to clips in-between where she is in a different
location looking back, which it then snaps back to the happy moments this Is clearly showing how she is thinking back to how it use to
be where there was love between them and not darkness compared to where she is now. Also a lot of artists do their videos with
colour, so this being in B&W makes it easier to remember for the audience, as it does also come across classy.

6. Mise En Scene / Costume
and Prop
The singers costume for this music video is very black and dull expressing more to how she is feeling. Even though
everyone else is wearing very dark colours around her as well, it just emphasises the unsettling and sad vibe
under all the smiles. Selena is dressed in a net top and shorts throughout the video, which comes across not
something she loves as stereotypically if you are getting ready to go out, a girl would normally wear a colourful
flattering dress, but along with the lyrics she herself does not feel confident, so this is one of the reasons why she
may be wearing what she is. Selena the artist is shown with her hair tied up, not really anything special, nor any
makeup which represents she doesn’t really care to bother as she is so upset. Also in the montage Selena is not
that covered up and is in normal clothes where she is acting herself, compared to the beginning of the video; here
she covers up in black which brings out her emotions even more for the audience. The male is dressed in a simple
shirt and jeans from what I can see coming across as one of the ‘lads’.
The props used in this video are not that extreme as there are not many of them, but in one of the main scenes, the
male and the girls around are all drinking from beer bottles which hints to that this may be the reason the
relationship is not working for the couple. There are not many other props used In this video, except from the car
where they are sitting together smiling and looking in love. This shows they are happy when they are a lone but in
reality they aren’t working.

7. Camera work
The camera work for “The Heart Wants What It Wants” Is very simple in some places but very effective. Most of
the video is made up of a close up shot of Selena singing to the song, so all we can see being the audience is her
face in many different emotions whilst singing. However, towards the middle near end of the music video there
are a few more different camera angles, such as high angle ones where she is sitting down showing her
weakness and how small she feels. The camera follows behind her showing what she is dong a lot of the time
and what she is going through in the journey, as we do also see more close ups of her looking at the male in a
loved up way to show the viewers how she is feeling. During the rest of the video, we are shown a few more
different shots and angles such as wide shots where the background is also in it, representing it is never just
them two anymore.

8. Narrative / Performance
The focal point for this video is the narrative and what the character is
experiencing. The storyline is about the star Selena going through a hard
time to understand what she really wants out of this relationship. All she
knows is that it is not good for her as she is always worrying about where
he is, but in fact she knows what he is like. Even though she struggles to
hold on to what they have, she goes by the lyric “The Heart Wants What it
Wants”
The performance on the other hand is slightly similar where she just
performs whilst matching the lyrics. The performance all together is
not over powering or over the top. Being about a “love” situation, it
is quiet a calm performance but also comes across as a big deal due
to all the close ups and harsh facial expressions to show she is not
happy. The way she acts is very slow moving as most of the effect is
in slow motion sometimes. As the audience I can tell from my point
of view she comes across sad, broken and confused. I can see this
through the shots of her crying but also the way her body language
is, as she doesn’t come across enthusiastic. The male through this
provide us with a look where he doesn’t really care but likes to look
like he Is having a good time surrounded by loads of people. He
gives off the impression that he comes across controlling as we see a
point where he grabs the females arm tightly to sit back down. This
is where I can see she is stuck In a situation in what to do, as she
doesn’t want to believe he is bad for her, even though she knows he
is no good.

9. Star Image / Brand
Selena being the star of the video and working as a single artist, she promotes her self in many ways because of who she
works with and what she is aiming for. She is not only a singer but also an actress therefore so she is not only promoting her
songs; she is promoting her self as a whole to a wide audience. Her primary audience is mainly teenage girls and her
secondary would be older women. Selena dressing the way she has, the audience can relate better as they may see it as
clothes they “could” wear therefore relating much better to the star herself. Selena Gomez is also the face of the brand
“Coach” which will also get recognition due to her clothes and accessories in the video, so her star image is expanding even
more just from one video.

10. Voyeurism / Intertextuality
Voyeurism in the music and even film industry simply means exploiting women to attract a wide
audience and reach out to much more people. In this music video specifically she is dressed in a
revealing way; wearing a mesh top and a black bra underneath paired with black shorts. Also, her
outfit is added with some expensive jewellery such as; earrings and bracelet. This just goes to show
how she is being sexualised for the media. All of this is to target a wider audience, which is also
helped with a handsome man in the video. Having good looking men in some music videos, help
promote the music and help maybe relate more to the viewers.