An extended analysis of Usher's 'No Limit' music video, with codes and signifiers

1. ‘No Limit’ by Usher

2.  The ‘No Limit’ music video utilises choreography, a
convention that is common amongst other R&B videos – one
of the main things they intend to do is promote what can be
done when a song like this one is playing, i.e. hip-hop/R&B
dancing, and also the artist’s performance skills. However, we
only see males in the visual and no females, who are often
objectified and shown performing in a sexualised way so as to
appeal to male audiences. By having males, it creates a
different kind of appeal that promotes the song.

3.  The lyrics, in which Usher sings about how he is
able to do anything with his lover: ‘All of the places
I could take you girl is limitless/So if you’ve never
been/Girl I would just love to take you there.’, are
not communicated figuratively or literally as the
video is simply a dance video in which he sings and
dances alongside guest artist Young Thug and
some backing dancers.

4.  This is shown in the ‘No Limit’ video through
the fast-paced editing and the R&B/hip hop
choreography – as the music has a fast
tempo, the movement and transitioning from
one shot to another intends to match it .

5.  Throughout the video, we see close-ups of Usher
and guest artist Young Thug, as well as mid-
shots. Many music videos do not just intend to
promote a song, they also promote the artist and
their image, which communicate the song and
thus appeal to the audience, which is likely to
lead to more sales of the single and album.

6.  This convention has been challenged in ‘No
Limit’ as all the backing dancers are male, so
there are no women are depicted as objects
for men to look at (voyeurism).
 Usher can be seen to be occasionally looking
at the camera throughout the visual – by
doing this, he engages with the audience by
directly singing to them (direct address),
creating a spectacle.

7.  Although there are no visual intertextual references,
there are oral ones that feature in the lyrics to ‘No
Limit’ – the title of the song is shared with the record
company established by Master P in the 1990s; one
of the phrases Usher sings ‘Make you say uh’ also
refers to a song released on the label titled ‘Make ‘Em
Say Uhh’.
 Furthermore, Young Thug makes a reference to
Photoshop and Instagram when he raps ‘And she said
all her friends fake, so she solo rockin’/And she a
real bad bad b****, she ain’t gonna Photoshop it’.
What he is saying is that he approves of the fact that
his girl is embracing her natural appearance and isn’t
using the photo-editing software to enhance or
improve it artificially.

8.  The ‘No Limit’ music video is primarily performance-based
as it features Usher dancing alongside Young Thug and
backing dancers and no narrative is created to reflect the
lyrics and meaning of the song. However it could also be
seen as a conceptual, non-narrative clip as it is focused on
choreography and the clothes of the dancers etc. rather than
building a story.

9. As this video is based around a dance rather
than a narrative/story, we do not see any
character archetypes such as hero, villain or
mentor, so they, along with this theory, cannot
be applied.

10. Again, we cannot apply this theory to the ‘No
Limit’ music video as it does not follow a
narrative structure which involves equilibrium,
disruption and a restoration to the
aforementioned equilibrium.

11. The ‘No Limit’ music video does not feature
any binary opposites such as hero and villain
due to there being no narrative structure or
character types, so this theory can’t be applied.

12.  Mood/atmosphere – this is communicated as being
toned-down and low-level, due to the white-grey
background and lack of props.
 The artists - Usher, Young Thug and some of the
backing dancers stand out from the background
due to their gold jewellery, which has connotations
of wealth and high status, especially Usher as he is
the main artist performing the track.