I have chosen to analyze a music video by Alicia Keys “no one”, the genre of this song is R&B soul. The video consists of four settings in total which all cut back to each other. The characteristics of R&B that are shown in the video is that firstly it starts of slow slowly coming in closer to Alicia Keys lying softly on an arm chair in an empty room her hair beautifully pushed back out of her face singing. There is then the scene where she is singing in a room filled with musical instruments with her playing the piano in that sequence as well. In some of the other scenes, as in most R&B there are various shots of gold “bling” which may emphasize wealth and achievement, this is in the second setting where she is outside playing the piano when it is raining which is quite different to other R&B music videos where the artists don’t usually play any instruments on scene. The shots are also quite slow there is no use of speeded up scenes its all slow paced, which gives the sense of relaxation and peace.
In one of the shots in this video when she sings “no one can get in the way of what I’m feeling”, she puts her hand over her heart for a second, this may emphasize that what she is singing is really coming from what she is feeling inside. She is also putting all her heart and soul into playing the keyboard, as she does in most of her music videos, also as she is singing she is playing the piano which is going to the beat of the music. Also when some of the chorus changes the scene of the music video changes as well.
For example when she is singing and playing the piano the words to that chorus are “when the rain is pouring down…and my heart is hurting…you will always be around yes I know for certain” she is actually singing in the rain, then it will cut to her sitting upright in the armchair that we see in the beginning of the music video. There is also the setting of her singing against a wall in a blue lit night club, she is wearing simple but stylish clothes, and her hair is tied back and put to the side of her shoulder. There are other people in the nightclub but they are not lit, all we see are people dancing in the dark and she is lit up at the back as if she is the only person in the club.
This video relates to most of Alicia Keys’s videos as she writes and produces her own music, she also performs part of the actual music as she mostly plays the piano in the majority of her music videos. There are shots where there are close-ups of her face, her makeup is beautifully done, her skin is golden and her clothes and jewellery are also gold. In the scene where she is in the club, her makeup has a heavier effect, for example she has dark lipstick.
Towards the end of the video where she had been playing the piano outside in the rain, she seems to be a big crowd of people dancing in the rain and her singing in the middle, they appear to be having a lot of fun and seem like they agree with the lyrics she is singing, as if they are celebrating in the street.
This video seems to be more concept based rather then narrative, because the meaning behind "No One" is different from other typical love songs. It tells you that there is "no one" else that can compare to that person that you’re in love with. Other love songs are just about speaking of the “Mr or Mrs right”, dedicating a song like this to your loved one is like a way of telling them how serious you are about the relationship you're in.
The good thing about this song is the word content. It's clean, no vulgarity, no sexual references or connotation or words that would be inappropriate for younger listeners. Most love songs we hear nowadays on the radio and other music videos have inappropriate word content which result in the younger listeners not being able to listen or buy the song without parental consent or guidance.
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