1. Textual analysis – Break Free Ariana Grande
Break free is a song sung by Ariana Grande featuring Zedd, both singing and
directing. Like the previous video, this is also a pop music video, including typical
conventions of pop videos such as
sexualizing women through the use of
clothing, excessive use of makeup
and lip singing performance.
However, it does also challenge common conventions of Pop
by using non-stereotypical storylines, as it does not involve a
relationship but the power of women and her fighting aliens
as its main storyline. Unlike in the Blank Space video, she doesn’t have as much
of an excessive amount of costume changes, featuring only four costume
changes. The video consists of both a narrative with conventions of the sci-fi film
genre and performance of both dance and lip singing.
2. There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals
throughout the video. Firstly, ‘this is the part when I break free’ is
reflected in the video, as from the use of close ups and it uses
direct denotations of her breaking free, in this video it is used to
reflect how she is strong and independent, making her a
dominant figure in the video, this also happens in the Taylor Swift
video however Ariana is shown as dominant in a more positive
way as she promotes being a powerful female
In relation to music and the visuals, the music is upbeat so frequent use of straight cuts
character. Also in this video the visuals reflect the lyrics ‘I’m
stronger than I’ve been before’ through the long shot of her
freeing the prisoners as it gives the implication that she has been
there before and tried but this time has been successful, once again displaying this
strong, powerful female.
is used to reflect the pace of the song, however unlike in the
Blank Space video, there are not many changes in the video to
reflect changes in the song. The main relation of music and
visuals is close to the end of the video they begin to dance in
beat to the song playing in the video, directly linking the content of the video to the
actual song.
3. This video, like Blank Space, has intertextual reference. It features
reference to sci-fi film Star Wars in the opening sequence as it uses the
same type imagery that is used in the Star Wars films. This allows the
music video to directly link to the sub-genre that is used in this music
video, also allowing the audience to be able to understand the narrative
of the video as this sequence is iconic to this genre.
Although in the Blank Space video Taylor is not sexualised by her
clothing, in this video, Ariana is sexualised through the clothing she
wears, the way she poses in shots and the way the camera moves
around her. A long shot has been used so that you can see her full
body, the clothing she is wearing in this shot is very short and very
tight, allowing a male audience to objectify her and for her to be
The video for Break Free, like Blank Space, both conforms and contradicts the typical
conventional of pop videos. Using normal conventions including slim, pretty artists,
revealing clothing and lip syncing performance yet incorporating other aspects such as
the sci-fi theme and showing the female as powerful (however this is a feature used in
both the videos that I have analyzed).
sexualised. The use of long shots allows the video to show off her
bum, again reinforcing the audience to see her in only a sexualised
way, however this image of her is contrasted throughout the video
where she is shown to be seen as a leader and portrayed as
powerful throughout the video.
