Mercury Music Prize Task

Average, everyday clothing shows she keeps up with the fashion of her target audience, which is the younger, more modern generation. She gives the impression of being a normal person, which makes her easier to relate to. Her style seems pretty normal in the sense of fashion, which shows that her genre of music could be anything from pop to dance as the fashion sense of these artists are usually following the stereotypical trends of the younger generation, whereas if she was a rock or indie artist then her fashion sense would be much more recognisable and distinct.

The lighting on the photo could be seen as clubbing lights, relating to the genre of dance. The location of the image, which is a normal street, relates to the idea of her being an everyday, normal person. It also relates to the idea of dubstep as one of her genres, which has a more underground theme.

Goodwin’s Analysis – Easy Please Me

The genre characteristics were typical of the dance/dubstep/pop genre as it’s set in an underground scene. The men are all showing interest in the women in the video – typically stereotyping women. It’s set in London, we know this because the man was speaking in a cockney accent at the beginning. This is a typical location for mainstream music as the capital.

The relationship between the lyrics and visuals is illustrative. This is shown when the lyrics are on screen, as above. Another example is when she is singing about liking ‘bad boys’, but not wanting to visit jail, and a typical ‘bad boy’ is in the background in a white vest, as a skinhead punching the punch bag, trying to impress her.

The music and visuals have no relationship, as there are no links to the beat or rhythm.

The music video sells the artist as it follows her in the video, and includes dozens of close ups as she sings. All of the males in the room are looking at her, and she is getting all the attention from them and her friends. The audience can tell she is the main character in the video.

There is also a lot of voyeurism in the video as Katy B is constantly singing to the camera and the audience is following her story in the bar throughout the night. There is also a small amount of voyeuristic treatment of the female body as the males in the room are staring at all the females, trying to get their attention. When the first man walks in on the phone he says, “There’s loads of jack and danny in here tonight!” which means there’s a lot of women in the bar.

There is no obvious intertextual reference in the video to other films or music videos.

Biography

Katy B’s real name is Kathleen “Katie” Brien, and she was born on the 21st May 1989 in Peckham, South London. She is a graduate of the BRIT school and was offered major label deals in 2009, but released her first single with the label Rinse in 2010. She completed a degree in Popular Music at Goldsmiths, University of London, also in 2010. Her first single, ‘Katy on a Mission’, reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 on the UK Indie Chart, kick starting her career. In 2011, Katy released her debut album, On a Mission, and it peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart. She supported Tinie Tempah on his tour in Spring 2011 and her debut tour also began on the 30^th of April, 2011.