GOODWIN ANALYSIS - WIGGLE (RESEARCH)

Textual Analysis of a Music Video (Jason Derulo - Wiggle) 

Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989) or Jason Derulo, is an American singer-songwriter and dancer. Since the start of his career as a solo recording artist in 2009, Jason has sold over 30 million singles and has achieved five Top 5 singles. After producing records for several artists and writing songs for Cash Money Records co-founder Birdman, Young Money Entertainment owner Lil Wayne and rapper Diddy, Derulo signed to minor recording label Beluga Heights. ‘Wiggle’ is a song released as the fourth single from his fourth studio album, Talk Dirty (2014) in Europe and North America. The song features American rapper Snoop Dogg.

The song is of the hip hop/ pop genre with an element of trap. Genre is a type of music that features certain repeated conventions and characteristics. Generic conventions in music videos such as the existence of women with provocative clothing on, wide shots of the artist with many women surrounding him and high cut frequency are typical of the hip hop genre.

The video opens with an establishing shot of Jason Derulo in a bed with 8 girls around him, immediately portraying himself as successful with women, which is a very common convention in hip hop videos. It adds to his desirable image and lifestyle that is conveyed to attract envious teenage males, which happens to be his target audience.

There is then a montage of shots depicting a wild, fun atmosphere in which they are situated, with shots of various women in revealing clothing, and of exotic locations and an expensive house. These once again connote his financial success and success with women, consolidating his image.

This is followed by a close up of a woman opening a shoe box with the brand placed in the centre of the shot, showing off expensive brands to the audience, in turn portraying the wealth of the people the artist associates himself with.

The video contains performance elements in which Jason Derulo both dances and sings, representing him as talented as well as successful and wealthy. This will also help to have his audience replicate his dance moves in order to feel like him. 

The clothes worn by the artist are conventional of clothing worn by men in hip hop videos; chains, branded clothing and fashionable attire constructs the artist as desirable.

The relationship between the lyrics and visuals is amplifying because it vaguely explains the lyrics and amplifies them, for example where Jason Derulo says “wiggle wiggle wiggle” and the images are of girls “wiggling” their bottoms, also when Snoop Dogg says “shake it shake it girl” and again the images are of girls shaking their behinds. 

In the video there is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body - which Goodwin says appears in music videos. Jason Derulo does a lot of looking down the camera, which is noticeably present when he is talking about the women shaking their bottoms and singing about no one girl in particular. In this he attempts to attract a female audience that believe he is talking and connecting to them whilst watching the video, which attracts them to him and promotes further viewing of his video and music.

There is a distinct relationship between the music and visuals present throughout the video, for example when there is a drop in the beat before the whistle there is a dance routine that matches the music in an appropriate manner. This is a generic convention for hip hop videos - which often have some sort of drop present.

In conducting this textual analysis it is evident that camerawork has played a significant role in promoting the artist through the use of close ups on the artists itself which helps construct an image that portrays wealth, success with women, yet also musical and dancing ability. Therefore the purpose of this video is to gain a wider audience, appeal to the existing audience and showcase the capabilities of the artist.