Textual Analysis - Wiley - Heatwave
Wiley is a UK artist who has sued his fame in the rap industry to get critical acclaim by using his rapping talents in the pop genre. The intent of this song is to be a classic summer anthem, portrayed by the name of the song ”heatwave”; associated with summer. Wiley is in the group BBK and Roll Deep and is seen as the father of grime music in the UK. He made a name for himself and then as he got older he entered the pop genre to gain some money as the pop genre has more popularity and target audience. Similarly to Dance Wiv Me and Bonkers, this is the work of a rap artist incorporating elements of the pop genre. It is an accessible song and has achieved mainstream success; it reached Number 1 in the charts. As with many rappers, he got criticized by his core grime fans for choosing money in the pop genre to which he responded ‘If I’m making things like Heatwave then I know that in two seconds theres going to be some screaming grime fans moaning’.
The relationship between lyrics and visuals is illustrative according to Goodwins theory. This is portrayed by the summer and carefree atmosphere of the song. The song lyrics connote a summer feel to match with talk of ice-cream, sun and girls. This is matched with the summer visuals and Wiley has chosen lots of beautiful women in bikinis in his video to give a hedonistic feel and promote his status and reputation; as seen with many rappers. This targets the audience as they enjoy the song because of the happy and summery feel and therefore the video enhances this and contributes to the audiences’ pleasure.
Wileys self-image is promoted throughout the whole video. Theres many shots of him lip-synching the lyrics and dancing; this making the video performance with the frequent concept of summer and party. The video is filled with a lot of jewelry, women and summer themed mise-en-scene. Wiley has done this to portray him being successful in the financial and sexual fields. There is frequent close ups and medium close ups of Wiley to promote himself and to recognize his success with the song.
The notion of looking is used frequently throughout. The women are represented in a highly sexualized way and this is to bring interest to the video for the viewers. Wiley received a lot of criticism for not having many black girls in the video and objectifying women. The objectification of women may be criticized by feminist but it is something frequently seen in music videos; especially rap. Therefore, despite Wiley losing a few fans from feminists he will keep his rappers conventional reputation of being successful and cool
The song doesn't challenge any generic conventions and is extremely stereotypical in the way the artist is promoted. The videos theme is common as seem with ‘Dizzee Rascal - Dance Wiv Me’. Its a popular video reaching Number 1 in the music and video charts. In conclusion, the video is simple but effective in communicating its feel. The video portrays a more mainstream image.
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