Research: Star Image

Star image is the way an artist is represented to the audience. The most effective way to do this is through music videos as this can reach a mainstream and international audience. Star image is usually created from a artist who is mainstream and is known internationally. They are then seen as a "star".

Music videos are able to boost an artist's career by:

• It can create new reputations for artist's if they feel they are becoming unpopular. This will then boost their appearance into a new artist gaining publicity.
• Promotion and publicity for the artist's upcoming album.
• Building a relationship between the audience and artist. This can happen through the artist's feelings being portrayed in the music video for the audience to feel closer to the artist.
• Gain profit.

Class Analysis:
As a class we analysed Kylie Minogue's star image development. This is what we found:

From Kylie's music video we found that she had made a rapid change from an innocent new comer to a more confident artist who had changed her morals and values from the influence of the music industry. Kylie has become sexier and more appealing within her career where her songs and lyrics have become sexualised to fit in with the music industry.

Individual Analysis:
From my own research, I analysed Rihanna and found her development into a "star".


2005:
Rihanna's first song was "Pon de Replay" which was released in 2005. Her appearance was seen as innocent as she was only 17, although her stomach was showing during this clip there was no sexual references made and was only portrayed as enjoying the music. The narrative of the video was to persuade the DJ to turn the music up to have fun and dance with no men needed. This suggests that she had innocent values due to the lack of male attention she receives in this video. Her target audience was younger teens from ages 10-15 which is why she was portrayed in this manner. The lyrics of this song is also still innocent as she is simply stating "Come Mr. DJ song pon de replay, come Mr. DJ won't you turn the music up" suggesting her only intentions are the listen to the music and dance.

2007:
After two years of being in the media, Rihanna's appearance was already changing slowly. The opening scene of her song "Umbrella" is Rihanna laying in a sexual way, wearing tight black clothing that is extremely short and cut open. This suggests the change in morals over the two years as she is being portrayed in a much "sexier" way now. She is the centre of attention being the only female throughout this video whilst her back ground dancers are males. Her target audience changed from her first hit, to the ages between 15-19. This is because her values were changing and she was becoming more sexually attractive to the male audiences. The lyrics to this song is "When the sun shines, we'll shine together, told you I'd be here forever" suggesting that she is singing about love and that is her main focus.




2010:
Three years after "Umbrella" there is a significant change in her appearance and her target audience had become 16+. Her song "Rude Boy" portrayed her in a sexual way due to her wearing much more tighter and explicit clothing than before. The concept of this music video is her dancing around sexually, whilst there is only one male in this video watching her. She also dances on him which creates the "growing up" representation as she is a bit older now. Her values are clear and portray the idea that there is no harm in flirty and acting sexually around males. The lyrics of this song are "Come here, rude boy, boy, can you get it up? Come here rude boy, boy, is you big enough? Take it, take it, baby, baby" suggesting her sexual intentions with the male.




2013:
Rihanna then released the song "Pour It Up" which maintained the image she had portrayed in 2010. Her appearance was at the extreme level in being "sexy". This is because the concept of this music video was that Rihanna was shown dancing on a pole and shaking her bum for the male audience. She is half naked in this video in order to expose her assets and match the lyrics of the song which is saying "Strip clubs and dollar bills, I still got my money" also suggesting that her only focus is to maintain her income and will do anything for it. This changed her target audience once again to 18+ due to her explicit music video and was mainly targeted at adults.

  


Other star representations in the music industry:

These are some representations in the music industry of artists that are the opposite of Rihanna:


Macklemore: This artist is represented quite odd and different way within the music industry. He is a white rapper which is very rare as Rap is dominated by the black culture. Also, he promotes homosexuality although he is not gay himself, this suggests he is a supporter of the LGBT community. This is also extremely rare within the music industry itself as they tend not to support this idea.





FKA Twigs: This artist is also represented in a odd and different way within the music industry. She is qwerky and unique due to the way she presents herself and performs her music videos. Her lyrics tend to be quite controversial as she sings about niche subjects.



50 Cent: This artist is represented as a 'thug' as he originally came from the ghetto where he was involved in gangs and crime. He has released a film showing his life story where he had previously got shot. This suggests he is presented as a 'thug' within the music industry which is extremely different to the mainstream artists.

Changing "star" image can be done in 4 ways:

• Sexual: Some people can use music videos to exploit or to feel comfortable within their sexuality. For example, Trey Songz is extremely sexual within his music videos and exploits women within them. He is shown messing around with different girls and presenting the 'lavish lifestyle' in a way in which it is okay to treat women in this manner. This is Trey Songz in his music video 'Foreign' explicitly showing him touching the girls.

• Political: Some people can use music videos to express their political views. For example, Kanye West's 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone' suggests his ideologies and values within politics. He raises the issue of slavery in the third world countries and gives the audience a view into his beliefs on this topic. 

• Moral: Some people can use music videos to express their personal opinions on issues that they believe are important. For example, Michael Jackson's music video 'Heal the World' suggests his moral views on how to make peace in this world. He expresses his beliefs on what we should change in this world and how this can happen showing the audience his morals.

• Social: Some people can use music videos to represent a type of lifestyle or ideologies. For example, DJ Khaled's 'Hold You Down' shows the idea of a certain type of lifestyle. He is able to show his mansion with a swimming pool, and many girls around him portraying the 'lavish lifestyle' the artist lives.

Overall, star image is extremely important because this is the factor that can make an artist's career successful. I plan to represent my star in a way in which the mainstream society will accept. This is because they are the audience that will be listening to the music so it will have to please them. I plan to represent my star in a sexually attractive way, however, not to the extent of Rihanna's videos "Rude Boy" and "Pour It Up" because this might then bring negative attention to the artist and will cause a loss of fans.