Textual Analysis of Do It All Over Again - Elyar Fox

Elyar Fox is an up and coming pop/dance artist who has risen to fame though filming himself singing at home and uploading these videos to YouTube; a concept which is becoming more and more popular for new artists. His music is growing in popularity and his debut single 'Do It All Over Again' was hugely successful in the charts. It follows conventions of both pop and dance genres:

• Fast pace/tempo
• Catchy, memorable bassline 
• Bouncy
• Lively
• Upbeat
• Raises heartrate - motivational and makes you want to get up and dance

The music video is very up to date in that it focuses on many of the latest trends in terms of content sharing. For example, at the very beginning of the music video, he starts the song as if it were him singing from his bedroom, which links to how he begun his journey as an artist. It poses as a nice throwback for his regular audience. Secondly, there is reference to the concept of selfies which has beome a huge epidemic on social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat. 

The relationship between the lyrics and the visual elements of the video hold many links however they also have some contrasts. There are subtle links such as, "To wake, wake me up, up, up in time" which link to the bedroom setup and also the darker set layout, which could link to nightime. There is also huge emphasis placed on the girl within the visuals who we would assume to be who he is singing about. Lyrics such as, "She works me overtime, my heart's working overtime" and, "So hey girl, hey girl, why you hesitate, girl?" give further evidence, as she is in most of the shots when the girl in the song is mentioned. Furthermore,  the lyrics, "Do it all over again" are represented in many forms, but through a spherical type set up. The camera frequently pans 360 degrees around the subject(s) from a low angle point of view, which represents repetition, and ties into the meaning of the song. 

 

Another important aspect to this music video is the idea of technology and sharing, which link to the lyrics. Although this does not necessarily link to the music or the visuals, I thought it plays such a huge role in the video anyway I could not ignore it. It is based very much around the platform YouTube and frequently shows shots where the content has been cut into a YouTube type frame. There is much emphasis placed on the view count which is shown to rise massively, connoting both to Elyar's rise to fame and the popularity of the YouTube clips which link to the artist in some way. Additionally, further current trends such as the selfie are addressed, which builds Elyar up as a current, modern artist which is appealing in terms of his image. 

In terms of the links between the music and the visuals, there are quite strong links between the beat of the song and the cuts of the clips in that they often cut to the beat. This makes the visuals easier to follow which means the video is more interesting for the audience. The song also has quite a dancey/electrical tone which links to the blue/purple hues of the setup, but I imagine this was enhanced through colour correction in the editing. 

A large proportion of the video includes close ups, mid shots and angled shots of the artist, which is a common feature in debut music videos as the record label likes to introduce the new person. When he is more established they may tend to experiment with slightly more artistic concepts as I feel like this is quite a 'safe' music video. It works very well for the artist though and represents him as coming from the humble beginnings of his bedroom and using social media to his full advantage to raise his image. 

Furthermore, there is great reference to the notion of looking within this music video. There is a particular girl which the lyrics centre around, so they have transferred this in the music video by focusing on someone doing their make up from a clever point of view angle of her mirror, so it is as if she is looking right at the audience. From a low angle panning shot which follows her to where she sits down, we can see that she is wearing quite a short skirt and is wearing make up, as if she wants to impress someone, so I would say there are very subtle hints of voyerism embedded within the music video. There are also female dancers and other female characters taking selfies with a similar camera angle setup; there is lots to suggest that they are to be admired. 

This music video is more so a mix of concept and performance rather than having any obvious narrative to it. It covers concepts such as selfies, YouTube and 'doing it all over again' - linking to the title of the song. The narrative is very subtle but is basically centred around him gaining popularity, which as a debut appearance is what the record label and indeed the artist are looking for. 

Overall, to improve it, I think I would intertwine some more narriative into the music video, or take it out completely as it is a little bit confusing to follow the action at certain points within the video, so I feel that having either more or less could improve the watchability slightly. Nonetheless, I think that this video really suits the artist and is a great introduction to his work for those who haven't seen it before.