Research and analysis of a star and dyer's theory

How much music videos are used to sustain an artist’s popularity

There are various things that an artist needs to maintain to keep their popularity. these things may include representation . Clothing the genre of music and content and style of their music video. Majority of artist have their on type of music they sing and and their own image which goes with the style of music they make. This is presented through their music videos. Lady gaga has a very unique way of dressing in her music videos. Her unique fashion sense includes provocative clothing. In her music videos she is represented as a dominant and flirtatious but in her interviews she is a different person. Her personality shown in her music videos are consistent. The content and style of artists also is a part of an artists image. Taylor Swift sings country music and all her songs are based on breakups. 

There are many Artists that reinvent their image over the years; an example of this is Miley Cyrus. Miley Cyrus started as Hannah Montana a TV show where she played two roles miley cyrus as herself and Hannah Montana as a part time famous singer. She was known for her blonde wig when she played miley cyrus. Miley started playing the role of Hannah Montana in 2006. She had an image of a sweet young disney star with a good singing voice. Miley Cyrus had received popularity through the show as it became the most watched disney show. Miley cyrus is recognised to be the most successful disney star. 

Best of both Worlds is Miley Cyrus first song which was also the title song to Hannah Monatna. The music video for the song was taken of her performing at a concert as her alter ego Hannah Montana. The pop rock music video which is performance shows her singing to her fans. She is dressed in jeans and a fancy top with her blonde wig. Her performances in Hannah Montana were childlike as compared to her provocative performances now. 

Her best of both worlds is a performance based video as she is just seen singing to the camera. Best of both worlds is a pop rock song and that is evident through her music video as we can see the guitarist and the the music in the background. She is represented as a young innocent girl with a great voice. 

The genre the music that Miley Cyrus plays is pop rock and that is evident through the music video she is wearing edgy clothes but not revealing much. The video follows the conventions of a pop rock music video which include the staging and the clothing she is wearing. 

The music video is about a girl that lives two lives one where she gets a to be a big star and do what she loves to do and one where she can be normal and have a life just like others. The song is her singing about the positives about having a star life and her having a normal life. 

Miley Cyrus's Hannah Montana career ended in 2011. This when her image started to change and she focused on her film career and trying to reach to a much older audience. She worked on different projects such as The last Song , According to box-office analyst Exhibitor Relations, the film marked "a successful transition to adult roles for Miley Cyrus. 

 Genre and Genric Conventions

Best of both worlds music video follows the right generic conventions of a popular music video. In this video miley cyrus has a young teenager vibe and her music is cheesey. The appearance of her in the music video show that she is famous but she is seen wearing clothes appropriate for her age. The music video is performance based where Miley Cyrus is seen holding the mic and singing to her fans. The emphasis of the music video is more on the voice as the main focus of the music video is of her singing. 

Artist’s image

The msuic video shows miley Cyrus with straight hair and highlights typical during that time. In the msuic video she is seen pouting her lips and pulling faces which is typical of a girl her age. She is shown as pretty , slim kind of 'the girl next door' that everyone wants to be. She is shown as a role model as she is one of the most popular Disney star. 

Target Audience

Her target Audience seems to be girls ages 9 -14 year olds. A school going girl that enjoys watching Hannah Montana and is oobssesed with all things Hannah  Montana. Throughout her music video she uses the word 'you' this addresses her fans those little girls that adore her. 

Miley Cyrus recorded 'Cant be Tamed' straight after ending Hannah Montana. This music video was completely different from the previous music videos of Miley Cyrys whether they were of her as herself or her as her alter ego. Can’t be tamed is a rather dark song as compared to other music videos of Miley Cyrus. Can’t be tamed is based on Miley Ccyrus who is shown as a creature and the message that she can’t be tamed. Can’t be tamed was Miley Cyrus’s album and was released June 18 in 2010.  The album cover included Miley Cyrus in all leather clothing. She was wearing a leather jacket and a crop top and a leather trouser. This represented a more hard side of Miley Cyrus as compared to before she used to dress in clothing appropriate for her age. Her stomach is bear and she is seen holding her trousers from the middle. This image was a very on the edge image of Miley Cyrus which was hard to digest by the Hannah Montana fans.  

 Genre and Generic Conventions

This song falls under category of a dance/ pop/electro music video. She is wearing minimal clothing and is seen dancing in a flirtatious behaviour. The atmosphere is quiet strong and that is shown by the heavy dancing clothing and dancing done. The music video also follows the generic conventions of an electro music video; the video consisted of fast lyrics and loud music. The video was rather strange but it didn’t have a proper narrative. 

Artist’s image 

Miley had a total image change as compared to her songs such as best of both worlds. Her makeup looks darker, her moves look older and mutterer.  She is seen wearing all black to give it an edgy look. Her dance moves are not cute anymore they are more considered as cute.

Target Audience

Her image in this music video shows that she is aiming to attract another target Audience. From little girls to much older teenagers. She i trying to appeal to another target Audience due to her changed look.  Much older audience includes girls ages 15 – 17 year olds. She is also trying to attract the male attraction as before it was more girls and now she is changing that and attracting guys due to her changed look and sexy attitude. 

We can’t stop

We cant stop is claimed as the ‘song of the summer’ is the song that came out in 2013. This song showed the totally different and more sexualised side of Miley Cyrus. Since the release of cant be tamed miley Cyrus has gone through alot of changes. This includes one of the biggest change was cutting her long brunette locks to one side shaved. She also got engaged to former co star of her movie ‘The last song’ liam Hemsworth. In her video we can’t stop we see Miley Cyrus doing things that are totally different from what her image used to be like. Over the years Miley Cyrus is seen change sexualising her image more; this is evident through her music video ‘we can’t stop’.  ‘We can’t stop’ is the song from Miley Cyrus’s new album ‘bangerz’. 

Target Audience

With is song Miley Cyrus is attracting the male attention as through out the video she is acted very sexualised. Her target Audience now is more 18 and over as her videos can be inappropriate for ages younger than eighteen. Through the music video it seems that she has ‘sexed’ up her image as before she was considered more as a ‘cute  girl’. Her target Audience was changing as Miley was acting totally different to what she was like before. She is seen dancing 'provocatively' which shows that the target audience has changed and she is aiming to attract male audience as before her main target audience was little girls through her show Hannah Montana.

Artist’s image 

Her image in this music video is totally different. She is wearing minimal clothing and reveals alot. She is wearing a tight crop top and white leggings and red lipstick.  It is evident she is attracting alot of male attraction. This is done by sexualising her image to create attention.

 Genre and Generic Conventions

Miley Cyrus has herself describes her music genre as ‘dirty south hip hop’.  This pretty evident throughout the video as she as Miley Cyrus is seen doing poses that can be classes as ‘dirty’. It can be also classed as hip hop as there is alot of dancing and playing around. 

Richard Dyer – Star Theory

The term (stars) is the meanings that are constructed around music performers in order to sell an artist. 

Common values of music stardom

• Rebelliousness
• Sexual magnetism
• Originality
• Aggression / anger
• Creativity
• Talent

Richard Dyer’s theory involves that stars are just an image not a real person and they are only constructed through the media and an example will be a music video. 

He also claims that stars are products and consumed on the strength of their meanings. Stars are also dependant on mediums such as magazines, TV, radio and internet. 

Dyer also says that a star’s image is always changing and this is based on two paradoxes. These are as follows:

Paradox 1

The star must me simontanouesly ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer

Paradox 2

The star must be simonataneously present and absent of the music video. 

How does the video represent the artist?

Miley Cyrus has been in the limelight since the age of 12 and the people have seen her develop as an artist aswell as a person. This includes her changes after puberty aswell as her star image. The people have witnessed how her image was shown in her first music video ‘best of both worlds’ and her image in ‘we can’t stop’.  This relates to Dyer’s theory as Miley Cyrus does start as a young very sexual image which is evident in her music video ‘we can’t stop’. 

Can the artist be viewed as a product?

In best of both worlds video Miley Cyrus I definitely as a product as compared to ‘we can’t stop’ and ‘can’t be tamed’ she is more shown as a star. Best of both worlds video is more of a product as it was done by Miley Cyrus’s alter ego Hannah Montana. Hannah Montana has itself become a brand.  Even after the end of Hannah Montana we still see Hannah Montana products being sold in Disney stores. When she was doing Hannah Montana she was a completely different person this shows that the record label is behind how she represents herself. 

Is this artist ordinary and extraordinary? 

Richard Dryer said that an artist should be ordinary yet at the same time extraordinary. This means that an artist’s image is completely coherent. This means that any star should have those qualities that an artist’s target audience wants; in Miley Cyrus case little girl look up to her as a cute innocent girl that leads a double life and loves singing. At the same time a star should be unique which means it has something different to her. In Miley Cyrus’s case the fact that she plays an alter ego on her show and how she is also known as Miley Cyrus which is her herself.

Miley Cyrus is definitely a star as she is also what her fans want to be such as going through the everyday girl problems such as relationships. She is definitely going through the same as now she is engaged to Liam Hemsworth. However, she has on edge image that is shown through her music video and her new music video wrecking ball’. 

Are the fans for or against artist’s image?

Miley changed her record label before working on her new album. It can be classes as a good idea as now she is targeting a much wider audience that includes both males and females. It also changes the age group of people that like her music. It can also affect her career as she is more known for her early songs and the sudden change of more a sexy attitude can have a negative effect on the fans. But a true Miley Cyrus fan that has been growing up with her music will listen to her explicit song that maybe not be appropriate for that age group. This can lead conflicts between parents Miley herself and the record label. 

Summary
The research into how artists image changes over years and what influences them to change was very helpful as it will allow me to decide on the image of my artist. Through the research i understood that the influence of target audience, record labels is alot. Dyer's theory was that stars are ordinary but extraordinary at the same time. This means that my artist should look extraordinary and her talent should be extraordinary. Howver she should be ordinary at the same time. It has allowed me to understand how image of the popular artists that we see have made as.