Kid Cudi is the artist who sings and performs in my chosen music video Teleport 2 Me. His iconography confirms all expectations of an artist belonging to this genre with the glasses, black expensive designer clothing, such as bape and arrogant ideology expressed through these chosen images. Songs by this artist such as Maui Wowie, Just what I am and Make Her Say again all reinforce these characteristics discussing, strippers, woman as sexual objects, drugs and money.
Maui Wowie-
Diversely my chosen song: Teleport 2 Me and the music video both show a more sensitive side to Cudi which goes against the stereotypical view for this genre meaning that possibly it will get less air time. The difference between the song I have chosen compared to the three above that follow the stereotypes show that although artists can belong to a specific genre the theme, meanings and messages that they want to give out in terms of encoding can be a varied and a contradict the stereotype.
The outcome of the video isn't made successful by whether it follows the stereotypes of the genre but if it is decoded by the audience the way the artist aimed for it to be when encoding their video. They are advertising their song as well as themselves so by using ideology in the theme, the way the audience interpret and understand these messages depends pacifically on the viewer. The only way the audience will be easily persuaded into following the ideas that the artists wants them to follow is by making them as obvious and clear as possible.
For example, when Kid Cudi was single the lyrics to his songs would be very crude towards woman and follow the theory of 'The Male Gaze' were men see woman as objects. This stuck into his audiences head and not only impacted the way they looked at females but it also formed a personality of what Cudi was like and this is what he wanted. People then went around thinking Kid Cudi was this arrogant male who only wanted woman for their body and that this was the right way for a male to be when they're single because its alright for someone in the public eye to be like that. When he got a girlfriend he couldn't be seen as this character anymore as it could cause negative stories in the media and jeopardise his relationship. So he released new songs to change the view of his audience, one being Teleport 2 Me. It shows a more delicate and caring side, singing about how he misses her and although he has got everything he wants in terms of a career he still isn't happy without this one pacific girl. This allowed the audience to see that although he may of followed the expected stereotypes of a Hip-Hop/Rap artist previously, he also has a different side to him too.
Because this was a new song people quickly rushed to hear it and the repetition of constant plays on a daily basis made the new messages overpower the old ones and it formed a new personality for him. Although the audience will decode his old songs the same way and will still interpret the ideology, the new song is more recent and up to date so that 'old Cudi' no longer exists, that's how music artists control the views of their current audience as well as creating a new one.
No comments:
Post a Comment