‘Music Videos are simply an extension of the lyrics’

- Andrew Goodwin

What is your response to this?

True: Literal Narrative

“There’s a stranger in by bed.”

“Pictures of last night ended up online”

“My favourite party dress”

“We danced on table tops”

Katy Perry – Last Friday Night

One example to support Andrew Goodwin’s statement would be Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night’. This music video takes the lyrics very literally. What is said within in the song tends to appear on screen, some examples are shown to the right.

Although there are shots where you see Katy Perry singing to the camera there are constantly other people around or things going on –confirming the idea that the music video is expanding the meaning of the lyrics.

Amelia O’Callaghan

Maybe: Metaphorical Narrative

SugarBabes – ‘Ugly’

The song ‘Ugly’ by the SugarBabes does use sections of literal narrative within their music video – supporting Andrew Goodwin’s idea, however, within the video there are a variety of performance shots therefore not literally representing the lyrics.

Whilst the chorus is sung in the music video black boards are held up by people – although this is not necessarily a narrative it does correspond with the lyrics therefore expanding the lyrics – like Andrew Goodwin said.

Amelia O’Callaghan

False: No Narrative

Beyoncé – ‘Love On Top’

This music video of Beyoncé ‘Love on Top’ completely disagrees with Andrew Goodwin's statement. Due to the non-existant narrative scene and the large amount of performance scenes there is no clear expansion of the original lyrics.

Amelia O’Callaghan