Michael Jackson - The King of Pop & King of the Pop Video Part 2

In the previous part to this post, I discussed about some of Michael Jackson's earlier music videos and how he has tried to change his image from beginning in Jackson 5 to becoming his own single and independent artist. Now following Michael's 'Thriller' he was the biggest pop star in the world. All of his videos managed to make it on the news without effort. There was seen to be massive excitement about the release of the next video 'Bad'. This was an important song because Michael's fans and audience couldn't wait to see what his new image was and the new dance routine that he had planned for the music video. The lyrics of the song are actually relatively simple and the music video is mainly just choreographed dancing. As well as the dancing, you can also see that the song has been lip synced which seems to be so far what Michael is used to doing as the only song so far in which he has actually been singing in is 'Rock With You'.

The next song 'Black and White' that is really an iconic song because is is all about equality and sends a really strong message. This video was very expensive to produce. This video was important to Michael because he was trying to resurrect his career because there were many allegations that he was strange. The main allegations were because Michael has decided to change his image and this is the moment when he decided that he was going to change his skin colour. The expenses for the music video would have been extremely high because of the locations that they had to film at but as well as in the beginning of the song when Michael is at the safari. After this happens we go to the wild west where they are plenty of people in costumes and on horses running around the set. I'm sure that it would not have been cheap to get the costumes for about 40 people and to get horses for half of them. Finally the last song in the list to analyse is Michael's 'Earth Song'. This song is sending an extremely strong message about how us humans, are damaging our planet. It shows how we are recklessly damaging the animals around us as well for the things that they have and the habitats that they live in. Even to our own fellow humans but those who are in the third world and don't have enough food or water to stay alive. As well as leaving those who need food and water to fend for themselves there are also those who hurt each not by neglect, but also by the fact that nations wage war on each other and all of the small villages and towns are the ones to suffer after all of the fighting is over. I believe that Michael is seen to be a sort of Christ-like character as he can feel all of the people in the world who are suffering. That is why he then begins to start undoing all of the things that we humans have done to our planet such as killing animals for their furs, CO2 emissions from factories and deforestation. I think that the message of this song is that if we keep going in this direction, there may not be much of the planet left to save.
Overall, Michael's music videos weren't just your typical songs. They became his weapon of choice where he was able to reinvent his image, tell stories and address issues that he wanted to point out.

Michael Jackson - The King of Pop & King of the Pop Video Part 1

most of us know Michael Jackson. If you don't, honestly where have you been? But from an early age Micheal was seen to have unbelievable talent that can be viewed while he was with his brothers in Jackson 5. One of the earlier songs that was sung by the Jackson 5 was Rockin Robin. This song is rather simple because all of the Jackson 5 weren't actually singing the song as they were lip syncing. But also the video is quite simple as it is just the group at various different venues that they performed at so overall the video and song were not that complicated.
The next song that I believe that is iconic for Michael is Rock With You because it changed the public's view of him. In this music video unlike the last one with Jackson 5 where all of the members are just lip syncing; in this video he is actually singing the song. As well as singing the song lyrics, there are also other elements of the song that are also considered to be unique. One especially good feature is the use of lighting that is used throughout the video. it is a very simple set-up of background strobe lighting  with a spotlight being shone on him. Another interesting thing about the video is that the costume he is wearing is rather shiny and sines even more due to the lights being shone on him.
The next video that is one of Michael's popular song is Billy Jean. This is a very interesting song because unlike the others songs we have looked at before this song is telling a story. Although there is obviously lip syncing in the song, he still manages to make the song work. The other nice effects that is included in the film is where he steps on the tiles on the floor and as he steps on them, they light up. This is used again at the end of the video but instead of us actually seeing Michael, all we can see is the tiles lighting up and because we have seen this at the beginning of the video we know it is him.
Beat It is a very similar song to Billy Jean simply because it tells a story but it is better than  i think that it is better than Billy Jean because the choreography is quite elaborate at the end of the video. This is something that hasn't been present in all the songs that we have looked at so far.

Next is Michael's biggest song of all time, Thriller and is still considered to be the most famous music video by the Library of Congress which added it to it's National Film Registry in 2009 and was in fact their first music video entry. The video is seen to be a cultural milestone for music videos everywhere because of the elaborate choreography, the costumes and dialogue and the fact that the video was a long version of  a music video which in turn makes the song seem like a mini-movie that can be edited down to a smaller version. The longer version of Thriller actually runs for 14 minutes and on Youtube has managed to get up to 100 million views. Whenever MTV had shown the song, they would normally run the five minute version of the song but this version still contained the prologue of the music video where the couple are in the movie theatre. The video for this song cost $500,000 to make and Michael's record company initially had no intention of paying for it since the album was on the downswing. The director of the video, John Landis says that Michael really wanted to turn into a monster so he offered to pay for the clip himself but also because he wanted to bring back the short film genre. Michael didn't actually need to pay for the video because they made deals with Showtime and MTV to cover the costs. Showtime then decided to show a one hour special for 'the making of' documentary and the 14 minute video before it was shown anywhere else. The director of MTV heard of this and was outraged that he was going to lose a Michael Jackson video to Showtime. So he paid $250,000 for the exclusive broadcast rights once Showtime's window ended. The video won Best Performance Video, Best Choreography and Viewer's Choice at the first MTV Music Awards in 1984. Since the song was made in 1982, you could buy a VHS or beta copy of Thriller including the full video. This tape then became the biggest selling music video of all time and was later certified in the Guinness World Records as the top selling music video of all time, moving 9 million units.

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines Controversy

There has been a lot of controversy about the song Blurred Lines because of the reference that the lyrics suggest about rape. University College London student union (UCLU) took a step to ban Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines. Another 20 student unions have decided to join as well. This song has become the most controvserial song of the decade. which can be seen as a unexpected achievement though not one that Thicke can be especially proud of. In April, one blogger has branded it as a "rape song", this then caught fire of many other media outlets. Although the song has already critics firing at every aspect of the song, there seems to be different versions of the song where the dancers in the song are topless. Throughout the summer, the song even started to overshadow the biggest hit of 2013, Daft Punk's Get Lucky. Edinburgh University Student's Association (EUSA) became the first student body to ban Blurred Lines. They said that "It promotes a very worrying attitude towards sex and conssent." Basically they are implying that the song is suggesting rape also even when the woman may be saying no, she really means yes. This is seen in the song lyrics: 'Ok now he was close, tried to domesticate you. But you're an animal, baby, it's in your nature.'

The video of the song was made and directed by Diane Martel who said "It forces the men to feel playful and not at all like predators. I directed the girls to look into the camera. This isvery intentional and they do this most of the time; they are in the power position. I don't think the video is sexist. The lyrics are ridiculous, the guys are silly as ****."
In my personal opinion, I don't believe that the aong is suggesting anything about rape because there is no actual reference of it plus the word is never used throughout the song. I think that because of the explicit content of the video and what some of the lyrics is suggesting is making people assume that it is what the song is about.
 There are also wider issues that have been made about the song. One of Blurred Lines most prominent models, Emily Ratajkowski, (shown on the right) has said "I'm glad that people are criticising pop lyrics, because I think that's an important thing to do." This has been an issue before when MC Rick Ross rapped on Rocko's single UOENO, which is about spiking someone's drink in a club in order to have sex with her. There was a public outcry where the general public was attempting to force an apology.