Indie-pop music genre

• Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock. Indie pop music follows most pop conventions and has a similar structure to the pop genre itself, however Indie pop uses a wider range of instruments such as rock instrumentation or electronics.

• Although Indie-pop started out in the UK it eventually expanded in the 90’s. Around the 1990s, Indie Pop began to gain a following in the USA. Key Indie Pop bands popped up thanks to this, including Beat Happening and Tiger Trap, and labels specializing in Indie Pop such as K Records also began to appear.

Example 1- Lana del Rey (Young and Beautiful)

The song ‘young and beautiful’ was made for the film, the great Gatsby, and can be seen as reflective of the main female character, Daisy. Daisy’s beauty gains her plenty of male attention, however, she is a narcissist, and ultimately only cared for herself. In the chorus of the song Lana wonders if men would still care and pay attention to a woman when she is ‘no longer young and beautiful’. The song itself has a melancholic tone and is slow in its pace, this is reflected through the style the music video has been edited and also the two teardrops drawn on Lana’s face.

There are several close up shots of Lana's face, the viewer is forced to pay attention to only her expressions as the background surrounding her is plain and black. This links to Laura Mulveys theory on the make gaze, despite no direct focus on sexualised areas such as her breasts and thighs, the artist’s appearance has been made to be sexually appealing through the use of makeup and costume. In the video she is wearing a bold, red lipstick bringing the attention to her full lips, and the dress she wears is long but tight so the shape of her body is clear, more focus is put on her body when the camera follows her silhouette clearly showing her figure. In the background her image has been repeated multiple times forcing the viewers to focus on the back of her body.

When not on Lana the music video maintains the dark and fuzzy effects including several silhouettes of an orchestra. The video is largely performance based therefore, like many indie videos, the visuals have little relation to the lyrics.

Example 2: Marina and the Diamonds – Primadonna girlThe song ‘primadonna girl’ describes how marina wishes for a lavish lifestyle and wants to be spoilt by her man asking him to ‘buy a big diamond ring’ for her and stating that she has him ‘wrapped around her finger’ meaning that he does as she pleases. These lyrics are reflected in the video trough the use of costume and props. Most of the shots feature what appears to be the interior of a lavish mansion showing off a large piano and several strange props such as a toy dog, this is reflective of the indie genre as indie videos are known to be strange or include shots and mise en scene which is seemingly random. Marina dresses in fur coats and and a pink sparkling dress with her blonde dyed hair in short curls similar to those of Marilyn Monroe, her clothes are also similar to those Hollywood stars are known to wear further reinforcing the kind of high life she wishes to live.

This video is mainly performance based as most shots include the artist and she is usually lip syncing to the lyrics. There is also relation between the visuals and music through the pace of the music video, as the beat speeds up so do the cuts between each shot, rapidly changing between close up shots of her face to her dancing around the mansion.

Marina follows the conventions of an indie pop music video and does not dress overly provocative or sexual, the outfits she chooses are modest, however in some scenes she is seen posing in flirtatious ways such as playing with her hair. However this can be seen as marina simply bringing across her own, girly style into the music video, rather than having the intentions to attract male audiences.

Example 3: Halsey – New Americana (Subversion)

Halsey’s song ‘New Americana’ focuses on oppression and has a very strong dystopian feel, the music video can be likened to films such as the hunger games and divergent as it shows a group of young people and their struggle against the corrupt authority. For an indie-pop music video this is a unique concept to explore, especially when comparing to the two previous videos I have analysed which focus on either love or money, they also both included glamorous imagery, whereas Halsey does not wear her hair in Hollywood curls but in a short, boyish pixie cut.

The costume chosen is also far from glamorous but instead gives her the appearance of a warrior, she is challenging the stereotypes of meek or flirtatious females as Halsey appears to be the leader of the group and fights against the armed, male soldiers.

Compared with the previous two videos, Halseys video follows the lyrics closely, all scenes and prop shown are relevant to what is being said and the message being sent by the lyrics, whereas most indie videos seem to include random props and scenes with little relation to the lyrics of the song. Furthermore little hazy and fuzzy effects are used to give the video a vintage feel making it not have that typical indie music feel. This may appeal to teenage and younger audiences who may be going through their rebellious phase and can relate to the lyrics or due to them being fans of the dystopian movies hunger games and divergent which this video is very similar to.