R & P Post 18: Analysis of my track's lyrics and instrumentation

During the project, we met during a group session in order to analyse the lyrics and instrumentation of our track: Daya's 'Sit Still, Look Pretty'. Using experience and advice from industry professional Jasmine Blackborow, we tried to conceptualise a video from the lyrics of our chosen track and followed conventions, as actual industry directors will also run through and analyse a song to gain inspiration to take forward into a resulting music video. We felt this was important, as there are numerous different meanings which we could have drawn from the lyrics & instrumentation and eventually developed. 

As a result, we began to analyse the lyrics from two perspectives: 

-female stereotypes and their connotations;

-defiance or and determination to resist these ideas.

We had, though, a relatively clear idea as soon as we reviewed the track's lyrics that there were clear feminist undertones throughout, encouraging women not to 'sit still and look pretty', as they are not simply domestic slaves or "trophy wives". As such, it was from this point that we decided how to convey the song's message - and we felt it would be good if we drew upon a collection of snapshots in the history of feminism, and female roles. We also really want to further this idea of the artist's defiant rejection of these stereotypical ideas, and will work to convey this clearly throughout. Due to the song's relatively simple structure, with 2 verses, 4 choruses and a bridge, this will hopefully be relatively easy to achieve. As a group, we also noticed that there were several good opportunities to incorporate Andrew Goodwin's theory into our music video, with many lyrics potentially proving good opportunities to parallel the visual ideas in the video, such as "Barbie girl" and "I don't wanna be the puppet". 

Following on from the lyrics analysis, we drew up a mindmap (please see above). I felt this was a good idea to expand upon these snapshots, and to note any connotations and potential intertextual reference points. I personally analysed the 1950s setup, and ensured that any possible connotations of the era were noted: from women's roles to how it is represented in existing music videos today.

I feel that it was absolutely vital to analyse the lyrics and instrumentation of the track. We were able to weigh up many potential alternative ideas as well as our eventual decision, and furthered our ideas and representation of the many themes which appear in the lyrics.