Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Music Video Review “Best Song Ever”

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQktU8ik7xJdaiIG72aAmRa8wHqqnH7oKUxY9pe3ofCjNk5Wq1R


Best Song Ever is the lead single for “Midnight Memories”, the third album of British boy band, One Direction. This song was released on July 22, 2013.1 Best Song Ever also as the soundtrack of “This Is Us” movie.

Best Song Ever is written by Wayne Hector, John Ryan, Julian Bunetta and Ed Drewett. This song runs for 3 minutes and 21 seconds but in the music video, it runs for over six minutes long.2

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSTS--zo9YDKydmP0qDPS4hk4Nxb8xSQrqPUc7w2bNhMbTEfwY05g



The music video of Best Song Ever was made at The Temple House in Miami Beach, Florida. All the five members of the band are included on the music video. The first appearance is Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson as Harvey and Johnny. They are as two executives in an office in Hollywood who are talking about new movie project. Then Zayn Malik as a sexy female assistant named Veronica comes to the office and tells that the actors (One Direction) for the new movie project have come. Harry Styles as Marcel, a marketing guy, introduces Leeroy, a choreographer performed by Liam Payne, who shows many funny dance moves but none of One Direction members agrees with his choreographies. After Leeroy goes out, Marcel shows pictures of the boys with various costumes for their performances. None of the members of One Direction says yes. When Marcel is showing many pictures, the intro of the song is played.

Feeling disgusted or something, Harry starts singing with a rock style and the others ruin much stuff in the office. The song is continued by Zayn who sings softer melody and then the song goes to the refrain. Liam continues the song with funny lyrics “Said her name was Georgia Rose, and her daddy was a dentist”. After that it is time for Niall to sing before it goes to the second refrain. Louis sings softly before it goes to the third refrain. He sings in the middle of papers which make the video become more dramatic. During the third refrain all members keep ruining more stuff of the office and together with other staffs in that office, they dance with funny moves. The music video is ended by Zayn who writes “This Is Us” on a picture of them. This shows that they will never change their identity or their characters on stage. They do not wear same costumes/out fits like the other boy bands mostly do.

Best Song Ever music video is not a perfect music video. There are some weaknesses but it also has much strength. On the one hand, the weakness of this music video is in the intro of the song. It is similar to The Who’s song entitled “Baba O’rilley” which was released in 1976.3 For some people it is kind of plagiarism, but for people who do not know The Who’s song it is just fine. Click Music, a radio station in America, gave 1 and a half out of 5 because of the similarity in the intro. The second weakness is neither the lyrics nor music video theme describes that this song is best song ever. Claire Goodwin, a commentator in a website discussion, http://chezapocalypse.com/, said that it (Best Song Ever) feels a little like “to the best song ever” doesn’t quite fit into the chorus.4 This song is about someone who dances with unforgettable girl all night long. As what  Adam R. Holz wrote on his website, http://www.pluggedin.com, that best song ever is a song that a guy remembers dancing to the night he was swept off his feet by a pretty young lass at (where else?) a dance club.5

On the other hand, there are much strengths from this music video. The first is when Harry starts singing in the opening of the song, it is kind of surprise that he sings like it is a rock song, in fact the boy band is a pop band. The second, the video is a funny video with the various appearances of each member of the band. Proven by Niall and Louis as two old executives’ men, Zayn as sexy assistant, Harry as a nerdy marketing guy and Liam as a weird choreographer. The third, there is funny lyrics sung by Liam that sounds weird for a song. It is “Said her name was Georgia Rose, and her daddy was a dentist.” It sounds funny and it shows that this video is made to make people laugh. Guider Review on http://top40.about.com/od/, a website reviewer, wrote that "Best Song Ever" is designed to bring smiles to the faces of pop fans across generations.6 It based on the lyrics sung by Liam.  The last thing is the meaning or the story of the video which shows One Direction will always be themselves despite their popularity. It is shown when Leeroy demonstrates weird dance moves, Louis refuses it by saying “We never do that” and more over when Marvel shows pictures for One Direction’s styles for their live performances, Zayn denies by saying “Never in a million yes” on the opening of the video.

Although “Best Song Ever” is not “The best" song ever and there are some weaknesses, this video won a category Best Music Video of the summer in Video Music Awards (VMAs) 20137 only in one month released with over 8 millions voters. This video is also nominated for best music video on People Choice Awards 20148 which will be held in January 2014. It is recommended for everyone who wants to get inspired to show their identity without being somebody else. This video is very entertaining and interesting with additional conversation in the beginning of the video.


References:

1 comment:

  1. Good article. I'm dealing with a few of these issues
    as well..

    Also visit my blog post ... bestlashenhancer

    ReplyDelete