Greatest RnB Music Videos
Many R'n'B music videos are over-dramatic, this is shown through the masses of rain and the flashy car and houses. It also implies that women are objectified and won over by money and men who flash their cash.
In the begining of the music video, the music is combined with the digetic on-screen sound of the rain falling, by creating a scene that suggests sadness and cold feelings. This could ultimately imply that a break up has happened because the singer is male and dominant, therefore considered to be a heartbreaker character. The opening doesn't follow the beat of the music, however it does constantly change the angle of the shots, still in the same 'scene'. The shots are very slow, as the begining of the video is too, this shows a similarity between the music and visuals.
The first line of the song is rsather ironic, because it suggests a juxtaposition to the opening of the video, 'You were my sun', contrasts the rainy scene and talks about the past, suggesting that there has been a recent break up or something has happened in the past. After the close up shot of Timberlake in his car is shown, it slowly pans backwards to a girl, who appears to be out in the rain, this suggests that she is the subject of his song.
'Messing with my head' is sung during the second verse, and this is directly linked to the preeceding shots of Timberlake almost 'anti gravity leaning', which in a way is messing with the audiences' heads because he is doing things that he shouldn't be able to do, almost like magic.
2:17 - A full body shot of him as he kicks a photo frame into the camera it seems and says 'there's no chance, you and me, will never be', this shows the dramatic tone behind what he says, that he would show his anger by kicking a photo of the two of them.
There is a strong theme of 'cry me a river' shown by the water and rain that is shot during the entirity of the video, the rain at the begining of the music video, and in the background of many shots, and as the shower is turned on, there is yet another reference to rain. This could show how easy it is to cry over someone, because the rain and shower comes easily and is taken for granted.
There is obvious voyerism within the chorus when it is repeated the second time - he holds a video camera and video tapes the events which happen next. This could also show the objectifiation of women, because it is her that strips and he sits watching with a video recorder in hand.
At the end of the music video, he is in her house, following and watching her as she walks through, on her phone. This could imply he wants to see her hurt and reflect his feelings, at the same time getting his own back. And then he leaves the video of him and the girl on the TV.
There are a lot of close ups of Justin Timberlake's face as he sings, especially the chorus in which he looks directly at the camera, either to sing to the girl and convey his emotions if she is watching, or to the audience, also to convey his anger at the 'girlfriend'.
The artist that is featured with Timberlake is also featured a great deal during his part of the song. They are mainly close ups which could reflect his importance and the imortance of the lyrics within the song.
There aren't many intertextual references other than the implication that the man has a really expensive car and this could show that men have a dominance, and lots of money through which they can spend on women and cars, to show off.
This music video fits into the performance category because it shows obvious performance, and the majority of the time it is directly to the audience and at the camera. There is a strong narrative throughout, about getting hurt and having vengance over that person for what they have done to hurt the other. This narrative, however, only follows Timberlake, so in a way is very biased towards him and his feelings, how he was hurt by the woman.
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