Analysis

BEYONCÉ If I Were A Boy

You don't listen to herYou don't care how it hurtsUntil you lose the one you wanted'Cause you're taking her for grantedAnd everything you had got destroyed

I'd listen to her'Cause I know how it hurtsWhen you lose the one you wanted'Cause he's taking you for grantedAnd everything you had got destroyed

Lyrics & Narrative

The lyrics portray a narrative throughout the song which is followed in the music video. The characters are shown in role reversal with the artist acting in place of her husband. The music video follows an everyday life for the couple in their reversal roles, with the lyrics reflecting the behaviour into the feelings she feels when he acts when not with her. Towards the end of the video, it is visually revealed that the characters are acting in reversed roles, this is also where the lyrics change from how the artist believes the male should act to how she understands how he feels when acting against her. The action and the lyrics run parallel with each other. Within the music video, Beyoncé is trying to express her feelings, as well as enable to relate it to other women in a relationship.

Music & NarrativeThe music is at a steady tempo which may again reflect the narrative of a normal day. However at around 4:00 the music cuts for dialogue, this reflects that there is an important change to the narrative. In this case this is where the characters’ role reversal is revealed to the audience and they change back to their correct roles. With the change to the narrative revealed, the music then starts again at a slower pace building back up to the normal tempo of the song.

Mis-en-sceneThe music video includes two main characters; the artist herself and her husband in the film. The characters are both dressed to what the audience believe is their profession, a Police woman and an Office worker. Portraying the characters in work attire shows the audience that the characters are just two normal people living their lives.

The song is about relationship problems and how the man should treat a women in a relationship in everyday life from a women’s point of view. With the dress portraying the characters as normal people, the video may reflect that normal people in life, may suffer relationship problems like the characters which the audience may relate to.

GenreThe genre of the song is pop / R&B. The music video reflects this through a laid back mise en scene. The simple clothing, make-up, location and narrative may all contribute to the genre that is usually linked to the artist.

CameraworkThe music video contains a range of camera shots, however the most common is mid-close ups of the characters. An example of this is at 1:45 when the colleagues are seen looking at each other. The close up increases the intensity of the male and female’s relationship as they are seen looking at each other making the audience guess what each of them are thinking. Another example of this is the close ups of the ‘husband’s’ reaction when his wifeignores his call at 2:08. This increases the audience’s knowledge of his position and again make the audience guess how he may be feeling.

EditingThroughout the music video, it is shown in black and white. This may be used to represent that the breakdown in relationships is a re-occurring problem which has been around for a long time. The narrative is followed with continuity editing showing the differences in the day of the two characters. The majority of the music video is showing the women playing the role of the man’s everyday life. Towards the end of the song we see that the role reversal showing the same shots, for example of both of the characters walking down the stairs. Before the role reversal is shown visually we see a fade to black. This may represent the change to make it obvious to the audience that the role reversal is apparent and also to give a break in the song for dialogue.

the camera is used to sell Beyoncé as a performer. Various of times the audience get close ups of her but also of the story. Beyoncé isn't dressed up in usual costume in this video because it fits the lyrics to be under dressed.The body language of Beyoncé is how the lyrics perceive her to be. She's saying “if I were a boy” dressed as a male so her body language is also masculine. Her confident masculine performance shows how confident she is in putting on a difficult role. During the video she still has her flawless shots and close-ups showing that this is still her usual look. Beyonce’s image in this particular music video almost allows her to become like an idol to other women around the world. This music video also shows another side to her, other than her good looks and sexyness. This music video goes deeper, and almost lets the audience get to know a bit more about the artist herself, and her personality, rather than just her original look. In this video the artist is almost showing the us, the audience that she as well is a normal woman, with complications and that even her life can be hard.

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