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Final project: Methodology to analyze my primary sources and presentation of my secondary sources

In other blogs I told you what were my key question, time frame and primary sources for my final project. Today, I will firstly show you how I will analyze my primary sources, and then present you one of my secondary sources.

Analyze primary sources:

All of my primary sources belong to the movie “A Star is Born”. The first primary source is the song “Shallow”. For this source I’ll see how the lyrics of the song are connected to the story of the movie and why it is so important to have a song that matches with the scene of the movie. Indeed, I’ll focus my research on the relation between the song “Shallow” and the visual effects of the scene in the movie. Besides, “Shallow” is a very important primary source since the song is played three times in the movie. I’ll also analyze this source by looking at the awards the song received and the success of this song, which was composed for the movie, but it was also composed to be played on the radio since the song came out a few days before the movie.

My second primary source is the song “I’ll never love again”. This song is very important since it is the song of the last scene of the movie. For this source, I’ll focus my research on the importance of having a song that matches with the plot of the movie, especially since it is played in the last scene. I’ll also analyze how this song is different from traditional songs that are sung in movies since the whole song is sung by Lady Gaga, and not only a part of it. I’ll try to see what effect does it produce in this scene since this song is sung in the same format as in the radio.

My third primary source is the remake “La vie en Rose” by Lady Gaga. I’ll try to see what changes were operated to this song which was a success when the song first came out with Edith Piaf singing it. I’ll see how this success was adapted to fit in a movie.

For all of these songs (that are my primary sources), I’ll see the effect the visual elements of the scene have on the songs, compared to songs only played in the radio. I’ll try to see how the lyrics fit with the visual effects (images) of the scenes in which they are sung and the plot of the movie.

I’ll also use the trailer of “A Star Is Born” as a primary source and focus on my analysis on the presence of the song “Shallow”, in the trailer which shows that this song was chosen to be the leading song of the movie used to promote the movie.

I’ll also look at the interview made by Mark Ronson (the man who produced “Shallow”) and see the characteristics of the song “Shallow” that was a success on the streaming platforms and radio while it was created for a movie.

My 2 academic sources are:

« Theory of Film Music » volume 2, written by Juraj Lexmann, 2006

“Beyond the Soundtrack, Representing Music in Cinema”, edited by Daniel Goldmark, Lawrence Kramer and Richard Leppert, 2007.

« Theory of Film Music » is a book that shows the characteristics of the musics in movies, what emotion they create on the viewer and how the songs are linked to the visual effects of the movie. I’ll study 1 chapter of the book that focuses on the aesthetic bond between visual image and music in movies. I’ll try to see why musics are so important in a movie. This secondary source will help me to understand the relation between music and movies, and see what effect produces music on the listener/ viewer when they are in movies.

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Research project: the success of “Shallow”

The movie “A Star Is Born” came out the 3rd October 2018. However, some of the musics of the album “A Star Is Born” came out before the movie. Indeed, the song “Shallow” came out the 27th September 2018, one week before the movie. Moreover, “Shallow” is probably the most popular song of the album. This song was played in the trailer of the movie, which shows that this song was used before the movie came out to attract people and convince those who liked the song to go to the cinema and see the movie. The music and the movie industries worked together on this project to try to make more money. Indeed, if the songs are popular and loved by the audience, much more people will go to see the movie, and if some people saw the movie and listened to those songs it is a way to have a bigger audience. The movie and music industries are commercial businesses driven by the pursuit of profit, and this is the reason why “Shallow” came out before the movie, to promote the movie. We see here how both industries can work together for the promotion of music and films.  

Besides, “Shallow” was used as a lead single and played 3 times in the movie, which shows the importance of this song compared to the others that are only played 1 time. The song topped the charts in more than 30 countries and often reached the top 10 in 2019 and 2020. This song also received awards, such as the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, the BAFTA Award for best film music and the Critic’s Choice Movie Award for Best Song. This song was also nominated 4 times for the Grammy Awards. Indeed, the movie and the album with the songs of the movie were a success in the United States, and in foreign countries such as France. In 2019, the album with the music soundtrack of “A Star is Born” was the most the number 1 album sold in the USA which shows that the promotion of the album was a success thanks to the movie.  

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Mariah Carey and “All I Want For Christmas Is You”

Mariah Carey and “All I Want For Christmas Is You”

We know Christmas is coming very soon when we keep listening to Mariah Carey on the radio. The famous popular singer Mariah Carey has managed to become a symbol of Christmas musics since many years. Her songs are still very popular today and listened during December by many families all around the world.

There is for instance the iconic “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, and on youtube the music video has been watched 733 million times. We hear in this song typical sounds of the Christmas period, such as bells ringing. We can link Mariah Carey’s Christmas songs to the chapter of mediation in the Negus because those musical sounds signify a specific mental image in the listener’s mind, which is here the typical mental image of the winter period with Santa Claus coming with his sleight directly into your home. Moreover, the images of the music video are also connected to theme of Christmas, for instance with the Christmas tree appearing when she talks about a Christmas tree in her song, a landscape full of snow and Santa Claus. Indeed, the lyrics of the song are connected to the images in the music video, but also to the sound effects with bells ringing. Moreover, when “All I Want For Christmas Is You” came out in 1994, it added some modernity to the traditional Christmas songs we hear every year such as “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” or “O Christmas Tree”. One thing is sure: Mariah Carey has managed to sing Christmas songs that are still popular today and became traditional musics of Christmas.    

 

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey

 

Now I am going to talk about my final project. I chose to respond to this key question: how did Lady Gaga adapt songs that would fit for the movie “A Star is Born” and at the same time become hits on the radio? My methodology to respond to this question is first of all to define what are the characteristics a song needs to be in a movie. I will also see if those characteristics are different from the songs that are not in movies, but just broadcast on the radio.

My time frame starts from 2018, which is the year “A Star Is Born” came out in the cinema, until today since Lady Gaga’s songs are still broadcast today because they are still popular.

For now, my primary sources are:

-Movies:

-A Star is Born        

-Top Gun

-Songs:

-“Shallow” by Lady Gaga

-“I’ll never love again by Lady Gaga

- “La vie en Rose”, remake Lady Gaga

- “Hold my Hand” by Lady Gaga

 

My secondary sources are:

Interviews:

-Lady Gaga’s interview with “Variety Magazine”

-The Howard Stern Show interviews Mark Ronson (he produced “Shallow” with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga).

Books:

-Popular Music in Theory, Keith Negus

I’m still searching my academic sources, but when I’ll find them, I’ll post them.

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Rhianna : The national hero of Barbados

Today I am going to talk about a famous popular singer: Rhianna. Rhianna made a career in the United States and is still very popular today. She sang several songs that became hits such as “Pon de Replay” and “Diamonds”. Rhianna made her career in the United States, but she is not born there. She is born in Barbados, which is a small island in the Caribbean. Barbados even declared Rhianna a national hero in 2021 because she made an international career and some people therefore discovered the existence of this island because of Rhianna. Could we say that Rhianna’s songs are associated with a particular geographical place, which is the place where she was born? In some ways, it is probably true that the Barbados may have influenced her at the very beginning of her career. However, her first album was a mix of reggae, RnB and pop, which shows that she wanted to have her own music style and not to fit in one specific genre. Those music genres were also popular in Barbados thanks to a one-way movement of entertainment products that came from the United States. Indeed, the process of globalization led to the spreading of the same cultural forms around the world and therefore the music genres listened in the United States were also listened in Barbados, Europe…

Finally, Rhianna left quickly her island at the beginning of her career because the most important music industries were not present in Barbados, but in the United States. However, even if Rhianna made career in the United States, she is still attached to the Barbados since she also has a house there and she is admired by the inhabitants of Barbados who gave her the title of national hero in 2021.     

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Lady Gaga and “A Star is Born”: the music and movie industries

I chose to talk about Lady Gaga and her songs in “A Star is Born” for my final project because I recently saw “Top Gun Maverick” in the cinema and I loved the soundtrack, especially Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand”.  This movie was a success, but the soundtrack was also a success since I keep listening to “Hold My Hand” on the radio. This is the reason why I decided to have a topic that would analyze not only the music industry, but also the close links between the music industry and the movie industry and how they manage to create songs that will fit in a movie, but also on the radio and in an album. I wanted to see how the music and movie industries work together to make even more profits.

I will concentrate my research on Lady Gaga’s first big role on the screen which was Ally in “A Star is Born”.

My key question will be: How did Lady Gaga adapt songs that would fit for the movie “A Star is Born” and at the same time become hits on the radio? What characteristics a soundtrack of a movie needs to have to become also a hit?

Movies:

-A Star is Born

-Top Gun

Songs and clips:

-The clip “Shallow” with Lady Gaga

-The clip “I’ll never love again” with Lady Gaga

-The clip “La vie en Rose” with Lady Gaga

-The clip “Hold my Hand” with Lady Gaga

Interviews:

-Lady Gaga’s interview with “Variety Magazine”

-The Howard Stern Show interviews Mark Ronson (he produced “Shallow” with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga).

-interview of Lady Gaga for “Le Matin”

Books:

-Popular Music in Theory, Keith Negus

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Perfect, by Ed Sheeran, image and words

Today, I am going to talk about the famous popular singer Ed Sheeran because he is one of my favorite singers and after I read the chapter “Mediations” in the Negus I instantly thought about the song “Perfect” and its video clip. Indeed, the video clip of this song is beautiful and particularly connected to the lyrics of the song. This song is about a love story, and the setting of the clip is a couple and their friends skiing in the mountains and spending time together in a little cabin. There are many clichés in this video about the perfect love story, such as the two love birds laughing outside together while it is snowing; the girlfriend who cries when Ed Sheeran is singing his love song for her; when they dance together in front of the cabin while it is snowing; the little kitten they found together and saved from the cold winter and finally the kiss we have been waiting for the whole video during the very last seconds of the clip. We can here confirm Goodwin’s theory that the images of music videos are indeed connected to the music. The images and the lyrics are here connected since the singer is describing a perfect love that is shown in the video through the clichés I enumerated.

The video became part of the production and promotion of popular musics during the 1980s and seems to be more and more important today. However, the development of streaming platforms such as Spotify can lead us to one question: do the video clips of popular songs have still the same importance as in the 1980s when those platforms (in which we can listen to the song without seeing the video clip) did not exist? We could say that in the 2000s, the video clips were very popular since some TV channels broadcast shows with popular hits and their video clips during several hours, especially during the morning. In another way, video clips are still important because some people look at them when they are for instance on youtube. “Perfect” is indeed a perfect example of the relation between the images of the video clip and the lyric and shows us that images are still important because the production would not have made such a lovely clip if the knew no one would see it. Indeed, 3.2 billion people saw the clip which shows that those video clips are still important for the audience and very appreciated by the fans.  

Perfect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vv-BfVoq4g

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Creation of popular singers: TV shows

There are many TV shows about finding a new talent. The show is about choosing the future popular singer that comes from nowhere and after the show becomes a famous star. For instance, “The Voice” is a TV show broadcast in the United States, but also in France and that creates in a way the popular singer. There is a whole process of selection of the right candidates that could fit to the music industry. Those shows are the essence of popular culture since they are like factories and their only goal is to make a good profit. There is here a conflict between commerce with the producers of those TV shows who want to have a very good audience, and creativity because indeed sometimes impressive singers and composers are discovered.

There are many shows that are presented as selecting new talents in the whole world, especially in the United States. In a way, the people watching those TV shows have the impression that their opinion count and that they decide by themselves who would be a good popular singer and who will become famous. Besides, since those shows are TV shows, the construction of the image of the candidates who may become famous popular singers is very important. Indeed, in the Negus we learn that some studies have shown that music and images tend to work together, and it is exactly the essence of those TV shows: the candidate’s image is as much important as his/ her voice.

Source: Negus, Popular Music in Theory, an Introduction

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Popular singers in the movie industry: actor or singer ?

Many popular singers have embraced a career in the cinema by playing in some series and movies, and sometimes also singing in those movies. They are many examples, such as the famous popular singer Lady Gaga that played with Bradley Cooper in “A Star is born”. The movie was a financial success because Lady Gaga played in it, and also sang in it. Indeed, the famous song “Shallow” interpreted by Gaga in the movie was also a great success all over the world and was passed on radio, TV, and therefore not only in the cinema. There was even an album that came out with all the songs interpreted in the movie by Gaga and Cooper.

In many cases, the music and movie industries have close links, and those close links have existed for decades. We can for instance talk about Marilyn Monroe that started a career as model, then an actress, and finally became also a singer in 1954 when her first album came out and 75 000 copies where sold.

We can also mention the famous singer Johnny Cash whose songs are just incredible. Johnny is also known for having played Sheriff Kid Cole in “Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman”, and he was also a special guest in one episode of “The Little House on the Prairie”. At that time, he was already a famous singer, but he decided to play in those series and he actually interpreted some songs in those two series.

All those examples show that the music and movie industries are closed and can work together to make even more money by hiring popular singers in some series and movies that will therefore be watched by much more people because the unconditional fans of singers will obviously watch the series in which their favorite singer is playing. On the other hand, it will maybe enable the fans of those series to discover or rediscover those singers and therefore they will become part of their audience and be their fans later.  

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper singing “Shallow”:

Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy:   

Johnny Cash

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Popular singers after their death: a fascination for the doomed singers

The last few decades, there had been more and more movies and biopics about popular singers. Where does come this fascination for the famous popular singers of the 20th and 21th centuries? It is quite difficult to respond to that question. Let’s see some examples.

In 2020, a biopic about Gregory Lemarchal’s life was produced by the French TV channel TF1. This popular singer died in 2007 from mucoviscidosis. In this biopic, we discover the life of a popular singer beyond the cameras and who had to face an incurable disease affecting irremediably his life. A biopic about his life and his fight against the disease was produced in 2020, thirteen years after his death. Moreover, after the biopic, a new album of Gregory Lemarchal was sold with some new songs that he had recorded before his death, but were never listened by the audience.

Here is another example: there was also a movie about Freddy Mercury’s life produced in 2018 and entitled “Bohemian Rhapsody” in which we see the famous singer facing AIDS in 1980s-1990s, at a time where the disease was new and that there was no treatment.

Those two movies have one thing in common: they were created because the audience never forgot those artists who have still many fans today, and their songs are still popular. In a way, the audience seems to be even more attached to the singers who had had a tragic destiny and left the world “too soon”, at the top of their career. And sometimes, new albums are even created by major music companies and sold after the death of the singer, such as Gregory Lemarchal’s album in 2020 right after the biopic and entitled “Pourquoi je vis", but they are many other examples. Indeed, an album of Johnny Halliday was sold after his death : “Mon pays c’est l’amour” in 2018.

Thanks for reading my blog, here find the links of some musics sang by some artists that left us too soon:

-Lemarchal : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjKN5c3v5dw

-Mercury : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPbclTnMLlc

-Halliday : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1qagp70MEk

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“The Piano Guys”, between popular and classical music.

“The Piano Guys” is a group of music with four American musicians that was founded in 2010. The members of this band play several instruments: piano, violin and cello. The Piano Guys try to use their instruments in a modern way - for instance the piano is often used as a percussion instrument in their music. Their video-clips are also very elaborated with the costumes and settings to give a feeling of modernity to the viewers, even if they are playing a sort of classical music. Moreover, the specificity of this band is that they create music that mingles classical and popular music. They made many remakes of classical music and tried to keep the classical “spirit” of the music, but also modernize it. The Piano Guys also use music coming from movies or written by contemporary singers, such as Coldplay, and they give a classical dimension to those popular musics. By reinterpreting classical and popular music in their own way, they actually create their own musical style.

A sky full of stars, Coldplay, mixing popular and classical music by the Piano Guys : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrHFg47Mopk

Beethoven’s five secrets – OneRepublic, mixing popular and classical music, by the Piano Guys : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ_fkw5j-t0