{"id":529,"date":"2017-11-26T20:27:57","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T20:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/?p=529"},"modified":"2017-11-26T20:27:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-26T20:27:57","slug":"beyonces-xo-a-multisensory-music-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/assignments\/music-video-review\/beyonces-xo-a-multisensory-music-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyonc\u00e9’s \u201cXO\u201d : A Multisensory Music Video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s song \u201cXO\u201d is track number 10 on her 2013 self-titled album, \u201cBeyonc\u00e9\u201d. Beyonc\u00e9 labeled this album her \u201cvisual album\u201d<\/a>\u00a0, as every song also has a music video. “XO” quickly gained popularity after its release. The majority of fans loved the song, however others had a negative reaction.<\/p>\n

The song begins with the voice of a NASA Public Affairs Officer moments after the space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986.<\/a> Some of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s fans deemed using this recording\u00a0insensitive<\/a>, especially those who had lost loved ones in the disaster. Beyonc\u00e9 responded to this saying \u201cThe song \u2018XO\u2019 was recorded with the sincerest intention to help heal those who have lost loved ones and to remind us that unexpected things happen, so love and appreciate every minute you have with those who mean the most to you<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

The music video<\/a>,<\/strong> set in Coney Island (Brooklyn, NYC<\/a>), illustrates what Beyonc\u00e9 intended with the message of this song. I will break up my analysis into a few pieces: text painting, camera footage<\/a>, and the effect of the music within the pace of the video\u2019s visual story.<\/p>\n

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The music video begins with flashing colorful lights, and the first lyrics<\/a> we hear Beyonc\u00e9 sing are \u201cYour love is bright as ever\/ Even in the Shadows\u201d. Immediately viewers see the contrast of light and dark. There is a sense of temporality both in the video and the lyrics, as we start seeing different scenes of Beyonc\u00e9 singing individually, Beyonc\u00e9 with friends in the amusement park and arcade, and random people having fun in the park. The lyrics \u201cWe don\u2019t have forever\/ Baby daylight\u2019s wasting\u201d Is shown with some scenes of the video being filmed in daylight, and some at night. When Beyonc\u00e9 sings, \u201cIn the darkest night hour\/ I searched through the crowd, Beyonc\u00e9 is surrounded by people. Sun sets in the video with the lyrics \u201cWe don\u2019t have forever\u201d. I could go on and on, but basically this video does a great job visually representing the literal meanings behind the lyrics. This makes the song not only more digestible, but it becomes an experience of multiple senses.<\/p>\n

The camera shots in this video are also very effective in creating a powerful musical experience. We see the juxtaposition of more intimate and close up angles of Beyonc\u00e9 alongside moving and sometimes out of focus shots of people in the park. The clip of Beyonc\u00e9 and her friends on the roller coaster is also an interesting camera shot because we can almost experience the ride as if we were Beyonc\u00e9. The camera is also very focused on people smiling and loving each other, which again makes the experience more intimate both visually and musically.<\/p>\n

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The music and the video come together harmoniously. Scenes are pieces in rhythm to the music, and because most of the clips are moving, the video compliments how upbeat the song is. Beyonc\u00e9 and her friends also make a dance move out of \u201cXO\u201d with their hands that goes along with the music.<\/p>\n

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Overall this music video is very stimulating and makes listening to the song that much more meaningful. As I scrolled through the comments, I found three that sum up the general reaction to this music video.<\/p>\n

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These comments about being able to “feel” the music and the song taking them back to a certain place or atmospheric feeling are definitely influenced by the powerful experience of the video! Anyone who has been to an amusement park, have been out with friends late at night, or have even just had a great time with loved ones at any time can relate to this song and video, which is why it is such a powerful piece of art.<\/p>\n

I hope watching this video inspires you to go check out some of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s other awesome music videos. Here are three that I was considering for this blog post and are just as cool and a testament to how music can be a multisensory experience with image, sound, and screen!<\/p>\n

“Love on Top”<\/a><\/h1>\n

“Pretty Hurts”<\/a><\/h1>\n

“Halo”<\/a><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s song \u201cXO\u201d is track number 10 on her 2013 self-titled album, \u201cBeyonc\u00e9\u201d. Beyonc\u00e9 labeled this album her \u201cvisual album\u201d\u00a0, as every song also has a music video. “XO” quickly gained popularity after its release. The majority of fans loved the song, however others had a negative reaction. The song begins with the voice of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Beyonc\u00e9’s \u201cXO\u201d : A Multisensory Music Video”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[237,254,6,255,256,257],"class_list":["post-529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-video-review","tag-beyonce","tag-colorful","tag-music","tag-sensory-experience","tag-stimulating","tag-visual"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":536,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions\/536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}