Textual analysis on music videos- Rihanna "Disturbia"

By Jasmine
A music video that I had analysed is "Disturbia" by Rihanna. Rihanna is also known to have a unique dress sense, however, she has a sense of sexiness to he clothing as she tries to keep up with the fashion and in most videos she wears very little to show off certain parts of her body.

When I had analysed this video, I had found that it was very effective and interesting as it showed different characteristics.

Genre Characteristics:

• Dancing-mainly used to interpret horror
• Background dancing-usually used through the chorus of the song

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?:

• Horror based-when she says "release me from this curse i'm in" indicates that someone has cast a spell over her and she cannot escape. (Relates to other various horror films).
• Costumes-Her costumes are mainly dark to symbolise the dark character of the lyrics itself. Furthermore, she wears gothic clothing which is very similar to specific horror films, and they are very detailed, to show fashion.

What is the relationship between the music and the visuals?

• A piano is used at the start to build up tension
• The video is being put out of her genre- Rihanna is known to be an r&b singer, however, this song has the elements of rock/gothic genre as this is song is very different from any other that she has done.

Are there any close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?

• Mainly of her costumes and her physique- to attract the audience to the video of the artist. Furthermore, the costumes are there to show her becoming different monsters, relating to her music.
• Sexual undertone

Is there reference to notion of looking?

• Through bars-Shows that she is trapped in a cage
• Mirror-Shows reflections of other monsters

Are there any intertextual references?

• Horror films/songs- A bit like Micheal Jacksons "Thriller", when a group of people dance in Rihanna's video.

Is it performance,narrative or concept based?

• Performance based- As most of the video Rihanna is acting out various scary moves to suggest that she is a different creature. Also, dancers are mainly used in the chorus to suggest the intensity of the lyrics to "disturbia".

This is the original video, we've got via youtube.com, the video is a bit out of synch but still is effective.