Analysis Of A Star and Dyers Theory - Miss Miller.

Artists may change their image, sound or lifestyle for numerous reasons in the hope of totally reinventing themselves. One of these reasons for reinventing themselves may be to appeal to a different target audience which may make the artist more relatable for a larger target audience. This changing in target audience could to a increase in revenue if the appeal to a more mainstream audience or contrastingly they could appeal to a more niche audience. If the change of their image was drastic enough this could cause a increase in publicity as the press would document the change and express their positive or negative opinions which would cause their audience to go see the change of the artist. The artist i have chosen is Justin Bieber as i believe that over time he has reinvented himself and gone from a teenager cute performer to a more edgy adult, within a relatively short period of time. to achieve this Justin has changed both his image and music and now wears more fashionable mature clothes and his music although is still within the pop genre is now more unique and distinctive.

Goodwins theory consists of 7 main points; links between lyrics and visuals, links between music and visuals, genre characteristics, intertextual references, notion of looking, voyeurism, demands of the record label and whether the video is performance, narrative or concept based. Each of these elements is evident in all of these videos but they differ in each video due to Justin reinventing himself in between the realises of the two videos. Goodwins theory is evident in both of Justins videos despite his contrast in image. For example within both videos numerous close up camera shots are used of the artist, this is to promote the artist to their target audience and ensure that they remember his image and are aware that he is preforming the song. Artists aim to achieve this because their specific image may only appeal to a certain target audience and specifically Justin Bieber has had to change his image to ensure he is still appealing to his young audience who are growing up and maturing.


Although Bieber completely reinvented himself changing his sound, image and even lifestyle the style of both these videos remain the same. Despite being released two years apart both videos are mainly narrative based with large amounts of performance based elements throughout. The video for 'Baby' follows the narrative of Justin pursuing a love interest at a bowling alley; to do this he frequently tries to impress her through dancing, singing and bowling. Even though he reinvented himself, the narrative within 'Baby' is similar to the one within 'Boyfriend' as                                                

'Boyfriend' also follows the storyline of Justin pursuing another female love interest. Despite this similar plot the fact that the artist is changed is evident through the way this storyline is presented. Within 'Boyfriend' Justin uses his expensive cars and fast driving to impress the girl which differs immensely from the methods used by a younger Bieber during 'Baby. This contrast is due to the fact that the artist has to change his videos to adapt to his personal change to ensure they remain realistic and appeal to his target audience. Both of the two videos also have similar performance based elements in which they briefly pause from the narrative to show Justin singing either directly to the camera or within the scene. Both videos also feature a brief group dance in which numerous background dancers dance in front of each other, this features in both videos as it appeals to the artists target audience and makes the video more up-beat and fun.

Justin Bieber belongs to the pop genre and both these videos and songs belong to this genre as they follow stereotypical conventions of that genre. Although both the videos do belong to the pop genre the second video is much more edgy and dynamic where as the first is a very stereotypical and conventional video. For example within the video for 'Baby' the lighting used is very stereotypical and conventional as bright, bold lighting is used throughout, this type of lighting is conventional because it is appealing to the young female target audience as it is associated with positive vibes. But on the other hand this type of lighting isn't used within 'Boyfriend' and instead they use natural lighting, this is because his target audience is no longer interested in the bright bold lights and is instead more mature and grown up. Despite still belonging to the pop genre certain elements of 'Boyfriend' may be considered as hip-hop because he frequently shows off his flashy lifestyle e.g. cars and watches and also objectifies women.

Another video which supports the fact that Justin Bieber has changed over a period of time is 'Confident', this video was released near the time of the release of Boyfriend which means there hasn't been much change in the artists image. On the other hand Confident does emphasise the change over time since Baby because within this video, much like Boyfriend, Justin can be seen chasing a young female. But even though he also does this in Baby the way in which he goes about chasing the female within this video appears to be more sinister, due to his older age, as he is no longer viewed in the 'cheeky' manner like previously. The setting use in both Baby and Confidence evidently show the change over time as Baby is set in a bowling alley and contrastingly within Confidence Justin can be seen looking for his love interest inside a party. This shows how Justin has changed over time because a bowling setting emphasises Justins youth as it is a setting where young kids stereotypically attend and is usually associated with young kids. Where as, contrastingly the party setting within Confidence shows that he is a young adult or a
older teenager as these are the only people who attend these settings and shows how he has grown up and is attending more mature settings. He may also have used these contrasting settings to appeal to his different target audiences who have also changed as he targets girls who are of the same age of him therefore as he grows up so do his target audience. This means that when he released Baby his target audience was 10-15 year old girls this meant that they could relate to the bowling alley setting meaning the video appeals to them, and when he released Confidence his target audience was then 16-20 year olds who would relate to this particular setting and again making it appeal to them.

Richard Dyer was a writer who developed a theory which described artists as 'stars' which means they are not real people and are instead commodities and products. Dyers theory is evident within 'Baby' as Bieber is presented as quite cute and innocent to viewers who are more mature and older but at the same time he is presented as appealing and attractive to his target audience. This representation differs immensely to that featured during the video of 'Boyfiend' as during this video he is presented as young man who is extremely wealthy and successful which equally makes him as appealing but instead to a much older audience. The artist, Justin Bieber, can be viewed as a product in both videos as in 'Baby' he displays numerous characteristics which Dyer claimed made him a 'star' such as youthfulness, originality and talent. These characteristics would present him as a product as it would make him more appealing which means he will appeal to a large audience and generate a large revenue despite appealing to a niche target audience of young females within the extremely large pop genre fans. Dyers theory is also present within the second video 'Boyfriend' even though the displays different characteristics. Rather than the youthful representation from the first video 'Baby' Bieber in the second video is presented as with a antiauthoritarian and rebellion attitude as well as sexual magnetism. This change in attitude and characteristics emphasises the fact that he is a commodity as it makes him more appealing to his new aged target audience which allows him to generate more revenue.

This analysis of Justin Bieber and research into Dyers theory has increased my knowledge on how artists change over time and how they appeal to different target audiences. Given this i now have more of a idea on what artist i will use for our music video and following this decision how i will appeal to their target audience.