Today I am going to be analysing Rihanna We Found Love ft Calvin Harris. The video was filmed in Northern Ireland. It was filmed in 12 different locations, from block of flats to a party on the field. The video was distributed by Universal Music and Video distribution. 'We found Love' is a dance-pop and electro house song, with some elements of techno and Euro pop. This contrasts what Rihanna is usually known as; Rihanna is signed to Def Jam records and is well known for her R&B, Pop, Dance hall, Reggae, Hip Hop and dance genres. This suggests that Rihanna is trying to reach out to a new audience who she may have never aimed to target before. 'We found Love' is featured in the album 'Talk that Talk which was released in the year 2011. The video was directed by Melina Masoukas.
The video follows a passionate love story of Rihanna and her video "boyfriend" acted by Dudley O'Shaughnessy. At the beginning of the music video, it features a monologue about love and heartbreak spoken by an unseen narrator Agyness Deyn. She narrates and repetitively addresses to the audience as 'You' to interact and reach out to an audience who have had or are having similar experiences. She expresses her emotions of love and how it makes 'You' feel. In between her sentences there are several dramatic pauses, accompanied by prolonged background music, which creates a dramatic effect to draw the attention to the words. The visual content of the video displays love and drugs, in addition, the monologue can be subtly applied to love and drugs also; 'no one can ever how much it hurts, this can be a reference to the true feeling to be heart broken in love, or it could be referring to drugs and the lasting effects and damage on the body. 'Nothing can save you' can connote lack of confidence, and plenty of distrust, when trying to withdrawal from love and drugs. 'When it is gone you wish you could have it all back' may suggest the empty feeling/effect on the body once the 'drugs' ware off, in addition the euphoric feeling you once have when you are passionately in love.
I believe that this video aims to target 18-mid 20's, this is because this age range are young adults with a wild party life style (stereotypically) who can probably relate and understand the plot of video. More over the mise n scene of Rihannas outfit is very retro, which (stereotypically) young teenagers, and young adults may familiarise themselves with.
At the start of the video, Rihanna is presented very healthy, the mood suggest happiness, love, passion and romance. We know that she and her 'partner' are happy because of their facial expressions, and their sexual gestures. A two shot, of Rihanna and the boy (actor) kiss. displays a silhouette in front of bright windowed background; their bodies create an illusion of a heart shape. This suggests to the audience that there is love between them.The non dietetic sound of thunder, and the projection of the lighting bolt on Rihanna can signify fear. The darkened setting and the fast paced editing of the changing moods from happiness to the binary opposite of unhappiness. This implies and emphasises the instant fast changing effects of drugs, and could also signify the unconscious feeling of lack of control over their lives, and a broken heart.
Moreover where the moods change to unhappiness, rage and pain, both Rihanna and her partner's appearance also starts to change; Rihanna's hair and makeup is very messy and her eyeliner and mascara begins to smudge due to her tears, and her pain. This subtly implies the phases of drugs and love to a a person, there is also an underlying message to the audience that drugs have a negative impact in life, and so can love.
There is no obvious connection between the lyrics and/or the video, as there is no indication in the lyrics, of unhappiness, anger or rage, however there are subtle mentions of drugs 'what it feels to come alive' this suggests the impact of drugs on the body, in addition she recites 'Hopeless place' frequently, which can represent the disorted settings of the video e.g the block of flats; stereotypically society categorises people who live in flats to have a 'Hopeless' future, and are often known for their lower class status.
Ironically I believe that Rihanna is trying to reach out to the female target audience specifically, as she subtly reveals the story behind her relationship with famous R&B, Pop Singer Chris Brown, who was once violent towards her in 2009. Rihanna is trying to caution young females and males in relationships, to be cautious of where their begingings of their relationships start, and also inform them that it can all go wrong; In her case it due to the fault of drugs.
Usual Conventions of an Electro pop genre:
- Over the top wild party scenes
- Use of drugs and alcohol
- Usually do not follow the storyline usually follows the genre
- Very sexual scenes
- Very bright and colourful
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