Textual Analysis of Nothing Compares 2 You by Sinead O Connor

Genre
The genre would be classified as a pop ballad. several genre characteristics were used, such as many close ups of the artist and the use of a small narrative focused on the artist. However many stereotypical genre conventions are not used, like a voyeuristic approach to the female artist. The narrative is typical because the theme (romance) is not very thought provoking and also is mainstream. The close ups of the artist is expected in the video.

Narrative

The narrative was very small and consisted mainly of a lone figure walking around rather random places to convey the idea behind the lyrics about the singer having freedom to do whatever she wants but not wanting to because "nothing compares to you." There is no equilibrium structure within the music video. The only recognisable character is the artist. The video reflects the lyrics because of the winter type mise en scene (shown below) that reflects the mood of the singer. The black background connotes the idea that hope is lost within the close up of the artist.

 

 

Representation

Females were portrayed in this video, through the lyrics, to be stereotypically emotional in comparison to men. This was shown through the visuals of the music video, especially the part where the female artist is shown to be stereotypically crying over the broken relationship.

 

 

Visual codes

The video is set in black surroundings connoting no hope and death/darkness. other parts of the video are set in frosty fields connoting winter and sadness. The dominant color used in this video is black again connoting no hope and darkness. A lot of statues are shown in the video connoting the idea that the artist cannot move on, because statues can't move.

 

 

Technical codes

 because the majority of the music video is a close up shot of the female artist not many interesting camera angles are used. The use of the close ups however creates a high level of intensity with the audience. The camera movement doesn't really tell a story because there is hardly any of it within the music video. Fade to black is the cut used throughout the video.