Pop Music Video Conventions

Pop music videos usually have some link between the lyrics and the visuals used int he video. This makes the video relevant to the song and can also help people remember the lyrics, as they can physically see the words coming to life on the screen, which makes people remember the song and possibly make them want to by it.

Editing is often used to cut the clips on the beat of ore upbeat pop songs, which makes the video more pleasing to the viewer.

The target audience for pop music is generally youth, so pop music videos have to stand out and be appealing. To achieve this bright lighting is often used and some form of bright object or costume is also used, to make the video vibrant and lively, as this is what the youth are generally attracted to. This then makes the music video upbeat which often reflects the general message and the beat of the song.

For example above is an image from Megan Trainor's, All About The Bass music video, which is as you can see is colourful and has a 'cute' feel to it with the mixture of pastel colours, also worn by the artist herself which makes the whole video stand out.

Again, as the target audience for pop music videos is the youth,and fashion is considered important to this generation, the costumes worn are generally whatever is in fashionable at the time it as made. This then makes them relatable for the young generation to understand them and to be liked by the. For example George Ezra is wearing a casual looking outfit, in his Listen To The Man music video, which would be seen as 'normal' to the young audience.

However, some pop artists do not dress with the latest fashion, but opt for a much unusual and rather 'weird' looking image. A good example of this would be the vibrant look of Nicki Minaj in her music video for Starships. Her look makes her unique and really stand out from the crowd and her music videos allow her to have a well known presence in the music industry.



When pop music videos include a story within their videos the actors are usually young. This is particularly because the artists themselves are young, but also so that the video is appealing to the young target audience.

In pop music videos narratives commonly feature or have elements of love. This is because the concept of love is often associated with the young target audience and is one they can relate to and also fantasise over. However, love is also used in music videos as more pop music is about love.

Pop music videos also often feature some of the reference to the artists name or the song title within the music video itself. this then straight away establishes who the artist is and what the song is called, so is embedded int he mind of the viewers.

Most of pop music videos are full of narrative so to break that up to prevent the audience from becoming bored there are often scenes of the artists actual performance and also to make it clear who the actually artist is.