Mercury Music Prize Task

GhostPoet

How do their clothes, hair, accessories, shoes influence your impression of them?

In the promotional image we studied we decided his clothes were smart/casual and quite basic so therefore this gives us the impression that he’s just an average man. He always wears a hat so this gives us the impression that this is the smart element in combination with his shoes. His expressions are always very serious which reflects that his lyrics will be quite meaningful and serious.

Can you tell what genre of music they make by the image?

Initially we thought that he would fit into the reggae/soul music genre due to the style/look he portrays. However we didn’t have a strong feeling about him fitting into this category. So we think he might be apart of a hybrid genre.

What does the composition of the image tell you about the artist?

The colours are quite washed out and simple. The lightings quite natural but its only on one side. So it reflects his mood and again empathising that he’s quite a serious guy. There are no props so this shows he’s the main focus and he likes to be basic and have the focus on the music. He’s positioned in the centre of the frame, which shows us that he’s the focus. He’s standing naturally so therefore he’s just an everyday guy who doesn’t care about his image, as he’s just got a passion for his music. The location is as if he’s in a college with a chalkboard behind. The chalkboard includes writing/scribbles, which are crossed out. This gives us the impression that he’s made mistakes in his past and his lyrics will reflect this.

Analysis of Music Video against Goodwins theory

From watching the video we realised that he doesn’t have any bold genre characteristics so this shows us that he falls in and out of different genres. An example of this is he vaguely shows rap characteristics as the focus is of him and his lyrics with no dance routines. The lyrics and visuals have a strong link throughout the music video. As the visuals are quite dark/dull this reflect his lyrics of the song as they are quite strong and on about surviving in a world that has cutbacks and conditions which are tough. 

Also it gives us the impression that he’s had a tough past. The link between the music and visuals are that they are both very basic so that you focus on the lyrics. It shows the emotion of the song by the simplicity of both the visuals and the music. Their weren’t many close ups of the artist although he was always on the screen. This shows he doesn’t want to be the centre of the attention, as he isn’t trying to enhance his image.  Due to the fact he fits vaguely into the rap genre there is no voyeurism. This is because again the focus is always the lyrics. There are no signs of intertextuality as the video is very basic. 

After watching the music video we were surprised. This is because we thought it would be more upbeat and lively. And include more than just him. We also expected the lyrics to be quite short and snappy so they would be catchy, however this wasn’t present.

Biography

The artists name is Obaro Ejimiwe and he has been in the industry since 2006. He works for Brownswood Recordings UK.