Sevdaliza is a not a mainstream artist yet not underground either. With about 150.000 followers on Instagram, she became better well known after her music video for 'Human', released in 2017. The director himself said that he wasn't expecting this much recognition for that video, but the stunning visuals and the creativity put into it shone through and attracted a wide audience, currently having almost 14 million views. Her latest album 'Ison' made it to nr. 1 in the iTunes charts, therefore her music continues to get more attention.
Considering that she was born in Iran, wrote and sang the song 'Bebin' in Farsi and uses different sounds and symbols from the Iranian culture, I can say that the natives from there appreciate her music even more than the international audience, due to sharing and understanding the cultural logic which the audience and song is part of too. In addition, this song was written referring to the US ban on immigrants from the Middle East, an issue which she is very passionate about. In her latest music video 'Shahmaran', she again focuses on racism and oppression of the African-American and middle eastern people. At the beginning of my chosen song, 'Sirens of the Caspian', she tells a legend in French, therefore I think the people that speak the language would be even more drawn to listen to the full song, compared to the ones that don't understand. As French is a very popular language, this song can appeal to a big part of the population. Furthermore, the age group that her music, respectively my music video appeals to, would probably be around 15-35. Her visuals include quite strange, animated visuals such as animal legs attached to her upper body in 'Human' and an odd animation of herself having a black chord going through her back in the music video for 'Marilyn Monroe'. This hyperreality brand is frequently seen in her work, even her profile picture on Instagram and her album covers. This peculiar mixture of the virtual with the real may not be pleasant for audiences who are too young as it can scare them and not get the actual message she's aiming to transmit, and the same goes for audiences of older generations, as they aren't that accustomed to the virtual world and would be attracted to more reality based visuals. As for my own work, the age group would be approximately the same, with the maximum age increasing to about 40. I'm including themes of the powerful feminine, thus kids and pre-teens would only focus on the physical, and wouldn't understand the actual sacredness and beauty beyond appearances of women. As for audiences older than 40 would maybe find some scenes too obscene or too abstract (such as the dancing scene). If we're referring to gender, I consider the female audiences to be more drawn to my music video due to the focus on the feminine energy and how it can come alive through different behaviours. Not only they can personally relate, but understand the differences between the negative and positive this energy can be manifested. When talking about audience, psychographics also come into play. If we look at the schema and the different categories of people, I would say my work would be most enjoyed by the 'explorer' type people, interested in self-identity and self development. The people who want to get a stronger message from a media product, rather than solely enjoying it aesthetically would probably like my music video, or the ones simply curious about more perspectives on what femininity means, and my personal take on it.
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Sevda Alizadeh or Sevdaliza is an Iranian-Dutch singer, producer and songwriter. Her style of music is quite unique, due to the genres it fits in, trip-hop and avant-pop and even experimental pop, her music being compared to the one of Portishead. Her art has themes of motherhood, identity and womanhood. I also took these themes and incorporated them in my work, which is to be seen later on. She enjoys writing descriptions on instagram explaining the meaning behind her art, which gives her a true sense of authenticity. An example would be this one, for her 2018 album 'The Calling'. She is also seen to interact on deeper level with her fans, asking them thought-provoking questions like the one seen below. This was one of the reasons I chose one of her songs, as she is more than a business or a public figure, a trend that seems to be quite prevalent among artists. Sevda, as she likes being called, posted a painting from 1800s, showing her encompassing interest in art, more than just music and writing. What I found intriguing was that her music video for Shahmaran was projected on a building in New York City, and this made me wonder: Would I like my music video to be presented to the public in this way? I would say no, as I want my work to be enjoyed alone or a significant other, in a more private or underground space. At last, I'd like to say that I'd be an unforgettable experience to see her live show. Nevertheless, she is an artist worth listening to, maybe just for her style if not the actual songs.
Below I copied the lyrics from my song I will use, in addition to writing a little bit about what I think the lyrics wants to convey and the meaning I want to give it.
[Intro] "C’est l’histoire d’un homme qui tombe d’un immeuble de cinquante étages. Le mec, au fur et à mesure de sa chute se répète sans cesse pour se rassurer : jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien Mais l'important n’est pas la chute, c’est l’atterrissage." This part in French says: “this is the story of a man who falls from a 50 story building. On his way down past each floor, he keeps telling himself "so far, so good, so far, so good”. But the fall doesn’t matter. The landing does.“ What I understand by this quote is the way many of us go through life, unaware of the fact that we're free-falling into a pit of negative emotions and we pretend that we're not going to crash one say, or we're simply unconscious of our ourselves. The way this applies to my music video is how the boy, being seduced by the girl, thinks that there is nothing wrong going on, and that the relationship of the two is based on love, while it's not, it's constructed on the need for power and manipulation. He keeps 'falling' but he doesn't realise what will soon come. The 'crash' is represented by the scene where the girl breaks plates and has something similar to a mental breakdown, reminding the audience that outer negativity comes from inner negativity. [Verse] A siren is circling 'round sailor boy Her silence is rippling after Before he kissed her to stay wide awake Forgived her, please stay away The first line of this verse made me think of the way women can manipulate the men around them, 'circling' around them and getting what they want. I will present this concept by one of my girl actors walking slowly around a boy, him mesmerised and paralysed by her beauty and power. Ss the lyrics say, 'Her silence is rippling', the girl doesn't talk as she doesn't need to, her energy works for her. Then, following the lyrics, the boy kisses the girl, to satisfy his unbearable urge. [Pre-Chorus] He knows, he knows, he knows He knows, he knows, he knows He knows, he knows, he knows He knows Now, here the boy sort of 'knows' that he is being manipulated by his partner, but the repetition emphasises the fact that he's trying to convince himself that he does know what is true and what is not, while at the same time not being fully confident in himself. [Chorus] I said "hey, hey Oh, what a ship we sail!" We kissed our death to will There's no one left to take, to take This part is sort of tricky to analyse, but what I think it means is the 'ship' that they 'sail' in the relationship that they're trying to work out through difficult times. I said "hey, hey We're born to recreate" Sinful creature then The symbol of recreation is a pre-eminent one when talking about femininity, as females have to power to figuratively and literally create life. The way I show this in my video is by the communion of the girl and boy, and at the bathtub scene, where the girl breathes life into the four elements of the world: water, air, fire, earth. [Bridge] Away, away, away, away, away Away, away, away, away, away Away, away, away, away, away Away, away... This part pays an important role in my video, as it represents the constant worries and thoughts that go on daily in our heads, as a broken record, playing the same song on an on. On this part, I will mostly introduce shots of the 'negative' side of the female energy, with a few shots of the positive side, as the bridge takes up a quite long time from the song and I don't want it to be exaggeratedly repetitive and tiring. [Chorus] I said "hey, hey Oh, what a ship we sail!" We kissed our death to will There's no one left to take, to take I said "hey, hey We're born to recreate" Sinful creature then Away, away, away, away, away, away... In order to have a clearer vision of the codes, conventions and symbols I'm going to use throughout my work, and an overall 'mood' (hence the name) I will create in my music video, I decided to create a moodboard on Tumblr. It's a versatile website, which can be personalised with ease, rather than a website created especially for moodboards where the template is pre-made and rigid.
I added a picture of Sevdaliza as a header, and added a playlist of three songs from her, one being the actual song I'll be doing my music video on, and the other two I simply enjoy listening to. The play button looks like an anchor, which I thought would suit the theme of sirens and the sea. |
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