Analysis of a music video - Naughty Boy 'La La La'

G432 analysis of a music video. (La la la by Naughty Boy ft Sam Smith)

1. The music video, described on Wikipedia as a mix of R&B, dance-
pop and garage genres, is a song by British producer Naughty Boy
among others involved, featuring vocals from popular artist Sam
Smith.

The concept of this music seems at first too complex
to comprehend; however, upon further research I found that it
seemed to revolve around the child's 'magical journey'. It has been
quoted also on Wikipedia by Ion Pons Jewell that 'others compared
the video to the Wizard of Oz and a local legend of the demon El Tio.'
Also that both legends influenced the concept of the video.

I think that after witnessing the video a few times for
myself I find clear hints that reveals to the target
audience that it does in fact give off a feel of a
legendary journey, and references to the Wizard of
Oz (with the straw man, tin man and 'lion' in the
shape of the dog) shows strongly throughout. The
child appears to escape from his angry father and
travel to the cave with the statue of the 'El Tio' demon. After
researching the legend of El Tio it appears to be a demon to which
people would sacrifice children.

The music video demonstrates genre
characteristics, showing the
iconography to be challenged as,
instead of a scantily clad male or
female, we see the boy as it is made
immediately clear to the audience
watching the video that he is the main
character in the 'story'. Other icons such as the straw man, the tin
man and the cowardly lion who are well known characters in the
Wizard of Oz as the companions of the boy, perhaps to signify their
characters are there to guide him through his journey. It is also very
upbeat and this represents the lightheartedness of the music. This
video challenges the stereotype of usual R&B music videos as it tells
the audience watching a story, making not only the song a pleasure
to listen to, but the video as well.

The music video also shows a strong connection between the music
and visuals, especially the lyrics, which is that it is very illustrative.
The music seems to tell the story of the boy and how his journey
begins and ends, with repetitive use of the gesture 'covering your
ears like a kid' as the lyrics mimic the movement. The music video

2. also amplifies the meaning of the song
and the context of the journey that is
created and empathized throughout. The
lyrics work extremely well to go along with
the visuals as 'covering my ears' is shown
by the boy who also mimics the childish
ignorant 'la la la' to portray how he is not
listening. In this way it could reflect the creator of the song as he was
quoted for the song to be personal to him and past experiences.

The artist is not shown in the video at all
(Naughty Boy or Sam Smith) however the boy
could represent them due to the reason the
song was created (the 'personal' experience
Naughty Boy had). Henceforth the visual style
of the artist and close ups for the main focus
of the artist cannot be shown. I think
that this is an extremely professional
and creative way to portray the music
as it shows that the main focus is not
on the artist or vocals but the story
the lyrics give to the audience. It
removes that cheap 'advertise the
main artist' tone and creates a very
innovative and high caliber overall
product. This music video is like something I would do myself, by
telling a story rather than selling the particular artist of the song I
choose.

Again, there is no sexuality or other stereotypical conventions of R&B
music videos so the story is the main focus of the producer of the
music video, and this comes across as a lot more professional to me
because of the fact that the focus is not to sell; but to entertain.

Intertextual references are used
throughout the music video; however
I do believe that these are mostly
used to further create the detailed
storyline of the boy and his journey.
As mentioned above, the Wizard of
Oz is used through the dog, the straw
man and the tin-man. These
characters accompany the boy on his
journey and help him to get to the destination of the El Tio. The

3. demon statue itself could be classed as a reference as it is a local
legend in the place it was filmed.

Finally thought beats are
used to keep the flow of
the song going, as the
steps of the characters
on their journey when
they are in the desert
mirror the beats of the
song.