My chosen genre of music is Britpop, and the four bands I will be analysing from this are Suede, Pulp, Space, and Oasis. The other 4 bands I will be analysing are from a similar musical background though not quite Britpop and will be Keane, Stereophonics, Radiohead, and Bloc Party.
Keane are an alternative rock band from East Sussex that formed in 1995 with lead singer Tom Chaplin. They are known for their songs Somewhere Only We Know, Everybody's Changing, Bend and Break and Crystal Ball. The music video of theirs I will be analysing is from their most successful album Hopes and Fears, the song Bedshaped. The title of the song indicates that it is a dream and seems to be about a woman leaving based on the lyrics. The music video was animated by the lead singers friend David Lupton, who had to draw 500 images by hand in just a week. The video was produced by Kit Hawkins and Adam Tudhope for White House Pictures. For this album, the band signed with Island Records who have other bands under them such as Mumford and Sons, The Killers, Florence and the Machine and The Specials.
The song is about feeling as though a lover has left you behind and depicts a human like creature seemingly going through some sort of turmoil and grief, and copes with it using what is shown in his hand - a bottle of alcohol. He is also shown to be in a bad state considering he is coming out of a box and is not clothed.
The title of the song could suggest everything happening is nothing more than a dream, or the idea of a lost lover coming back to you in a dream, or it could suggest being hospital ed bound and in a way becoming one with the bed - basically 'Bedshaped.'
The band can be seen when the man enters the town and looks into clubs, doubling this video as a performance and a narrative, and shows the loneliness of the character as he looks into places and sees that he is not welcome while all other people around him come together and enjoy themselves. It's isolating.
The man enters a bathroom where he is able to find some clothes for himself and get his appearance together and hopefully himself, showing that he only needed the help of someone else who is not even revealed to the audience, before he seems to have some sort of moment of clarity and a bright light flashes in his eyes.
The band can be seen playing before him in an abyss, with the lyrics of the song coming before him and it is as if though he is finally able to visualise and see what he has been trying to the whole time. He seems to be mesmerised by what he is witnessing and as though it is all happening so fast, but he can make sense.
At the end he is shown in this abyss completely alone, and looks up at the camera to give a smile as though to say he ahs finally made sense of the way he is feeling and can take control of it. It is a positive ending and shows in the end he did have to do it alone but he was able to do so and do it resulting in his happiness.
The band has an online website that can get fans interacting and be a way for them to promote their merch, music, and gives users an option to sign up so they can receive constant updates about the latest things that the band is doing. This is effective marketing as it is all online and we are living in a 'digital age' as it may be called, and is a cheaper alternative than spending thousands on marketing that may not even reach the correct audience, while online the algorithm can be used to great measures
The band also continues to tour regularly and playing their old music can bring in old time fans, as well as their new music which connects the newer fans and makes their performance suitable for a wide age range. Live performances can really connect people with the music and give people an opportunity to feel close with a band they love to listen to and can be a great way for the band to both bring in more money for themselves and market any newer music they have to those that came for their older songs. They also play with special guests which could bring in fans of the guests playing and give them the chance to experience a Keane concert on top of it, potentially creating new fans for themselves.
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