The Supremes were an all African-American female vocal/pop-soul group who are widely considered to be one of Americas most successful vocal bands of the 1960s, with 12 #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The band were most successful when members Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard were active, and were the flagship/most prioritised act for the label they were singed to, Motown Records. The label (founded by Berry Gordy Jr.) played a significant role in popularising and bringing awareness to the Motown Sound, a soul sound with mainstream pop appeal familiar to what the likes of The Beatles were releasing after finding success breaking the boundaries between popular music and music that was racially influenced.
Consisting of an African-America trio, the band became influences for many young African-American women in particular, embracing their attractive looks and strong vocals in an attempt to redefine racial perceptions and stray away from their white male counterparts, in doing so rising the popularity and encouragement of Motown music and even Civil Rights groups of the time. The likes of Oprah Winfrey have praised the bands representations for inspiring many young African Americans of her generation, being role models for them in a medium that was heavily white male dominated, and even Civil Rights activists encouraged their music such as the Reverend Ralph Abernathy.
Music Video: Where Did Our Love Go
The music video for the bands #1 single Where Did Our Love Go encourages the core representation of the band and is entirely in keeping of their image at the time, whilst being familiar to the pop-soul genre of music they were recognised for. Whilst in terms of setting the video is fairly simplistic, being shot across multiple busy streets in Paris, there is much more here to be explored that conforms to the above mentioned representations. Through the few W/S (as the video is significantly shot with CUs focusing on Diana Ross) we see the band as they are dancing and skipping, hands in the air waving as they weave in and out of traffic. Their care-free and fearless attitudes reflects the independence of the band to be something much more unique and original as Ross is almost hit by a car, and the band have an altercation with a law enforcer just before the video abruptly ends, something that their target audience of young, women and especially those of ethnicity may find inspirational as these representation of women were fairly unconventional at the time, and releasing during the wave of 2nd wave feminism that encouraged more independence with women, bell hooks would argue results in the video being viewed as a way of supporting this and therefore being relatable and highly viewed.
The almost spirit like atmosphere the band creates as they gleefully move through the heart of Paris also reflects the spirit of the pop-soul music, as their unperturbed movements is something that would encourage their audience to want to stand up and dance to, something that brings people closer together and shortly forget about the conflicts America were facing at this time, reflecting the success Motown had in racially integrating popular music.
As expected from The Supremes, there is a dominance of CU primarily of the face of the band Diana Ross, in an attempt to reflect their attractive qualities. However, unlike other female artists, this could be seen as yet another political movement to encourage more representations of other ethnicities in terms of beauty, as white, western looks were still 'the' desirable look. However, some audiences may find this to be an issue, as Ross was suffering with an eating disorder at the time, which they may see as the video reinforcing these as natural, and the same for thinner body types.
However, this soulful attitude is somewhat lost considering many may see the video as being a nuisance and a further annoyance to the cars attempting to manoeuvre past the performers. This may argue causes the video to have a more negative and hectic connotation to it and imagine the car horns blaring trying to get past them, pretty much the opposite of soul, and find the video confusing and less care-free with the juxtaposition between the performers and the lively music that encourage us to move around and dance, and those stuck in their cars trying to get to where they need to be.
The website for The Supremes is actually part of the official Motown website, where audiences can listen to their albums, videos of the band performing and read upon fun facts about the band. The homepage creates a chill atmosphere, with the black, whites and oranges and the layout of the images neatly considered immediately invites its audience to stay and feel welcome, which is what their music attempted to convey.
By scrolling down, there is a drop down menu about brief facts about the band, and having to click on it to see more tells us of the massive influence the band has had on the music industry. This is conveyed further on as you scroll down with links taking you to different albums and videos of the band, and next to it links to other more modern recommended artists, once again giving audiences something new, but familiar to listen to and showing how their legacy is still relevant to modern Motown music.
There are social media icons near the top of the home page, and links at the bottom for their Twitter and Facebook feed, to encourage audiences to follow the Classic Motown social media accounts, once again suggesting the strong and positive impact their music has had on Motown music. However, it is unconventional that the homepage doesn't have any links to the bands social media, as the band have a verified Facebook and Spotify presence, as audiences are only shown they can listen to the bands music through this website.
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