Pale Waves are an English indie rock band, formed in 2014 in Manchester when they were in University. The band are signed to independent record label Dirty Hit. The band is fronted by Heather Baron-Gracie, having a female singer in a band would appeal to other females as they may be inspired by her and she is a female being represented in the music industry.
Heather came out as lesbian a few years ago and many of her songs are about her sexuality and love towards her girlfriend like in the song 'she's my religion' so other people who identify as lesbian may feel represented and would be able to identify with her.
The band mainly dresses in dark clothing and makeup, this may appeal to younger people in their middle to late teens who see that they're expressing themselves in the way they want to and feel more comfortable with themselves because they see such a popular band within the indie rock genre doing it too.
music video
The music video for 'You don't own me' is in some ways conventional of a rock music video, the band is shown with their instruments through long shots and there's also close ups of the lead singer showing her lip synching into the camera. They are dressed in more dark clothing that could be considered more punk as the drummer has their hair in spikes and the guitarist has his hair coloured green. At one point the music video is edited so it looks like she's smashed the camera screen which makes this seem like quite an angry music video and perhaps the meaning behind this song does anger her and she's portraying this in the video.
The location is set in a room with graffiti and spray painting all over the wall in different colours, Graffiti has been associated with punk rock movements and the video feels a lot more rebellious which fits into the videos messages.
As the song title suggests it's about men's expectations and not conforming to them. There's scenes where she's sat with her legs spread open which is considered not very ladylike which could reinforce these ideologies that she's dominant and not controlled by anyone. It definitely would appeal to women who also feel like they're controlled by men and want to break free. bell hooks says that feminism is the struggle to end patriarchal oppression, the scene where she takes off the bow around her neck may be her way of breaking free from that. hooks also says feminism is a political commitment not a lifestyle choice so hooks may say given the medium and the fact music videos are mainly for entertainment it may not fully support women.
website
Pale waves website is very simplistic, it is all on one page with different types of things you'd expect to see on a band's website at the bottom of the page that takes you to different links such as their social media, along with tickets for tour and where to get cd's and vinyls. It promotes their album and latest music video too which is quite typical of a website.
The band show their support for independent stores as they have a link to indie stores that supply their cd's and vinyls showing that the band are very respectful and humble and that without support they wouldn't have gotten to where they are so they want to show their support back to those independent companies.
The website main image is off the band on the floor all looking away from the camera. The image is in black and white too, this gives a mysterious feeling to the band and also maybe represents the band as quite moody as they have quite serious faces in the image.
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