Wolf Alice are an English indie rock band formed in London in 2010. They currently consist of 4 members, Ellie Roswell is the lead singer and are signed to Dirty Hit, an independent record label.
Having a female lead singer would appeal to a female audience as their songs are typically from a female point of view. They may be able to relate to the songs or choose to listen to them for personal identity from the uses and gratifications model as females are now being represented in the music industry and in particular the rock genre by Roswell. As many of their songs are about female experiences, relationships and love, the target audience is likely to be in there late 20s.
However not all their songs are from a female point of view so men may be interested in their music due to the variety of their songs and narratives within the songs where there isn't a female point of view.
Music Video
Smile was released as the second single to promote the album 'Blue Weekend'. Smile has conventions of typical rock song with flashing dark lights which makes it seem quite edgy. It also shows the band with medium shots of them playing guitar, drums and signing which is typical of a music video as they are used to promote artists.
Smile is about what it means to be a woman. This song would definitely appeal to a female target audience due to the lyrics talking about what are usually used as criticisms about females and Ellie making them into positive things such as 'I ain't ashamed in the fact that I'm sensitive'. The lyrics are powerful and the music video supports that.
The video has a narrative of a bar woman trying to stand up for herself against men. The start of the video contains diegetic sound of men shouting 'come on' at the woman, the woman looks like she's used to this as she just nods her head at them and passes them their drinks. In combination with this the music video uses point of view camera shots at the start where you feel like you are in the position of the bar woman who is surrounded by drunk men shouting and waving at her. Due to the camera angle this would make the audience feel uncomfortable and sorry for the woman who looks like she is used to dealing with this. This is quite stereotypical as it shows that man are traditionally seen as more dominant and powerful and this scene reinforces this.
However as the video progresses the narrative changes and both Roswell and the actress seem very casual and happy. The actress is dancing and lip syncing which are conventions of a music video, she is on top of the table making explicit gestures to the men reinforcing the ideology that women can be carefree. The low angle shot of her on the table also suggests she is dominant as shes above the men now.
Ellie is also dancing and shaking her hair, there are times where her hair is in her face and her makeup is smudged so she doesn't look typically attractive showing that she too is carefree and just enjoying herself.
Van zoonen would say the rarity of women like this in music videos being independent and carefree could be aspirational.
Website
The website is completely conventional of a band's website. The front page is promoting their latest album and that is the first thing you see when you access the website followed by the most recent music video with the link for that on youtube. There are also links to buy the album on CD, vinyl etc which encourages listeners to support the band.
The website is fitting for the band and their identity, As the album is called Blue Weekend they have kept the theme of that and the majority of the website includes the colour blue.
When you scroll past that you can see their tour dates and there are links to sign up to their mailing list so you don't miss out on any new music updates or tour dates. Alongside this is links to their social media which is used to encourage fans or people who are interested in them and their music to keep up to date on the band on a variety of platforms encouraging them to engage with them. This could be used to social interaction from the uses and gratifications model and also information.
There is also a menu list with things you would expect to find like shop, music, tour and sign up so the audience can easily access what they are looking for. There is a category called film which shows a film trailer for Blue Weekend, this represents the band as very creative because this is quite a unique thing.
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