Music video analysis

The video I am analysing is for Taylor Swift's song 'You Belong With Me', directed by Roman White. It is a narrative-based video, with the only performance being through the protagonist character that Taylor Swift plays in the video. I am going to be analysing the video with Andrew Goodwin's theory in mind, to see how his theories about music videos fit this particular example. His theories, in short, are that:

• Music videos from within the same genre feature similar characteristics
• There is a relationship between the visuals and the song lyrics
• There is a relationship between music and visuals
• There will be close-ups of the artist and probably the development of an artist motif (visual style) which recurs across their work, because this is what the record label demands of a music video
• There are references to the notion of 'looking' and voyeuristic treatment of the female body
• There are often inter-textual references to other music videos, films, TV shows, etc.

Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me 

The song is part of the country pop genre. Although the lack of pure performance footage (Taylor performs through her protagonist character) is quite unusual for both these genres, and music videos as a whole, many elements of the music video are likely to appeal to the young female target audience of the country pop genre (and of Taylor Swift in particular). The love story, the high school setting, the happy ending which takes place at a prom, the focus on a transformation for the prom, pretty dresses and a pretty boy will all appeal to the target audience of teenage girls. There is a sense of a moral happy ending, where the only character who gets hurt is the antagonist who seems to genuinely be a nasty character. This is very suitable for the country genre and for the young impressionable audience. There is obviously also still a big focus on the artist without a lot of performance as she plays two main characters in the narrative, acting as both our major protagonist and our antagonist. While there isn't a dance routine, which is a characteristic for lots of pop videos, since this is country-pop it makes sense to not fit that element of typical music videos for songs that are purely pop. 


There is a clear relationship between the music video and the lyrics, meaning the video adheres to Andrew Goodwin's theory in this area. The music video illustrates the song lyrics in a fairly literal sense, which works well as the lyrics are already quite specific about the situation. For example, the song starts with the lyric 'You're on the phone to your girlfriend, she's upset'. The visuals before and during this lyric show the love interest and male protagonist pacing while talking on the phone during what does not look to be a pleasant conversation. Later, for the lyric 'I wear t-shirts', Swift pulls at her appropriate costume for effect.

Another example of the music video's close relationship to the lyrics is when Swift (as the protagonist) is literally seated on a bench (although perhaps not a park one, to be fussy) with the love interest for the lyric 'Laughing on a park bench thinking to myself, Hey isn't this easy'.

The visuals are also very literal for the lyric 'She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers', with the shots cutting between Swift as the cheerleader antagonist and Swift as the geeky protagonist on the bleachers. The visuals to fit these lyrics are also cut into the middle of a separate scene, which is then returned to afterwards, suggesting a specific effort to interpret those lyrics literally through the visuals.

The music video also complies with Goodwin's theory through the relationship between music and visuals. The video uses fairly long takes throughout, as the song is not particularly fast paced and has quite a relaxed vibe to it (although obviously the lyrics are very serious and dramatic, like all teenage love stories). 

The video starts at a very calm pace, with quite long takes and the actors moving fairly slowly, sitting down for most of the section. The use of a fade after the initial establishing shot also makes the pace feel very gentle. When the music changes from verse to pre-chorus, we cut to Swift in front of the mirror, without any shot of her walking there. This mirrors (I make no apology for my word choice) the transition to a different section of the song. The pre-chorus is also more fast-paced, and although the takes do not get significantly shorter, there is much more movement in the shots, with Swift dancing around in front of the mirror. Swift's change of outfits also helps create the effect of this section being slightly more fast-paced as there is more to take in visually. The visuals change again  with the start of the chorus, now featuring Swift dancing around her room and singing as the nerdy protagonist. The last takes of this section are a longer than standard take on Swift's face, zooming in as she falls to the bed, and then a shorter take of the love interest, which fades to black. This sets a significant end to the bedroom scene, which also fits the song changing back to the calmer verse music.

After the bedroom scene we start a romantic outdoor scene with our female protagonist and the love interest.This time there is no change in the continuation of the scene when the pre-chorus starts, but there are shots at the football game scene in the prechorus (for the lyrics 'she's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers'), and this scene is then cut to when the chorus starts. This transition around the chorus is therefore more gradual as there is an element of crosscutting between the previous verse scene and the upcoming chorus scene during the pre-chorus, but the change in scene is also more significant as it is a completely different setting and a much more flamboyant scene than the romantic, softly lighted daylight scene in the verse. 

When the song changes from the dramatic bridge to the more gentle chorus, the visuals mirror this change. There is a fade to black before we transition to a prom scene where Swift (as the protagonist) is wearing a flowing white dress. The drums come back in as our love interest starts to walk towards Swift, signalling the upcoming happy ending we've all been waiting for! (don't pretend you're not excited to see Swift and the pretty boy get together).

Although Swift plays the parts of both the antagonist and the female protagonist, we connect the protagonist with Taylor Swift more because she sings through this character, and wears her hair in its signature style, whereas she wears a wig to play the antagonist. This obviously represents Swift as the 'good character' and the one we relate to. The protagonist is fun, romantic, nice, a good friend, and is nerdy but by the end proves she is beautiful (because girls aren't pretty until they put on prom dresses and take off the glasses which are there for a reason like I don't know to SEE THINGS AND NOT FALL OVER). This is likely to appeal to the female teenage audience, as they may well be able to relate to feelings of not being very 'cool' or popular, and can relate the song to their own crushes and lives. Taylor Swift is portrayed through the protagonist as a relatable role model suitable for the target audience. 

Taylor Swift as our protagonist: a caring friend

The image of Swift as this young romantic fits her other music videos such as for 'Love Story' and 'White Horse' (where she realises perhaps she has been too romantic and unrealistic in regard to a boy who is in reality not very nice). This image fits her songs, mostly romantic especially during the earlier years, and fits her young female target audience who are likely to seek escape in romantic, fairtytale-esque songs.

There are quite a few close ups of Taylor (as the protagonist), for example during the bench scene and the final scene to fit the demands of the record label and create a close connection between Swift and her audience.

The video does not overly sexualise Taylor Swift, as this would not appeal to the target audience and would not help represent Taylor as an appropriate role model for teenage girls. However, when Swift is acting as the antagonist at the dance in the final scene, the dress she wears is fairly revealing. Although this may represent showing off one's body as a negative thing to the target audience, it still sexualises women through the antagonist character.

There are also other references to the notion of looking that don't involve a voyeuristic treatment of women. In the first scene, Taylor and the male protagonist are watching eachother through their windows. You could also say the use of reflections portrays a notion of looking. In the bedroom scene, Taylor first sees the reflection of her disappointed face in the window glass, then we cut to the part where she is dancing around in front of the mirror. In the final scene there is a sense of a focus on looking, as all the other people at the dance turn to look at Taylor (protagonist) as she makes her big entrance. 

Now that Tay-Tay has changed into pretty clothes she is the center of attention. Because of course that's how high school works.

Goodwin states in his theory that music videos often feature intertextual references. There don't seem to be any obvious references to specific films in the music video, but it follows the generic narrative of a stereotypical high-school 'chick-flick' film, with a geeky girl being transformed for a dance so she can finally have the hot guy she has always had a stonking great crush on.

It's pretty clear from the start that this music video is quite a generic narrative video, and it fits all areas of Goodwin's theory in some way.