Artistic influence throughout musics

Hello everyone, last time I had trouble finding good secondary sources, so first of all I would like to use the Popular Music in Theory An Introduction written by Keith Negus: I can already tell that I'm going to use many chapters related to the book such as (suggested in the comments ) identities, geography or mediations because the characters can be used in many chapters to characterise something oozing from their respective theme. Another secondary source I will use is this book: Michael, Charlie. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: Youth, Race, and the Hypertext. 1re éd. London: Routledge, 2024. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003166962. which include cultural representation, identity, and racial diversity within the narrative and visual style. And I will also use several review sites such as zanobardreviews.com or pitchfork.com to have some analysis on how Daniel Pemberton's style (the compositor of the themes) was received and to also have a musical approach. My time being limited for posting all the analysis on each main character, I can still give all the themes related to them: Miles Morales (Latino,Epic,scratch,Hip-Hop,Trap) Gwen Stacy (90s, indie-synth, pop band sound) Hobie Brown (Punk-Rock,heavy drums, distorded bass) Pavitr Prabhakar (Indian style, Carnatic, Hindustani, Hip-Hop) Moreover I will use other songs related to specific scenes where the characters make an appearance if I consider that relevant.

Good luck everyone ! Take care, byee

I introduced you the plot of the movie (still available on Amazon Prime Video btw), my primarily sources will be the themes used for the main characters: Miles Morales,Gwen Stacy, Hobbie Brown and Pavitr Prabhakar (I could also use the one for Miguel O'Hara but irrelevant for the topic I want to put forward) and scenes from the movie obviously ! My secondary source will be: Sekarini, Siska Ayu Diaz, Khadija Albar Hanafi, et Isna Shofiyani Fathoni. « THE INTERTEXTUALITY OF CULTURAL REPRESENTATIONS AS SEEN FROM SPIDERMAN ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (2023) AND MS MARVEL (2022) ». CrossOver 4, no 1 (30 juin 2024): 95‑144. https://doi.org/10.22515/crossover.v4i1.9513. It shows how Spiderman Across the Spider-Verse strenghten superhero stories by putting cultural identities. With a way to not only ameliorating the character development but also by demonstrating the potential of global media to bridge cultural gaps, by raising some kind of empathy and understanding. (the other one is to be clarified)

Today I'm going to focus on Hobbie Brown: Hobart Brown as a full name, he is one of the main characters who got Miles' team out of trouble even if he brings trouble wherever he goes paradoxically. He is the embodiment of the Afro-Punk movement, Anarchism, rock'n roll and the idea of "Audiences" from the chapter of the Negus where he is a rocker, a fighter against fascism, for political actions and creating moral panic at each concert aiming to criticize society and music industry. Moreover he even helped Miles escaping from the Spider Society, giving him his watch and hope of freedom "Whole point of being Spider-Man is your independence." In his theme, you have the famous electric guitar, bass and drums. Therefore this is clearly a reference to a punk band and really similar to "Cerebral Ballzy- On the run" without the vocals.

Get ready for the next focus on the other characters ! See you next week, byee !

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/movies/spider-man-across-the-spider-verse-influences.html

Chromesthesia or sound-color synesthesia is a perception phenomenon where two (or more) senses are blended resulting on seeing or feeling things differently. This is a short definition of synesthesia but chromesthesia is a kind of synesthesia where you are able to see colours when hearing sounds. Synesthesia for example creates the ability to paint popular songs ! (cf. the video below) Many artists such as Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish or even Beyonce possess this characteristic but it remains quite something. Having this phenomenon creates infinite interpretation of musics, they are called synesthetes and as a huge fan of Lego and Pharrell Williams I selected him to be an example of this incredible particularity ! Pharrell Williams is known for being an artist who collaborated with Snoop Dogg, Robin Thicke (yeah we all know about Blurred Lines...), Daft Punk and even succeeded in a solo career such as Happy with more than 1 ,1 Md views ! He is one of many artists considered as well-known and he recently collaborated with the Lego brand to produce a moovie named "Piece by Piece" retracing his biography, his career and emphasizing his chromesthesia throughout the different scenes. "If I tell everyone right now to picture a red truck, you're gonna see one. But is there one in real life right there in front of you? No. That's the power of the mind. People with synesthesia, we don't really notice until someone brings it up and then someone else says, "Well, no, I don't see colors when I hear music," and that's when you realize something's different.

But if you go up and you look, you'll realize that most genius mathematicians, they're synesthetes. If you ask them what their process is, especially people that can add or divide 10-digit numbers, it's because they see those numbers in colors, or sometimes the sizes will vary. That's called a grapheme synesthete. That's one who sees things, sees numbers or characters in a different way." In a nutshell, Pharrell Williams is one among other artists who is able to see colours through songs and that is one of the reasons his creativity and his talent are part of his fame and his influence in music industry.

Hello everyone, It was Eminem's birthday yesterday and his latest music video: Temporary where his daughter Hailie told him she was pregnant became viral so the "Slim Shady" came to my mind as I should talk about him at least once in my blogs since you can not forget him when you try to remind an american celebrity among musicians and especially a white rapper among other black rappers who succeeded as much as him (Dr.Dre,50 Cent...)(this goes against Essentialism as explained in TD class).He did a lot of things but I will focus on one notable music: thanks for his artistic direction ,we could consider it ahead of its time. I am not going to provide a biography of Eminem because: you can find it easily on the web thanks to his well renown (struggling to become a rapper, drugs addiction, several relationships problems...) and also because my focus is on the video itself and not the whole character. So about the song itself, it deals with Eminem coming back ("Guess who's back, back again") from his previous album "Marshall Mathers LP" and criticizing many celebrities during the video: Dick Cheney, his wife, Prince ... The whole song is about music industry recognizing him as a rapper, needing him and that this would not be the same without him (cf. the title). "I've created a monster 'Cause nobody wants to see Marshall no more, they want Shady, I'm chopped liver They tried to shut me down on MTV But it feels so empty without me Now, this looks like a job for me So everybody, just follow me 'Cause we need a little controversy 'Cause it feels so empty without me I said this looks like a job for me So everybody, just follow me 'Cause we need a little controversy 'Cause it feels so empty without me" The artistic direction is based on comics, hugely influenced by Eminem being a huge fan of that, he did several cameos in comics such as Spiderman in a special cover edition or even with The Punisher in a complete mission. The video and the lyrics are cut on comic strips, with the 4th wall being broken literally everytime resulting on adding humor and childishness. Eminem himself sings in different areas: starting in the bedroom, proceeding in an hospital ... He is wearing different costumes as the music goes on to amplify parodism: In a superhero suit in the beginning as Rap Boy (a parody of William Dozier's Batman TV series so Eminem is dressed as Robin), In TV broadcasting as a TV presenter, In TV shows as an angry mom talking about his son going bad ... All this disguise and versatility to show that he can be anywhere, and even when he is being criticized, people would still listen to him. In a nutshell, Eminem's music video criticizes music industry and several famous people just because he can: Eminem's popularity allows him to make fun of them and people enjoys that because this is what Eminem does the best. One of his lastest songs "Houdini" is a good flashback of his greatest songs including a remastered "Without Me".

Hey everyone, I had this clip in mind for a few weeks and also had it a few years ago in my instagram feed spoofed in different pop culture references especially in internet memes by recreating the caracteristic move of Jay Kay when he is just sliding towards the camera and keep doing the same in various directions during the whole video. Jamiroquai is a Soul Funk, R&B, House band created in 1992 and was composed initially of Jay Kay as the singer, Toby Smith as the keyboardist, Rob Harris as the guitarist, Derrick McKenzie as the drumer and Wallis Buchanan as the didgeridoo player (similar to a long flute but comes from Australian Aborigenes). The video remains iconic: you have Jay Kay sliding around in a strange room covered in white boxes as I said previously, you have people (these are the other band members btw) and sofas sliding too, you have cockroaches and blood (maybe coming out of the sofas) and that's all to summarise the video. Now for the lyrics, you have this really striking element sang by Jay Kay: This dystopian future ruled by technologies and people living in an insane virtual reality (cf. the title). "Futures made of virtual insanity Now always seem to be governed by this love we have For useless twisting of our new technology Oh, now there is no sound For we all live underground" … I must admit that I did not really care for the lyrics the few times I had this song in my ears especially when you have this groovy theme that could cover your understanding and make you focus on the rhythm rather than the speaking but when you watch the video it makes sense really. As an influence in pop culture, you have the king of the cover versions named Pitbull appearing with Austin Mahone - Mmm Yeah (not the best cover you could find, not going to lie) You also have a TV Promo made by Chris Rock parodying the same move for MTV Awards. I could not list the tons of millions internet memes covering social media so I let you choose the one that suits you ! In a nutshell, Jamiroquai did find a way to get remembered as an iconic song and move not only from his lyrics but also for the several ways he has been spoofed up to now !

Welcome back ! so I talked about Sia last time and I think it's time for me to introduce you my favorite artist named Bruno Mars (I know I'm mainstream but let me convince you !) Peter Gene Hernandez was born in Honolulu, Hawaii grew up in a musical family, his nickname "Bruno" comes from the wrestler Bruno Sammartino (he apparently looked like him as a toddler) and "Mars" because it reflected his ambitions and was told by several women that "he was out of this world". He moved to L.A, was in a band named School Boys and struggled in having a place in music industry so he started writing because of getting frustrated. He was a track writer for popular songs including Right Round by Flo Rida and was the co-writer with K'naan to produce "Waving Flag" the Coca-Cola's theme song of the 2010's FiFA world cup ! He started to get credit by introducing himself as the 2010's hit song "Nothin' on You" with the rapper B.o.B and became a pop performer. Not to mention the fact that he collaborated with many artists such as Lil Wayne, Cardi B, Lady Gaga or producers such as Mark Ronson with "Uptown Funk"(who is the G.O.A.T. of the 2010's producers by the way, I'm really not lying ! If you don't know him he probably produced 80% of your 2010's playlist). He took inspiration from Michael Jackson, James Brown (of whom he did a tribute), Prince, Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder ...   "It's not a secret. We wear the inspiration on our sleeves. What is the point if us, as musicians, can't learn from the guys that've come before us? What did they do?" In 2021, he teamed up with Anderson .Paak to create Silk Sonic: a R&B, Jazzy album with this iconic song "Leave the Door Open" which won the award of best record R&B song. In a nutshell, Bruno Mars did mainly pop music mixed up with different inspirations and artists and even produced an R&B album to prove his point as reinventing him as an artist. It's not like what you see in movies, where you walk into a record company and you're given all these great songs to sing. You have to write the song the world is going to want to hear and play it over and over again. I learned that the hard way here in L.A." Bruno Mars, After starting songwriting in L.A.

Hi everyone ! I really like popular music even If this style is aimed to produce this effect and hook you to it despite the poor quality of the lyrics or the rhythm but this does not alterate the fact that it takes time and skill to perform and recognize your worth in music industry. I wanted to take a good example of what for me would be a rising star who didn't get as much credit as I have seen. Even if she has become famous, she struggled from the start and succeed in having a place in Billboard. As you have read the title, my topic will focus on Sia the australian singer who probably appeared at least one time in ur spotify/deezer playlist ! Known for being mysterious and yet famous among the last 21's century artists, on featurings with reknown stars or by herself, with more than 15 albums produced by now ! She began as a reference track writer for Céline Dion, Britney Spears and even Rihanna, then she started her career but quickly suffered from popularity: "If anyone besides famous people knew what it was like to be a famous person, they would never want to be famous. Imagine the stereotypical highly opinionated, completely uninformed mother-in-law character and apply it to every teenager with a computer in the entire world. Then add in all bored people, as well as people whose job it is to report on celebrities. Then, picture that creature, that force, criticizing you for an hour straight once a day, every day, day after day." - Sia Furler 25/10/2013 on billboard.com In a nutshell, carry on with your beliefs and overcome your fear, success can be within reach !

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/arts/music/sia-furler-a-shy-woman-hiding-under-a-big-wig.html?searchResultPosition=6

Popcast: Sia's Path from Victim to Victory