#starconstruction

Hi star! Hope you're doing well. Just a bit overwhelmed by having to start internship soon and then having to find a job in this economy after that, but everything is otherwise well. I'm moving houses in a few days as well, my dog has recently passed, so yeah—lots to take in, but not a lotta time to truly breathe. And yes, I'm excited for Yena's comeback! Her looks have been fucking amazing and I can't wait for her new music! Just sad she won't tour here after that announcement :bawl:

There are few things that are conventional about this video: the subject, FKA Twigs owns a proliferation of close-ups that add to her star image; the dance break as part of a dance hit; and bright lighting in the solo shots to display the focus, Twigs, as clearly and beautifully as possible.

FKA Twigs is presented as the mother of all these beings. However she is still a part of them, dancing along side all of them, but as she is lifted into the sky and sits upon the throne in the middle, we also feel her sense of stardom. FKA Twigs is the queen of the wild, the outcasts and the different ones. With her beautiful red dress and enchanting choreography, she bewitches the audience. 

Travis Scott and Kendrick Lamar, both leading artists in the hip/hop and rap game, further cement their legacies as experimental, trend-setting innovators who exemplify their stylistic range in this euphoric track and video. From their involvement on pop tracks to trap features, their appearances in the industry attract the eyes of any music fan; and on this alternative track they solidify their stardom as artists who, through colourful visuals, are able to express their experiences and views on the unholy trinity of rap: sex, money and drugs.

Sa Min Ha constructs Lee Hi’s image to be the personification of a rose itself. She is like a rose; beautiful but she may hurt you with her thorns - her emotional weaponry. She is comparable to a rose nymph, who is trying to protect her heart from others, and others from her heart. We thus sympathise with the young maiden and adore her beauty. 

Codes and conventions used here include: bright lighting to represent love in a positive light which contrasts with the melancholy of the lyrics; a proliferation of close-ups which show the expressionless Lee Hi, to depict her as someone who knows the sorrow of heartbreak as well as adding to her star image; a small dancing group, as per the conventions of any Kpop music video; and the simplification of a song about love, shown by focussing on a single beautiful subject, which in this case Lee Hi, a young female juxtaposed with a beautiful crown, to depict her as a queen of roses, of love. 

Banks’ is displayed as both the star in the video and in life. Through the multitude of closeups and the fact that the whole video is a Banks-seapunk fusion, viewers get a sense of her character: bold, colourful and lively. This presents a likeable and relatable character, especially for millennials (internet connoisseurs), which helps to construct Banks’ image as a star.