Textual Analysis #3

Labrinth - Earthquake ft. Tinie Tempah

Timothy McKenzie, better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. McKenzie is signed to Simon Cowell's record label Syco, becoming the first non-talent show signing in six years. Initially, he was tipped to work as a producer, but Cowell signed him as a solo act. The music video I'll be analysing will be "Earthquake - Labrinth" which he himself produced. This song is an electro hop track with a hi-tech feel to it. The actual beat of the song is very simple with a high electric sound to it and furthermore emphasised by the visuals which are computer generated and quite conceptual. The visuals are 95% computer generated connoting that the song is more of a dance track. The visuals and where the song has a major sync point are in-time with his movement. One example is where he slams his foot on the ground and the surroundings react in-sync with the beat as well. This goes very well with the song name as well.

The digital theme of the music video is done very well as the visuals are not over the top, they are in-sync with the beats of the song and the artist. The

There is a part of the lyrics where the owner of the record label and the label itself are mentioned, this was obviously something the record label wanted and worked very well with the rest of the song. “Hey Simon. f***ing them up. Turning em syco". This kind of stuff isn't as obvious in other music videos but a lot of record labels like to put something in a song/music video which relates back to them. Labrinth's clothes change 5 times in this video suggesting that he has several different motifs which are all quite similar but different nonetheless. There is also an orchestral part of the song which the visuals shows as 5 people in hooded cloaks which all seem to be the artist. I'm not sure why this was put in the music video. It may have been to set-up for the appearance of Tinie Tempah. His part of the song being short makes an impact none the less as his entrance is quite dramatic emphasizing his presence. Labrinth and Tinie Tempah have both worked together many times before.

There is no sexual display in this video as the lyrics don't suggest there to be any. I would say this video is around 50% concept and 50% performance based as there is virtually no narrative within the video. The conceptual areas would be the digitalised visuals while the performance would be lip syncing with the track and dancing in-sync with the beats.
A lot of the visuals in the music video relate back to music itself, there are lot of digital sound waves created along with speakers placed all around, especially around the beginning.