After starting Media Studies last year i have become very aware of the things in society that affect and are affected by the mass media. For this certain topic i have been keeping an eye out for things that have been happening that are related to the images and videos of music.
The X-Factor: One thing that got the newspapers going was the national craze, ITV's X-Factor. In the show four celebrity judges are to pick singing acts to go through to live shows where the nation vote for their favourite. The female judges, especially Chery Cole made very obsurd decisions about her acts and this astonished the nation. Though she had extremely good vocalists in her catergory she chose two young girls who were clearly not as strong singers as some of the other who she didn't pick. 'It's a singing competition' people complained but it's obvious the judge chose the acts who looked like popstars. Young, pretty, toned girls who would suit the image and be great for videos. Even on a singing contest where it should be all about the singing the judges are making choices thinkin about how these people would look on CD covers and in videos. Some of the comments made by the judges also relate to this are 'you can sing, but you don't look like a star', 'your voice is good, but are people going to like you' -all of this is to do with their image. Nowadays to be a star in the music industry you have to have a certain look to you and this varys with different genres e.g. to be a female R&B artist, you have to a 'sex figure' -admired body, pretty face, fashion idol, diva look and mixed race or black. This isn't saying that white, girly women can't be R&B singers but if they tried they wouldn't fit the common trends and probably wouldn't be accepted.
