Beautiful Dirty Rich is Lady Gaga's new single. I really love Lady Gaga as she is so individual and unique and her videos always catch my eye. This is why i have decided to analyse this music video to see the intentions behind it.
Here are the lyrics for the song:
Beautiful, dirty dirty rich rich dirty dirty
Beautiful dirty rich
Dirty dirty rich dirty dirty rich beautiful
Beautiful and dirty dirty rich rich dirty
We got a redlight
Pornographic dance fight
Systematic, honey
But we go no money
Our hair is perfect
While were all getting shit wrecked
It's automatic, honey
But we got no money
Daddy I'm so sorry, I'm so s-s-sorry yeah
We just like to party, like to p-p-party yeah
Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich
Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich
We live a cute life
Soundfematic, pants tigh-ter than plastic, honey
But we got no money
We do the dance right
We got it made like
Ice cream topped with honey
But we got no money
Daddy I'm so sorry, I'm so s-s-sorry yeah
We just like to party, like to p-p-party yeah
Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich
Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich
A bang bang bang, bang bang bang, beautiful, dirty rich
A bang bang bang, bang bang bang, beautiful, dirty rich
Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich
Bang bang, we're beautiful and dirty rich
X5
Bang bang
When looking at the music video it is very typical pop-dance music which she creates in many of her videos. She is wearing leotards in very outragious shapes and styles with dramatic makeup and hair. There is a dance routine involved which is very typically found in both pop and dance videos, showing she is in a mixture of both genres. I think the video is mainly performance based as she is always singing to the camera, however there is the constant concept of being rich and living the high life running throughout it.
When watching the video closely, her dress sense and look is replicable of Madonna in the 80's, with the bleach blonde hair, dramatic makeup and unusual clothes which shows she may be trying to mirror the image found in 80's pop videos.
There are lots of beauty shots of Lady Gaga herself which is very typical of this genre of music as it is very much about the artist, as about the song. The camera continuously cuts back to shots of her, reminding the audience why they are watching and promoting her as the singer.
I think the images in this music video, although at first glance may seem to illustrate the lyrics, i think when looking at it more closely the actually amplify the lyrics. She is lying in a pile of money, smoking the money and throwing it around which illustrates the point of being dirty rich as they have so much money it doesn't mean anything to them anymore, they can treat it like an invaluable object. The setting in the house also illustrates the lyrics 'Dirty rich' as the house is very grand and big and would only be able to be afforded by a wealthy person. However the lyrics 'We are beautiful' is almost contradicting the images on screen. The people we see are very quirky and outrageous, not people we would nessicerily call beautiful immediately. Also the lyrics 'But we have no money' are juxopposed to the images of her lying in the piles of money and holding it etc. It is as if she is making fun of all the people out there who do not make there own money but instead use their parents as a way of getting money or doing illegal things to make money. Therefore they may look as if they are wealthy on the surface but really they are not. This also backs up the phrase 'dirty rich' as their money is not clean money, it is tainted.
The images are edited to the music, with the cuts being on the beat. The music is quite upbeat and fun, however it has an unusual style in parts of it and does not flow like a usual upbeat song. The images do not nessicerily fit with the lyrics all the time. For example when she says 'But we got no money', she is lying on money holding a wad of dollars which clearly does not show this. Therefore, again i think the music amplifies the images themselves. Also there are lots of images of people kissing and posing in sexual positions. This may also amplify the lyrics 'dirty rich' as they are being dirty in order to get their money. This is also backed up by the lyrics 'We got a redlight' as this is normally known for prostetutes who use their body as a way of getting money and are considered dirty.
As Lady Gaga has become a world renowned artist and is known for her long, blonde locks and outrageous dress sense they play on this quite a lot in this video. She has been often compared to the likes of Gwen Stefani, so it may not be a coinsidence that the opening shot is a ECU of her lips singing wearing Gwen Stefani's signiture red lipstick, throughout the video there are lots of shots of her lips with this red lipstick. This could be to emphasise this similarity or to highlight a sexy part of her body. At one stage there is a shot of her rubbing off the lipstick which could be a reference to erasing the stereotype of her being known as the next Gwen Stefani. As she is strutting down the corridor she is wearing dark sunglasses which she has become known for wearing in her videos, an iconic Lady Gaga image. In many of the shots of her she is wearing clothes which you would never expect to see people wearing in public such as a red jacket with huge shoulders, a lace leotard and a red leotard. Her blonde hair is long and perfectly styled, very typical of Lady Gaga as she is known for having perfect hair. Lady Gaga's legs are on show throughout this video. She is constantly being photographed in the press as always wearing outfits that show off her legs and was the first person to begin the trend of wearing knickers as clothes out in public. As she is now iconically known for her legs being on show and it gets a large amount of publicity, in this video her outfits are all created around showing off her legs.
In one shot, her dance moves seem to have a similar style to that found in Michael Jackson's video 'Thriller'. This video was supposedly one of the best videos ever made partly because of its seemless dance routine. Lady Gaga could be refering to this video as a way of telling the audience that her dance routines and music videos are just as good as Michael Jackson himself.
There are elements of voyerism by the way the camera moves and the way she teases the camera. It is as if it is a man watching her and she is trying to tempt him into bed with her.
After analysing this video and the lyrics I think the underlying meaning of this video is that she is a prostetute and has made her money by having sex with various men. That is why she is 'dirty rich' and not just rich and also 'beautiful' as she is using her womanly beauty to make her money. The lyrics ' Daddy im so sorry' are as if she is apologising to her father as he would not approve of her job. The fact that she says 'But i got no money' shows that when she has no money she reverts back to sex as a way of making her money and the lyrics 'Bang bang' enforce this more as this is often a term used to describe two people having sex. The constant images of the women wearing skimpy leaotards and posing provocatively on the men is hinting the the audience what they do and showing that they make their money in the sex trade. Also the fact that Lady Gaga is dressed in red over a pile of money signigys that she has made her living out of lust and passion, as red is the colour of lust and also the colour of a prostetute.
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