Music video analysis - "Anaconda" Nicki Minaj (representation)

Analysis
This music video for Nicki Minaj's "anaconda" is a prime example of how women are sexualised within the music industry. The song itself is about sex, there's no denying it. And so it would only be fitting for the video to be all about sex as well, which it is. Throughout the video women are envisioned as a play thing for men. All the women are scantily clad and show off more than they probably should be, even to the point where they become whoreish, with Minaj as queen bee. In one shot we see Minaj bouncing another women's bum cheeks with her hands. This may suggest that women don't only use their bodies in a sexual manor to impress men but also to seek the acceptance of other women.

The majority of the females in the video are black, all but one. This itself may suggest either:

• A racial separation within the music industry, music made by black people is different to that made by white people.
• Or that black people have more of a sexual thrust than white people.

Either way there is a larger representation of black people in the video. There is also a majority female representation in the video. This could be suggestive that females are taking over the pop industry and increasing their control over the entire music industry. Even in one of the scenes we see Minaj giving big time pop star Drake a lap dance, showing that she has a large amount of power, which could also be seen as her showing how the music industry is being taken over by women.

This video is absolutely full of product placement. There are times where it is hard to ignore the amount of product placement. Compared to other video analysis I have done for other genres of music, it is obvious that this product placement is seen more frequently in the pop genre than others. Instead of this being a interpretation, what I take from this is that the pop culture has quite literally been changed into a money making machine, with no aim to achieving new feats in music but generating the biggest bonuses for the heads of the big six music labels. This is why no matter how controversial the video is, it has no meaning. It is controversial purely to generate hype and to bring in more money and does this quite successfully with nearly 310 million views on youtube. The pop industry is no longer about music, but like everything else, money.