Biography
Born in Victoria, British Columbia on December 2, 1978, Nelly Kim Furtado grew up in a musical household with her Portuguese parents. At 18, she entered a talent competition and was discovered by an impresario. This led to a record contract and her debut album Whoa, Nelly! in 2000. Her hit songs include "I'm Like a Bird" (2000), "Promiscuous" (2006) and "Say it Right" (2007). --biography.com |
Below is a full analysis of the music video, broken up into different sections. Each section is represented fully in text, but you can also skip it and click "Listen to Analysis." Listening to each section of audio in order constitutes an entire podcast.
Overall Message
This song tells the “story” of a woman who goes out to a club and meets a guy who then asks if she wants to hook up. Originally she doesn’t want to be seen as too promiscuous but the guy is a smooth talker. She then proceeds to lead him on a chase but agrees to hook up with him. This song in no way tries to hide what it really means, and in fact comes right out and says it. The music video serves to reinforce the message that is communicated, as it shows much of what is sung by the artists as well as several gender stereotypes. |
Analysis of Images
The song, and therefore the music video, is a conversation between Nelly and Timbaland, who represent the iconic promiscuous male and female. However, while they seem to be speaking to each other when listening to the song, the video uses the club scene and other characters go send a slightly different message. Images one through four juxtapose Nelly and Timbaland, each with two other prospective partners. Not only are they flirting with one another, but they are using the same lines on many other people. The de-emphasis of the partners and the juxtaposition of color and place in these images further de-emphasize the importance of sexual relationships themselves. |
Image five is yet another frame of the couple dancing which is edited into the music video besides the artists. In it, a man is dancing with another woman, she “attempts” to leave, and he pulls her back in. As in the other scenes, this dance is obviously choreographed, but it highlights the desire for control each person wants in the relationship and the irony that both are controlled by the gender rules of “the game”. Throughout the music video, woman dressed provocatively exhibit the “bashful knee bend” or expressions relying on the “benign of the surround” while men generally take control and are often looking at the camera.
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Editing
The way these images are spliced together are very similar, they are all cut together in a montage and appear and disappear at a rapid fire pace which gives the audience very little time to actually take in the image just a chance to acknowledge them. This is done so the audience has little time to realize how stereotypical these images are as they have to just deal with a bombardment of images. This very quick and choppy editing style only increases toward the end of the song with only a second in between images. |
Lyrics
The lyrics that underscore this video are pretty straight forward, however lets discuss some specific lyrics that are significant. At one point in the song, Nelly and Timbaland say to each other “Don't be mad don't get mean.” This is the couple telling each other not to hate the player but to hate the game. This is also an acceptance gender roles. However the roles are briefly reversed and Nelly chases Timbaland instead of him chasing her. This does not last long. Later, Timbaland says “I want you on my team.” In other words, he wants to add her to the list of women he has slept with. She responds “So does everybody else.” By saying this she uses her sexuality to her advantage and entices Timbaland. At the end of the song Nelly says “promiscuous boy we’re one in the same so we don't gotta play games no more.” By saying this, she acknowledges her behavior and admits that even though she is promiscuous, she doesn’t care. Nelly also says Roses are red/Some diamonds are blue/Chivalry is dead/But you're still kinda cute. In saying this, she alludes to the iconic poem that characterises love, but twists it and throws away the meaning, in the same way that she throws away the emotional meaning of sex, preferring instead to hook up and be promiscuous. Lets go to Sarah to talk about how all of these ideas fit together. |
Synthesis
Using what we know about the artists, the song’s lyrics, and the deliberate content and editing of the music video we can now think about Nelly’s overall message. Nelly appears to use the “power” gender stereotypes give her to manipulate men, and Timbaland does the same with women. Both claim to give clear goals and fairly represent their behavior. In reality, they are both limited by the rules of the chase which makes promiscuity acceptable. Both hide their desires behind clever banter and are unable to trust one another’s intentions even though they have “one and the same” view. The images in the video are rapid-fire and provocative, and in them no aspect of the accepted gender roles are challenged. While it tells us that promiscuity has no gender, the song completely accepts the ways in which men and women communicate and appeal to one another. |