Music Video: BLACKPINK

 Music Video: BLACKPINK

Audience:

1) Blackpink fans are known as Blinks. The demographics for the Blackpink audience would be a typical age of 12-19 (teenagers), women, and incomes or occupations of wide varieties. The psychographics for the Blackpink audience would be teenage to adult women, as dance, singing and the image of the band are all targeted towards girls who are teenagers or young adults. The lifestyles of the audience, values and attitudes may be diverse, but it is expected for them to be moderately interested in music and dance, have a wide interest in the fandom and in the members of Blackpink, such as their lifestyles, hobbies or characters. 

2) Audience pleasures offered are visceral and vicarious pleasures. The audience may receive a thrill from watching the choreographed dance and the performance of the song. They may also receive an experience of feeling involved with the group through watching their performance and may establish a personal connection due to this. The audience may use the music video as a diversion or an escape from reality (or their personal lives); find identity within the group and feel connected with them; gain information about South Korean music, culture or language (as lyrics consist of both English and Korean; and may form relationships with the group due to the connection formed with Blackpink and the fandom. 

3) Three particular moments that stood out to me 

• 0:40 - Here the chorus is performed and sung for the first time, which might actively depict the main message of the video and, as it is the most replayed part of the video, be the moment that the audience can recognise and remember the most.
• 1:10 - the change of atmosphere from the group singing to a sinle member might be used to capture the audience's attention and bring focus to the members of Blackpink.
• 2:15 - the lighting and colours are used to juxtapose with that of the previous scenes. Furthermore, the close up and camera angle create interest from the audience.

4) The band's social media was used to display teasers for the music in order to generate hype and interest around the upcoming music video, as well as a reality show, which created a connection with the audience due to creatig more of a personal take on Blackpink, rather than simply focusing on their music. 

5) K-Pop is a global phenomenon as it has many different styles of bands and solo artists who dominate the industry as well as the industry in other countries, using a range of different people and characters. Fandoms create a personal connection not only with the musicians but also with one another, therefore increasing the amount of people who become interested in K-Pop. 

Industries:

1) In 2016, Blackpink were formed by YG Entertainment. The records they have broken include being the most followed girl group on Spotify and the most subscribed music group and female act on YouTube as of 2021. 

2) YG Entertainment have also created other popular artists, including BTS and TXT.

3) Technology and the internet have changed the way audiences consume music videos. With an increased popularity of social media, music videos and music artists have become much more popular on platforms such as YouTube and Spotify, while their fandoms and audiences interact with them and follow them more closely on platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. Previously, channels like MTV may have been used to display music videos so that audiences could watch and listen to their favourite musicians performing.

4) Blackpink and K-Pop demonstrate that the music industries are now global due to the fact that their audiences can interact despite not being in the same country or speaking the same language. K-Pop is especially popular in not only Indonesia and South Korea, but also in the US, UK and in countries that are in other continents. This demonstrates that music industries are now global. In addition, audiences can interact with their favourite musicians or keep up with them without having to move to other countries; despite the obvious language barrier and the fact that artists perform in different countries, fans remain loyal and interested in the musicians' success and dedicate lots of their time to following the success of the bands and artists they enjoy listening to.

5) In the UK, record companies have their music regulated by the British Board of Film Classification. The type of content that the BBFC deals with which reguire warnings are issues such as bad language, sexual behaviour and nudity, and threatening behaviour and violence.

Grade 8/9 Extension Tasks:

1) The Guardian's writer claims that the band brings "their A-game" and are incredibly good at what they do. They are seen to have a repeat of BTS's boundary-breaking success and rack up lots of achievements that may have otherwise been impossible to achieve. They have said that the songs are "unrelenting three-minute bombardments of hooks" and that the melodies and details used, not only in the lyrics but also in the background of the songs, provide attention from the audience to every detail. The writer states that the only issue are lyrics, yet their producers and writers put in one-hundred per cent effort into every part of the musicial process.

2) The problem mentioned was that a Hindu deity, Ganesha, was presented in the background of one of the scenes. Despite being edited out, fans had still demanded an apology from the band. Many fans, particularly those in India, claimed that Blackpink had disrespected the religion by using the deity as a prop and culturally appropriating it. YG Entertainment did not respond besides editing out the image of the Hindu god. 

3) The group promoted the release of the song on their social media, such as posters, trailers and photos of the band members. A dance video was also released, which gained 600 million views on YouTube, and a reality show was posted on YouTube, 24/365 with Blackpink. 

4) The genre of K-pop began to debut in the 1990s, when Seo Taiji and Boys first began using new sounds within their music. The song they performed during a talent show. "I Know", hit the charts and remained there, reaching number one on the South Korea singles charts and dominating the position for over 17 weeks. Afterwards, other bands and musicians with similar styles gained popularity within South Korea. Entertainment companies trained aspiring musicians and created the first wave of artists. The bands and musicians exploded with popularity; they provided good music as well as dance routines to go along with their music.