Miley Cyrus We Can't Stop: Music Video Textual Analysis

This music video was released in June 2013. It became a number one hit in the UK and sold millions of copies worldwide. The music video led to a lot of controversy regarding the singer and her current situation, as she transformed from a children's TV personality to a controversial pop star.

'We Can't Stop' Single Album Cover

It is from the pop/R&B genre, this is identifiable from watching the music video as I can see many conventions that link it with these genre music videos. Some examples of these generic codes are things like the drinking and drug use, connoting this genre. Also the relationships/relationship problems connote to me and the rest of the audience watching the music video that this music video is in the pop/R&B genre. There are also other generic codes used, however these are used very subtly, meaning they aren't immediately apparent to the viewing audience.

The music video starts with a close up on the artist herself; this is very often the case with music videos as they often start on the artist lip syncing the first line. This is her first video since her ‘big change’ and because of this caused a lot of controversy in the media. The initial close up shot is therefore even more important, as it connotes the beginning of a new era and is used to promote her new look. Over the top of this image we can see her name in large yellow writing; this therefore catches the audience’s attention and allows the audience to know exactly who the artist is. This again promotes the artist. 

Screenshot showing Miley Cyrus and the yellow text that informs the audience who she is. This may be because being her first video since her change of appearance and style, she may be trying to promote herself again. 

The next shot that we then see in the music video is a long shot, showing Miley against a black background and with smoke in front of her, distorting the image slightly. This along with the dark costume means the entire mise-en-scene is very dark. This connotes that she may be moving on from past, darker times and wants to re-establish herself in the music industry as being a matured lady.

The editing in the music video is very unique throughout and has parts which represent slow editing and other which shows fast pace editing. The slow editing can be seen in the scene where Miley is seen with a knife on her fingers. This is then seen to 'cut off' her fingers. When this occurs we can see pink liquid, which is imitation blood. This links back to her younger days, when this sort of thing would be used on children's channel rather than blood, so it isn't as crude, this could be connoting a comparison between then and showing the audience how she is changing now and developing into the artist she wants to be. 

This shows the pink blood and the knife that imitates Miley cutting her fingers off. 

Fast pace editing can be seen in most of the video, this is seen with lots of cuts from one scene to another, making the music video interesting to watch and keeping the audience intrigued. By doing this it means the editing would have taken a long time, however it keeps the audiences attention as there is always a different shot on screen, opposed to long boring shots that last a long time. Also in the music video there are sections that are in slow motion that have been edited to fit in time with the music video. By doing this, it adds an extra dimension to the video. We can also see a variety of locations, this in itself makes it more interesting for the audience to view, however all these locations have been edited effectively to make it obvious to the audience that this is one large party. Therefore, the editing is very clever here and is important that it is clear, to make it obvious to the audience the narrative of the piece. A lot of the time, the editing was done to match the visuals with the music. This enabled the audience to follow the narrative of the music video easily. 

Location : Kitchen 

Location: Outdoors

Location : Swimming Pool

These screenshots show the variety of different locations used in the music video. 

The shots used in the music video are vast. There are many different types of shot. The most prolific shot that helps me to understand the genre of the music video is the inclusion of the two shot. This shot shows a couple at a party. As stated earlier, this is a generic convention used in R&B/ Pop music videos, seeing two people in a shot that are in a relationship. Also it links in with Miley’s new self, showing she has matured from the times of Children’s television and is now rebelling and becoming an adult. Close ups are also used, as we saw at the very beginning of the video. Also we see the use of close ups later on in the video where we see a chip skull. This could be suggesting to the audience that she is trying to change her image, without being too explicit by using symbolism that could be connoting death and rebellious. Mid shots are also used in the music video, these shots tend to show Miley in provocative poses and/or revealing outfits. 

An example of Miley's revealing outfits which can be seen throughout the whole music video. This led to controversy in the music industry, especially in her to be released music video at the time; 'Wrecking Ball'. It caused woman to feel saddened by the fact Miley itemized herself making woman feel as though they are seen as 'items'. 

This again, backing up the idea that she is changing her style from being a well known Children's idol to becoming a rival to major pop stars like Jessie J and Beyonce.