Hi girls!!
I have one song, Whatever You Like. One version is by T.I, the other by Anya Marina. The official music video for T.I's version is edited, so there is no swearing, however the version by Anya is explicit.
So, write what feelings you get from each? What do each of the songs communicate, even though they have the same lyrics? Are they communicating anything different? How does a hip hop beat and the voice of a male change the meaning of the song, versus an acoustic version with a female voice? What about the visual aspects of the music videos and the actors in each?
The links are below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6INLzQaWask
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQJACVmankY
Have a good week girls :)
19 comments:
Awesome post! I enjoyed both songs. I wasn't familiar with Anya Marina's version but so glad I am now.
In T.I's version, which I'm more familiar with from the radio, we have a man singing to a woman about giving her all goods she could ever want. The video follows the song showing the woman's integration into T.I's life of fabulous riches. He surprises her with extravagant gifts and in exchange she becomes a trophy and a lover. In the lines "Let me put this big boy in yo life" big boy is being referred to as a man with power and money rather than physical status. The video is definitely not as provocative as the song as hardly any scenes were geared towards the lines of the chorus
"late night sex so went and so tight
gas up the jet for you tonight
baby you can go wherever you like"
This is probably due to the video being aired on MTV and therefore must be kept appropriate for younger audiences
In Anya Marina's version as expressed in the video you pick up on the blatantly provacotive overtones that the song addresses but T.I.'s version overlooks.
Her voice and the tones she uses gives the song a flirty, seductive element. She sings the same lyrics yet she is not implying that she can give material goods but rather her body for sexual acts. The setting takes place in a sex store and various close-ups are taken of the different toys throughout the video. In this adaptation, the line "let me put this big boy in yo life" is referring to a man's penis size. Throughout the song people in the sex store are making eye contact while exploring the sex toys which gave off the impression that the song embodies people's sexual fantasies.
I believe Anya got her inspiration for the adaptation from the explicit sexual aspects of the song that T.I did not explore in his own video.
Both of the music videos seem similar to the effect that they both present a fantasy world: one is a daydream, and the other is a brightly-colored, somewhat humorous world that could be a parody of the original.
The two videos do seem to communicate different messages; the original one is perhaps more blunt in the "you can have whatever you like" sense (showering the girl with diamonds and clothing), while the parody conveys more of a playful/sexual message (emphasizing the "I want your body" part of the song).
Personally, I enjoy listening to the female/acoustic version, but I think that's just because it's more my taste of music. Here's an interesting thought (and I hope I'm not being sexist): in terms of the songs, not the videos, one could assume that a male singer would emphasize the desire for sex, while a female singer could be seen as more innocent. However, the videos seem to flip these stereotypes: the male version emphasizes money, glitz and glamor; the female, sex - it takes place in some kind of sex shop, and there are lots of innuendos and not-so-subtle sexual references.
I had never heard Anya Marina's version of the song. It's very different from TI's version. Both of them are amusing in their own way. Anya's version is a lot more sexual than TI's, while TI's version is, like Sarah already mentioned, more about the jewelry and money. While the lyrics of the song don't change, the way the artist sings the song plays a big role on the meaning of the song, especially with the different video settings to help.
Do you think if you just listened to the song by the different artists without watching the videos, you're perspectives on the different meanings would be the same?
Listening to a female artist sing this song is a little different because most females don't usually sing about this topic. Going back to what Sarah mentioned about the stereotypes being flipped, I totally agree. It would make more sense to see TI in the sex shop and Anya singing about the girl that wants all the riches.
I had never heard the Anaya version, but both videos like sarah said present a dream/fantasy world and the meanings of "whatever you like" come across differently in each one.
In T.I's version it's all about what everyone mentioned the glitz and glamour, which is typical among many mainstream hip hop music videos today. His version of whatever you like is talking about money and other flashy things and the girl daydreaming is in one reality imagining another. The images of her daydream are clearly shown in the music video.
Anaya's version is first of all set in a sex shop which i think is ironic and gives another meaning to you can have whatever you like in a more sexual way then was presented in t.i's video. The images of her daydream are not presented but she is playful in the video with her interaction with different customers and you get a sense of what she wants by the way she acts.
Sarah brought up an interesting fact because even in todays society men are still associated with wanting sex more than women do. Anaya whether she was just making a parody or not goes against that norm. I find it fascinating how two songs with the exact same lyrics can have such different meanings by just simply changing the vocals and the music of the song.
This was really interesting; seeing the same words combined with different music and visuals that really change the feel and the meaning of the song. I also agree with Sarah, that both videos are dream-like and a creation of fantasy.
My first thought was also about the role reversal between T.I and Anya Marina. This was the first time I'd actually heard the song, but I had read the lyrics in a sketch for a comedy show. (The idea was to read lyrics dramatically.) Just hearing the lyrics spoken brought more of the T.I video to mind, so that's what I was expecting. However I really enjoyed Anya Marina's version because of the acoustic nature of the song, and the "unexpected" theme in her video.
I think that when a man sings a song, and a woman sings the song, it completely changes the connotation of the lyrics, regardless of whether or not they're singing the exact same words or not. Like everyone has noted, T.I.'s version has the clear implication of a man buying a woman all the material goods she could ever want, where are Anya's version has a much different implication of offering her body. It's funny how they can sing the exact same words and yet convey such very different meanings. I think that it all comes down to stereotypes and what we expect from a man and a woman. Even in modern society, chances are we wouldn't expect a man to offer his body to anyone, and we wouldnt expect a woman to offer material goods, it just isnt what we know. Particularly in the music industry, women have to be seen as "sexy", otherwise the chances of them making it in the industry are slim to none.
I had never heard either version so coming from a completely outside experience it was cool to see such varied interpretations of almost the exact same lyrics. Both play off of the theme of fantasies but both do so in a unique way. I hardly felt as if I was watching/listening to the same song!
As others have mentioned both the style and setting of the songs play into the themes that each emphasizes. The breathy style of Anya Marina emphasizes the sexual nature of her rendition while the hip hop piece of T.I. contrasts well with the bling and glamor of his rendition. Thanks for putting these two pieces up for us to listen to! They were very interesting to contrast.
Ha! That was fun. I agree with Perla, that my interpretation of the songs would be very different if I was just listening instead of watching the video, but now that I have seen the videos there's no going back.
I thought Anya Marina's version added a whole new dimension, because the original video was not particularly creative. T.I. created a pretty stereotypical rap video, with the ego macho, powerful rap artist staring at us under his shades and showing off the bling and riches that make women desire him. In contrast I found Anya's video to be pretty humorous :)
T.I.'s original intent seemed to be to emphasize his material wealth and power based on his fame. He's able to give her "whatever she likes", as far as material goods are concerned. Though in this version some of the lyrics talk about sex, the overall tone of the song doesn't really emphasize this which might be kind of surprising. Anya Marina parody turns it into a humorous reinterpretation, in which she chooses to focus on the sexual undertones of the entire song. By setting it in a sex shop and using comedic actors and over emphasizing the sexual tone, it makes it a comedy.
I read all of the comments before I watched the videos. Taking inspiration from Perla and Holly's idea, I decided to just listen to the songs first, and then watch the videos that accompany them. I should note that because I read all of the posts beforehand, I did garner an idea of what the videos were about.
With only listening to the songs, I was not able to tell a difference in the connotation by each artist. It was the videos that made the translation apparent.
I had heard T.I's version before, not thinking that it was anything special. I really enjoyed Anya's version; her voice is very pretty. Plus, you could actually understand what she was saying! I have a hard time what rappers are saying, and T.I. had his moments where I was completely lost.
I agree with Sarah about the role reversal, but I would not have considered it had I not seen the videos. Take Aubrey's example line: "Let me put this big boy in yo life". Just reading that, I would assume that T.I. is referring to his man parts, instead of to his whole self. It is Anya who takes the sexual route, as showcased by her video. We expect the guys to think about sex moreso than women, and I think that is part of the reason that Anya's video is so intriguing.
First of all I LOVE this song! Anya's version is definitely my favorite, although I've never heard of this version before.
Even though both songs contain the same lyrics the over all feel of the music is very different. First of all there is always a difference in interpretation when a piece of music is changed from its original form into an acoustic version. For me an acoustic version of a song lets me focus more on what the lyrics actually say along with the musicality of the melody.
These lyrics are suggestive, very suggestive, and the acoustic version lets it all hang out, so to speak :) I think I like the second version better because it's flirty, and fun. I don't particularly like T.I's version because of the way it I think it portrays woman as a kind of accessory that can be bought out and flaunted like a possession. That's just me. I also don't really listen to much hip hop, so the acoustic version is more my style anyways.
Lindzi has a good point. The stripped down, acoustic version has fewer auditory distractions, so focus is more on the lyrics than on the visuals. I think it's interesting that in most popular music there are tons of references and innuendos that we don't hear or pay attention to even though they are right there in the lyrics. I think if we all took time to really pay attention to the words the singer are using, we'd be pretty surprised. Sadly, this would probably take a lot of the fun out of listening to the song.
This was an interesting post. Neither song is really to my taste, but the extreme differences in style used to present the lyrics were interesting to see. The comparison really helped to highlight the importance of the musical arrangement and music video can have on a song. Lyrics are not necessarily the most important way of creating the atmosphere and tone of a song. The music itself changes the overall tone of each song, but I felt that the musical choices didn’t quite change the meaning in the lyrics. I agree with Kami’s comment that the different connotations of each song were not necessarily apparent when only listening to the music. It was the visual presentation that really emphasized that songs were each very focused on a different interpretation of the lyrics. T. I.’s version, as everyone has mentioned, chooses to interpret the words “whatever you like” in a very material way, while Anya’s video very clearly chooses to interpret those words in a sexual way. The choices made by each artist managed to tell two very different stories, even though they used thee same words to tell it.
I think Perla has an interesting point; would our perspectives be different if we just heard the song without the video?
Like I said before, I would stil prefer Anya's version, just because it's more my style of music. I don't think I would pick up on any of the sexual themes, though. Just listening to TI's version, I think I would infer it to be more sexual. Maybe that's due to a sterotype of my own, or that I've just come to expect lots of pop/rap songs to have an underlying sexual meaning.
Then again, Anya's version is a bit more sultry, and could be taken as more sexual/seductive.
This was a really interesting topic, Ingrid. I think it's interesting to see how not only the musical style, but also the choices made in the music videos affects our perception of the song and its meaning.
I really like this song! It brings back high school memories! Anyways, I had never seen either of the videos, but I had heard T.I's version of the song. And like others said, it promotes the glitz, glamour, diamonds and fame. But actually watching the video sort of changed my mind about the song. It's not just him saying this to her, but it shows that she can only achieve the life of luxury with him. Not on her own. In the past, I could see him taking his girl out and being prince charming and buying her stuff, but in the video he drags her out of her life and gives her everything she wants...only with him. It bothers me that this video has this connotation!
Anya's version is so explicit! Just hearing her voice suggests sex sex sex. Her voice is suggestive and the video shows her teasing and flirting subtly with her clients. Like Sarah said, the roles are reversed, and it's a little shocking that they are. Its interesting that while they have the exact same lyrics, what they did to the song is very different, and Anya's version is a lot more empowering, and having all those guys flirting with her shows that she doesn't need a man, she can have anyone she wants!
I think that the two versions of this song both play to the element of a person's fantasies in both the sexual and relationship aspect.
In TI's version, the video shows a girl who is brought into a life of luxury because of dating a rich man. TI states that he could buy the girl anything that she wants. This version shows very little sexual insinuation as apposed to the version by Anya Marina. The entire video of Anya's is in a sex shop. This alludes that the meaning of the song is geared toward the sexual fantasies of the people in the store. Meaning that whatever they want in their sexual life can be satisfied in that store. The song is much more seductive and mellow in comparison to TI's version. Anya's is also much more explicit in showing the sexual aspect of the lyrics. TI, on the other hand, did not explore the sexuality of the song. He focused more on the obvious and general aspects of the song, literally getting her everything that she wants.
I think overall, the two versions are very similar but Anya's video is much more bold and sexual which can serve as important in the aspect of being more feminine and seductive as opposed to TI.
Hmmm… To start, I am more familiar with the T.I. version. In this version, T.I. is letting his woman know that he has it all, that he is the best for her because “she can have whatever [she] likes.” It’s as if he is advertising all the things he can do for her, almost like a singles add. His video is filled with fancy cars, nice houses and stacks of $100 bills. Though his song has some provocative lyrics, they are overshadowed by his willingness to impress his ladies with his status and money. It’s a girl’s dream t be able to go into any shoe store and get whatever she likes as shown by a scene in his music video. T.I. chooses not to explore sexual connotations but more rather on what he has to offer. The beat of the song makes it more enjoyable and makes the song fun.
Anya Marina’s version, on the other hand, is filled with the sexuality that T.I. doesn’t explore. First and foremost, the video takes place in a sex shop. Anya definitely has a seductive quality about her that completely changes the message of the lyrics. Instead of a man singing about what he can provide for his woman, listeners get more of a “let’s get it on” type of atmosphere. Instead of exploring the “whatever you like” as in money and material things, Anya presents it more as “you can have sex anyway you want.”
I really enjoyed listening and watching each version, and it’s interesting how simply changing the set and beat can drastically change the meaning of a song.
So i watched the videos again and noticed something else about the two videos and the artists in particular. T.I's video makes him almost a father figure providing financial support, a place to live, and even food. He doesn't portray himself as after the sex which is what comes across just by reading the lyrics. He doesn't portray himself as exchanging money and comfort for the the warmth of a woman or even multiple women. Yet when watching Anya's video she portrays herself as being very sexual and indeed looking for this... "You want it I got it". I also noticed that after she sings "stacks on end, patron on ice, we can pop bottles all night and baby you can have whatever you like" an "open" motel sign comes across the screen to clarify beyond doubt that she is talking explicitly about sex. Even just looking at her body language and how she pushes away from the counter as if anxious while making seductive eye contact with customers entering the sex shop she is without a doubt conveying the message of sex.
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