Music Video Research and Planning

We have chosen a song by Yung Lean who is a 20 year old rapper from Sweden. The song We have chosen is Kyoto which is Rap song based around the artists life.  

Lyrics Analysis

Yung Lean – Kyoto

Do me, I'm a do me

(Comfortable being himself)

I'm a make her mine, I'm a make her mine

I said fuck the shine, I said fuck the shine

Bitch, I grind, bitch, I grind

Yung Lean swerving in see me fucked up

See me swervin' through, they want me locked up

Been locked up, in my own mind

(Has/Had mental issues)

My thoughts will never be shut out

I got an empire of emotional

Squad see me crusin', crusin' in my go kart

I'm War ho, I'm Warhol

I'm Wario when I'm in Mario Kart

(Sees himself as a villain to society)

Topping the charts

Ace in my cards

(Talking about how great he is)

Choppa my locka when I'm writing these bars

Koka Kola Veins, I'm insane

Trip through memory lane

(Saying he is on drugs often)

Out in Narashino and I see my own white shadow

A tad too close

(Experiencing drug side effects )

Rad with a bad diagnose

Coke-filled nose

Too weird for them other fuck boys

Catch Lean and sad boys

Out in Europe, sippin' cristal

(Talking about his different experiences with drugs)

I'm smoking loud with my lost boys

All this money don't make me sad though

(Talking about how he enjoys his life style)

Rubber bands in my pants bur

Don't close your eyes

And lean back though

Ya'll ain't ready for the lean attack though

Lean, lean, lean

Yunging with my Team

Pumping RZA eating pizza

Man I'm living my dreams

(The life style he has hasn’t affected him yet and he’s enjoying his life.)

My life I've comprehended, it's not a lie

I'm dependent on my team

When I send it, I spit fire I'm an element

I'm everything

(Making himself sound great)

You're irrelevant

Take it easy

Yeah we getting it

BBC pants yeah I'm getting rich

All this love I'm melting it

(Again saying how great his life is and that because he is currently relevant he is untouchable)

Don't let me down I'm not meant for it

If you ask me, I might come for it

I'll take back to the rain forest

My heart and soul, yeah you tore it

I don't want to be here, but my lives more of it

(He doesn’t want to be famous he just want to be loved by his fan)

There's more of it

S-A-D B-O-Y-S

See me in the club with it tatted on my chest

S-A-D B-O-Y-S

See me in the cut with it tatted on my chest

See me on the bus, blowing sesh

(With all his money he still human using public transport)

Nothing less, we the best

Fuck the rest

(He only cares about himself and his friends)

Water in my lungs

Finna quest

I won't hit the earth

(He’s untouchable)

Fire, water, dirt

Too turnt, too burnt

Make mistakes, I guess I'll never learn

(His life style causes many mistakes)

See, see that's my firm

Nike, Nike on my shirt

Bubbles bubbles, blowing bubbles

But I guess they'll never burst

(He is currently on a high point of life and is convinced that it will last)

Empire of my state of mind

I'm a do me, I'm a make it mine

I say fuck the shine

I say fuck the shine

(He hates the fame)

Bitch I grind, bitch I grind

I'm hard to find

(Maybe hard to find emotionally) 

The concept of the lyrics is that it is the artist talking about his life style and the benefits and issues that come along with his life style. He talks about great his life is when he states "Man I'm living my dreams" Which tells us that he does enjoy certain aspects of his life, however this could be a front be puts up to his audience but in reality he hates the fame that has come along with the line " I don't want to be here" which could be his inner thoughts but he cant express these thoughts fully so he suppresses them. He also talks many times about the drugs he gets involved in which he talks about in positive ways with the line "Trip through memory lane" which is saying whilst hes high he is think of his fondest memory's, but he flips this later when saying "smoking loud with my lost boys" which I would think he is saying he is lost as a person ans is surrounded by people who are also lost as people and they don't know who they are and who they want to be. This could all be about the artist while he is high and the positive expression is he during a good drug experience and the negative could be him during a bad drug experience. I personally feel the meaning of this song is to highlight the weight of fame and that on the outside artists have to pretend to be happy with their success when in reality they are unhappy people who do not like the life style they have. 

The imagery I got from this is a certain individual dressed extravagantly walking around the streets putting up a front that he is all together and sane dancing along with the music and lip syncing with effects over the top of this the give of the effect that he is mentally struggling. It could also be seen as the effects are side effects of the drug he has taken. Another image I get from this is once again and certain individual in the back of night clubs doing as many drugs he can get his hands on whilst lights flash around and and again effects over the top to show how out of it the person is.   

The narrative of The lyrics would be that the artist is having issues with his life and that the life style of famous rappers can cause major damage I their lives, along with that the fact that they must appear fine to their audience as their lives are so public. The artist is trying to shed light on what he actually thinks rather than what his audience hears and his making parallels by including both sides of his thoughts. 

The Genre of Yung Lean's music is Hip Hop however his music is very unique and because of this fits in many different sub-genres. Yung Lean is known for the sub-genre Vaporwave which is a electronic type music that is characterized by the surrealist fascination with the entertainment and technology in the 1980's and the 1990's. Vaporwave and be identified visually by the different cultures that are shown during the video. These Vaporwave music videos can use any type of culture however Yung Lean tends to use Japaneses culture in his videos, using both Japanese settings and customs from japan whilst also using in many of his videos Japaneses text. The song we have chosen also uses Japanese culture and is also title Kyoto which is a location in Japan.     

The pace of the song is quick rapping so it is upbeat and moves quickly throughout without any noticeable breaks or stops, this means there should be no point where the video slows down and should keep to the with the tempo of the song to make it look like it belongs. The theme would would be street rapper and the video would be have to fit with the flow of the song. 

The duration of the original song is around 4 minutes 40 seconds however we have gone and altered it and got rid of the unnecessary parts and is now around 3 minutes. This means that we need to capture enough footage to cover the whole 3 minutes and must keep up enough quality to keep the audience engaged until the end of the song.

Yung Lean is a very different artist then the typical Hip Hop star these days and lots of this is down to his style and the unique way he dresses. Thought the time since he started his career Yung Lean has changed massively and this is mainly due to the impact that fame had on him changing his attitude and other metal elements that have changed through growing up since he is still fairly young. Another huge impact on him has been his drug use which has not only physically changed him but mentally has changed him. Yung Lean has a very unusual sense of style and can be seen wear very odd cloths varying from a bucket hat and a tracksuit to a dress and women's sunglasses. Yung Lean also has his own merchandise company "Sadboys" which prominently focuses on their logo a sad face and Japanese writing. Yung Lean can sometimes be seen promoting this merchandise and in his music videos, background actors can be seen promoting the clothes.  Yung Lean is not usually seen wearing make up in his music videos however when performing live on stage can do some random and unique things. On one occasion Yung Lean performed live and came out on stage with fake blood on his face with no significant reason or meaning behind why he did it. Because of Yung Leans unusual style he has now became a iconic artist in the Hip Hop genre.

Yung Leans music videos all have a similar tone and atmosphere of being sad and depressing mixed with relaxing and weird and all of his videos gives off a surreal feeling. Yung Leans music videos all have the same 80's/90's feel and is a huge impact on the way he does his music videos by using certain locations and themes. Yung Lean is known for Vaporwave music which uses heavy nostalgia to involve the audience and because of this the videos all give of the same kind of atmosphere. One example of Yung Lean using heavy nostalgia is in one of his music video the whole thing is him in front of a green screen with 80's/90's items in the background such as drinks, game controllers and current events going on in that time. Many of Yung Leans other video contain him and friends in different locations in Japan and revolve around him in urban areas of Japanese locations.He does this as lots of his music revolves around Japanese culture.

Yung Lean in most of his videos uses some kind of product placement. He uses this to get more promotion for his video and sometimes may get extra money for the placement. In Yung Leans early career he used items of nostalgia such as Pokemon cards and Nintendo controllers to give the audience certain feelings whilst also using existing products and promoting them. In recent videos Yung Lean uses more branded items of clothing such as Nike and Adidas and also references these brands in some lyrics. In terms of narrative there normally isn't any as Yung Leans lyrics don't really tell a story and more conveys deep and discreet meaning that he lets the audience interpret in their own way. As he doesn't follow a story he usually goes to urban places in Japan and get footage of him walking around the location with his friends whilst also getting cinematic shots of the landscape and building. Much of Yung Leans video include heavy use of of visual effects and is used to give off a psychedelic feeling as if you are seeing what Yung Lean is seeing and brings all of themes together under what Yung Lean sees of the world just as his lyrics do.