Who is Sven E Karlsson?

What is Sven's theory? Sven is a music theorist who believed music videos fell in to two categories:

1. Performance

2. Conceptual

A performance based music video is simple that - performance. The artist is singing, dancing ect in their video. An example of this would be Rihanna's - 'Rude Boy'

In this video we see the star (Rihanna) merely dancing and singing. There is no narrative behind the video other than performance.

A performance based video can be based on three things:

1. Song performance

2. Dance performance

3. Instrumental performance

The purpose of performance videos is to show the artist off as much as they can. Karlsson argues that the performer is often made in to a materialisation or 'commercial exhibitionist' - this is where the artist is made to sell an item; often fans find themselves wanting to be them, they desire to be the artist.

The performer is used to sell their music and advertise themselves.

Another type of performance video is the 'electronic shaman' this is where the artist is not seen but heard. They are invisible and only their voice anchors the visuals of what the audience sees. An example of this would be Gorrilaz - 'Clint Eastwood' 

During this video there's no visuals of the actual band but only animated versions. 99% of their videos are of this structure where the band is animated and not real. 

'Television Bard'is the next type of performance based video. This simply means a singing storyteller. Instead of a 'commercial exhibitionist' where their purpose is to impress and sell, a television bard is shown in the form of audio-visual imagery. Sometimes the 'bards' perform in their own videos.

An example of this would be Eminem's - 'No Love' 

The genre is rap and which follows some narration with Emimem and Lil' Wayne telling a story of bullying and rising to the top through stages of rap. This version of a television bard the artists are seen within the video along side the narrative.

Moving onto a 'Narrative clip' a good example of this would be  'Katy Perry's - 'Roar' 

The music video is understood through the telling of Katy and how she has crashed with a useless man and becomes Queen of the jungle. We understand this through the narration and how the lyrics match the visuals. The story is predictable and easy to follow as the lyrics suggest she will come up tops - "I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar!" 

Lastly, 'Art clip' this is where the music video contains no perceptible visual narrative and no lip-syncing it is just a pure art video. These styles of videos are much more modern and experimental - found a lot in electro and house genres. An example of this would be 'Massive Attacks's - 'Teardrops'  

as the video is just of a baby growing in a womb and brings forth the theory of conceptual binary opposites throughout life (life and death)