Visuals and Lyrics

The Importance of Matching Visuals to Lyrics 

We also looked at the importance of linking the video to the lyrics. Although we decided that in general it is more important that the sounds match the visuals, the lyrics also play an important part, and throughout most music videos, links to the lyrics are made. 

Links made between lyrics and visuals are particularly prominent in the music video for Fester Skank by Lethal Bizzle, where each item/ situation stated in each line is shown. For example, when he says ‘lambo’ (short for Lamborghini) he is shown sitting in a toy Lamborghini. In this video the lyrics are taken very literally and the lyrics are the main theme for the music video. However, as it is a dance track, the fast pace of shots is still used, showing that the sounds have also been taken into consideration. 

Despite the fact that this was the only music video that we studied whose lyrics directly matched the visuals, there were subtle links in some of the other videos that we studied. For example, in Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen when we hear the line ‘I see a little silhouette of a man’ we see one of the band member’s silhouettes. 

Also when we looked at King by Years and Years, towards the end of the video, he sings ‘let go, let go, let go of everything’. At this point, we see him fighting with the people whom we assume he is imagining around him. He then ‘lets go’ and they all disappear.