Analysis of John Mayer - 'Queen of California'

American Rock

This music video present some aspects of the rock genre such as performing live during the music video, and in the case John Mayer, he is performing throughout the whole of the music video but with different situations and scenes that are not related to the lyrics of the song.

The aspect of the music video that stands out to me is the one continuous edit throughout the whole of the music video- continuously focused on the artists as the main object in the music video.

The music video starts off with a close up of the guitar played by the artist, immediately portraying an image of John Mayer. The glum setting of the bedroom seems to match the artists style/image almost making him blend into the background and the guitar stand out, this helps to symbolise the main asset of his music. This is a key aspect of many of his music videos and has built up a unique style that he uses, making him identifiable from this style.

At the beginning of the music video John Mayer seems to be completely oblivious to us as an audience, however when he starts to sing his attention is drawn to us and continues throughout the music video. Only leaving our eye contact during periods where there are no lyrics.

In some ways the music video has a casual link to the meaning of the lyrics however it does appear to be very random! We see him walking through different scenery related to the lifestyle of this 'Queen of California'. The lyrics describe a failed relationship with another women and this music video demonstrates him moving onto a better time!

These different montages of scenes are then mixed with a range of performance based sections where John Mayer performs with his band. He is seen to interact with the other band members and allows the audience to see the relationship between the members of the band and gives them an insight into the lives of the band members. Because of the continuous edit throughout the whole of the music video we find ourselves tracking around John Mayer past the band members almost singling him out from the others., suggesting he is the main 'attraction' in this music video.

At the beginning the lyrics say 'Goodbye cold, Goodbye rain' at the point in the song he has stepped out into the cold and rain and is moving through into nicer weather into a forest, this directly links the visual to the lyrics.

Throughout the music video the lyrics have a casual link with what is on screen but they do not highlight the negative aspects of the lyrics, only the positive parts as if he is moving on and has no hard feelings about the previous relationship.