Britney / Bjork Case Study

Britney Spears is one of the most influential teen turned female popstars in the world of ‘pop music’ today and is the type of star that we (as the audience) have begun to expect in todays music market. Britney’s aesthetics and attraction is a main part of her selling point, attracting both men and women of varying ages.

Bjork is a less popular type of star, being famous for not conforming with the world of music, creating her own genre, moving away from popular culture.
Eccentricity is the main attraction with Bjork and the main feature of her music and videos (which are a key part in her image) is to shock the audience and introduce them to something they haven’t seen before, giving them an alternative from the likes of Britney.

Britney’s musical career started when she was just 16 (although she had been involved with Disney since a very young age) and so through this her image started with that of a normal teen girl in American high school. This can be seen in her original video ‘One More Time’ (1998) where she is a school girl dreaming of a life that holds more adventure than the norm.
Despite the young age that she is at the time her sexual appeal is clearly defined within this first film and plays a role throughout with her objectification appealing to the heterosexual male audience whilst her age and type of music appeals to the young teen girls of the time, with whom she has become some what of an idol, particularly with the reflection of life she has shown throughout her songs and videos, showing how she can relate to the audience and her feelings are not that indifferent to their own.
Her changes in person can be reflected with her songs and their subsequent videos, “Oops I Did It Again” (2000) shows her in a dominant femme fatal position, with Britney in control, toying with human emotion and love. This begins to show the less innocent side that Britney has and wants to allow people to see she has.
“Over Protected” (2001) is a song that depicts Britney’s move from teenage girl into womanhood, this is something that the audience can relate to and plays upon the relationship she has with the audience and involving them within her personal life.
Commodification is apparent throughout Britney’s music videos particularly in “Oops..”
in which Britney is shown as a product that sells through her sexual appeal.

Bjork first came to prominence as one of the lead vocalists of the avant-pop Icelandic sextet the Sugarcubes, but when she launched a solo career after the group's 1992 demise, she quickly eclipsed her old band's popularity. Instead of following in the Sugarcubes' arty guitar rock pretensions, Björk immersed herself in dance and club culture her first solo single not only established her new artistic direction, but it became an international hit, making her one of the nineties most unlikely stars.
Bjork became the symbol of postmodernism within the music of the nineties and her difference from the popular norm was unique, attracting the new type of postmodern listeners.

Björk struck up a working relationship with Nellee Hooper, a producer who had formerly worked with Soul II Soul and Massive Attack. The first result of their partnership was "Human Behaviour" (1993). "Human Behaviour" became a Top 40 hit in the U.K, setting the stage for the surprising number three debut of the album. Throughout 1993, Björk had hit U.K. singles -- including "Venus as a Boy," "Big Time Sensuality," and the non-LP "Play Dead," a collaboration with David Arnold taken from the film Young Americans.
Her videos often were part of a collaboration with films of yester years.

The two stars have very different ideologies and audiences, Britney seems more stereotypical within the music industry, her ideology seems to appeal more to the teenage girl, who want to become the new Britney and are content on the popstar image and don’t want to break out from the norm.
Bjork’s ideology is completely different however and she appeals to both sexes because her music is not the key factor, Postmodernism takes the lead role within her music and attracts audiences with the idea of style over content.

The content of the two stars' videos is also very different and although the idea of a narrative performance based video is normally apparent in both, the content is completely differential.
“Human Behaviour” (1993) depicts the difference between Britney and Bjork well, in the video Bjork plays with the idea of Darwinism and the animal and humans are reversed within the video. The video is narrative and concept based and is a clear distinction of postmodernism text.
Britney’s videos are totally opposite to this and are very stereotypical with the whole focus of the video being upon the star and her objectification within the video, showing her commodification as a product rather than an individual.

The ideological views of both Britney and Bjork are vastly differentual. Britney's appeal is mainly aimed at young teenage girls who can relate to her videos and lyrics within their own life, as her music progresses and she gets older her music also starts to bring more relation to women of a similiar age to herself (early 20's)
although britney attracts both genders with her music videos because of her sexual appeal she is able to attract the male audience but because of her dominance that she portrays within her videos she can be considered an idol for the young female audience. 'Oops..' displays Britney in a sexual manner but she is also shown to be in control of the situation, toying with the male role. The power she has with this 'Femme Fatal' role also attracts the female audience and shows britney from a more feminist viewpoint.

Bjorks ideology appeals to not just one gender or age group it is a movement with her style and genre setting her apart from the rest, Bjork defies stereotypes. Men are supposed to be the producers, the ones who can arrange layers of beats and synth parts Bjork competes with the best men in the field. Bjork combines her own form of femininity with the usually masculine world of electronica. She is both conceptual and technical. She creates the trends instead of following them.
Bjork is a idol for all those different who aren't confromist and do not wish to follow guidelines for expressing themselves.