Miss Independent

"Everybody is doing the same old thing."
-Missy Elliot

As part of our research, I decided to look into how the model/singer should present herself, and how she should act. I looked into how female pop acts have developed over the last 30 years, and how I should present Ultra Violet to meet the needs of the mainstream at present. Perfect Circle is a song detailing the singer's reaction to a failed relationship, so the actress could either present herself as sad or angry, or uncaring-or even happy.

Firstly, I looked into women in pop in the 80s/90s. I found it particularly common for women to gain success with ballads, but most notably ballads detailing the artist's sadness towards the subject matter, or emphasising the position of the man in the relationship. An example is the 1993 hit, Mariah Carey's 'Hero':



This tradition carried on into the late 90s, with leading pop acts such as Britney Spears presenting a feminine 'weakness':



But now, we are in an era of confident women, where women take control and are powerful-the era of 'Miss Independent'. Women in mainstream pop, and mostly in electro-pop, now present themselves aggressively, and the important 'fierce' factor can be seen throughout recent releases. For example, in the video for 'Sometimes' above, Britney sings 'sometimes I run, sometimes I hide, sometimes I'm scared of you'. This shows a predictable female sensitivity. 10 years later, the artist Rihanna, whom is now in a similar scale of popularity to Spears, is now singing and acting the complete opposite:



Other leading artists such as Lady GaGa and Madonna as well as Britney Spears have also entered this aggressive stage, and the mainstream has taken this image under its wing. Thus, it inspired my ideas and intentions for the video, and with Lana's approval, we agreed that the artist, Ultra Violet, should be presented as a strong, aggressive woman.