Music Videos Imagery and Lyrics

Girl In A Country Song - Maddie & Tae

Girls/Girls/Boys - Panic! At The Disco

The music video of "Girl in a Country Song" by Maddie and Tae uses numerous lyrical methods of transforming gender ideologies.  Maddie and Tae are explaining to the audience how girls are not getting "treated like ladies" and are being disrespected by the male population.  The artists start the song off by singing, "I hate the way this bikini top chafes, Do I really have to wear it all day?"  The stereotypical gender role of a woman in a country song is to wear skimpy clothing, act in a promiscuous way, and be the man's sexual desire.  However, in this song, Maddie and Tae want to wear comfortable, "real" clothes, and not the typical tight bikini top.  Moreover, the women are explaining to the audience that they have a name and a purpose within their lyrics.  The lyrics state, "'Cause I got a name and to you it ain't 'pretty little thing', 'hottie', or 'baby'" which challenges the gender role of the men always initiating a flirtatious comment to women.  In addition, the lyrics describe how the girls are only good for looking good for the boys and their friends on the weekend and how respect has diminished since the past.  Maddie and Tae are challenging the gender ideology of women simply just looking good for men; they want to be equals with men, wear what they want, and not be treated like a subordinate.  

            The visuals in the video challenge gender ideologies as well. Throughout the video, a girl is shown hoeing a garden like a farmer would do.  This goes against the stereotypical gender role for a woman because women are not usually seen as farmers but rather doing chores within the household.  The video zooms on a sign that says, “Role Reversal,” and then captures three boys dressed in crop tops, one of them being pink, jean short shorts, and tall leather cowboy boots.  The boys are walking in a way that would be considered a “girl walk” by walking with their hand on their hip.  Maddie and Tae are trying to challenge gender ideologies by putting the boys in the video in a girl’s perspective.  After the boys arrive to the scene, Maddie slaps one of the boys’ butts. A boy usually does the slapping of a girl’s butt because the gender role of a boy is to initiate sexual desires. Other scenes throughout the video show gender reversal, such as a boy eating a strawberry in a sexy way, three boys washing a car and rubbing bubbles on their legs to act like a woman, and a boy posing on a swing with his butt poked out to the side.  All of these visuals are reversing the gender role of women and men, because women are typically the ones to show sexuality.

            The second music video is “Girls/Girls/Boys” by Panic! At The Disco.  This music video shows gender role reversal within its lyrics and visuals as well.  The entire video captures the frontman Brendon Urie completely naked, but the camera does not go past his genitals.  Brendon Urie has a very frail, slender body, which goes against a male’s stereotypical gender role of being tough and muscular.  Urie also rubs his hands through his hair multiple times throughout the video.  Some might suggest that the hand through the hair is not portraying the gender role of a man and more towards a woman’s.  Urie sings, “Girls love girls and boys, and love is not a choice.”  This statement goes against the gender ideology of women having intimate relationships with only men.  The video suggests that Urie is open to homosexuality and bisexuality.