Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

This video is by Pop Artist, Jason Mraz, and it is for the unorthodox song ‘I’m Yours’. The video was filmed in Hawaii and was directed by Darren Doane. Whilst being a pop song and falling into a pop genre it was seen as a summer anthem in it’s year of release, 2008, because of the holiday beat and catchy melody.
The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, in contrast to the Script video above particularly, are very limited to a couple of little actions. The song itself isn’t the easiest to grasp and the meaning is not as obvious as the title might suggest, and because of this is just seen as a feel-good song without a story line. The video is certainly linked into this theme regular showing shots of Mraz singing along and enjoying the experience. During the video he is seen travelling around with a certain sense of freedom and this links into one particular line of the song. “I won’t hesitate, no more.” This suggests to me that this video shows him putting this advice for himself into practice as it shows him travelling with the wind in his hair, smiling and singing along to his song. Another small instance of the visuals linking with the lyrics is when Mraz makes a hand symbol of a heart momentarily as he sings the word “love” repeatedly. Other than that though, the video takes on a concept style with elements of performance. This is because it takes a shape that doesn’t relate to the lyrics very much and effectively becomes unrelated to the song.
As touched on briefly, the music and the video do have links. Mraz acts like somebody who is enjoying the experience of driving around and relaxing in various places and the music backs up the atmosphere being created. The beat is of the song leads to it being up tempo and the video does cut in time with it and the transitions work similarly to increase the tempo of the action. The very noticeable guitar beat in the background is also linked in with the video where during the early scene set in a flat a guitar is seen, but none of the music is being played visibly. The pace changes in the song are very well hidden but do exist, because of the nature of the song though the on paced nature of the video fits well and a change of pace where that is concerned is not missed at all. The way this track is being sold is simple. The song is a feel-good sound and the video attempts to highlight that, by moving away from narrative video styles they are able to depict scenes that are not necessarily linked to the song, but the vibe created by it. The image of Mraz fits in with the theme of the song and one that I have seen previously relating to him. He is pictured as a relaxed and laidback character, who is, to coin a phrase, fairly cool. Not only does this fit in with the video and the atmosphere created by that, it fits in with the limited star image motifs that Mraz is known for. The video includes him looking relaxed, as is his musical style, wearing various t-shirts and most importantly includes him wearing a hat. During different videos and when generally in the public eye he has been associated with lots of various pieces of head gear, from baseball caps to straw hats.
During the second half of the video there is the inclusion of several attractive young women and both the male and female characters are wearing very little clothing but rather than using them as sex symbols I think it is more likely a reference to the holiday feel of the video and song, but it is up for debate and down to interpretation. For instance, none of the camera shots are used to emphasize the fact that swimming costumes are worn, suggesting that the women are there as an accessory not as the focal point. The notion of looking is limited to shots of Mraz then the video cutting to viewpoint shots showing the viewer what he is looking at. AN example of this is when sat at the skate park several shots are shown of skaters passing close by to the camera, which is situated where Mraz is sat. This further suggests the video is not only an attempt to create a happy a free atmosphere, but an extension of the emotions of Mraz himself.
In conclusion this video, whilst being performance based, like many pop videos, is very different in many other ways. Because of the concept nature of it and the lack of relation to the lyrics of the song it can result in the viewers having very different opinions of the video and its meaning.