Textual Analysis – Kiss and Tell by You Me at Six

Kiss and Tell is the latest single to be released by the band, whose current record label is Slam Dunk records. They have only previously released 4 other singles so are generally not very well known. The genre of there music is alternative rock/pop punk and the music is aimed at a younger audience, mainly teenagers. The latest single is very similar to previous singles which have been successful for the band within there relatively small audience. The video portrays a party in which many teenagers would be able to associate with this and everything going on in the video. This is common of the pop punk/alternative rock genre.

There is a lot of relevance between the lyrics and the visuals. This is shown through the entire video with the director wanting to portray the band as being young, care free and fun loving. The song lyrics portray a very care free lifestyle that many young teenagers have and want. This is shown throughout the video by the massive house party that is going on with everybody doing things they shouldn’t and having a fun time.

Throughout the whole video there is a relationship between the music and the visuals with all the different cuts being in time with the music. These cuts are very fast paced as the music has a high tempo. Throughout the video the cuts keep going back and forth between scenes of the band playing and the band members joining in with the party and having a good time. The pace of the video is fairly quick and this is kept consistent throughout.

The image of the band is promoted significantly throughout the video with lots of close up shots of the lip syncing and the band members playing their instruments. There are also lots of shots of the band members joining in and having fun at the house party. The mise-en-scene is of lots of people of similar age to the band members enjoying themselves at the house party. This is also showing very stereotypical antics of teenagers at a house party. There are lots of shots of the band members as in other videos by You Me at Six such as save it for the bedroom.

This is a very typical music video of this genre that doesn’t challenge any generic conventions and is not a very original idea. Lots of other bands who work in the same genre have created videos along similar lines such as Boys like girls, Kids in glass houses and Go audio.

Kiss and tell is very much a performance video with lots of shots of the band playing and lip syncing with the lead singer. There is no narrative structure within in this video as it just cuts between the band playing and scenes from a house party.

In conclusion this is a very simple and easy video to make, but it portrays the band in exactly the way in which they want to be portrayed. It also targets a very small audience who would find this video very relevant to there lifestyle and would be able to associate with it.