SoundCloud Audio of Sparks Fly - Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift (Sparks Fly song) genre analysis.

The genre of the song Sparks Flys is country pop.

Brief description on country pop:

Country pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that arose in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to Top 40 radio, country pop artists are now more likely to cross over to adult contemporary.
The coming together of country and pop began in the 1950s when studio executives Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley wanted to form a new kind of music for the young adult crowd after “rockabilly stole away much of country music's youth audience”. According to Bill Ivey, this innovative genre originated in Nashville, Tennessee and thus became known as Nashville Sound. Ivey believes that the “Nashville Sound often produced records that sounded more pop than country” after the removal of the fiddle and banjo. Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, and Eddy Arnold were among the most popular artists during this time. This was intended to have country singers gain more success in pop music and sell more records. The first male artists to come out of this new genre were Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold, who both grew to have widespread acceptance in both country and pop music. Both Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold had major influence on Elvis Presley, apparent not only in secular songs, but even more so in country gospel songs. The first female country singer to emerge from this new genre was Patsy Cline in the early 60s. She created a whole new breed of female country artists,[such as Lynn Anderson, Crystal Gayle and Shania Twain, who gained prominence in later years. Even though Cline also gained widespread acceptance from country and pop audiences alike, the Nashville Sound did not maintain its popularity for long, receiving competition first from the Bakersfield Sound and later the outlaw movement.

Lyric Analysis

The way you move is like a full on rainstorm
And I'm a house of cards
You're the kind of reckless ß Straight away she starts the song describing how her boyfriend is.
That should send me runnin'
But I kinda know that I won't get far
And you stood there in front of me
Just close enough to touch
Close enough to hope you couldn't see
What I was thinking of ß She’s stating how she wants to break away from the relationship but is too weak to do so.

Drop everything now ß She wants to forget all the negative things and that there is something still something between them.
Meet me in the pouring rain
Kiss me on the sidewalk
Take away the pain
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile
Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down
Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile ß She doesn’t see the bad in him anymore when he smiles.

My mind forgets to remind me  ß In the back of her mind she knows he’s no good but still he  
                                                         manages to win her over and have control over her emotions.
You're a bad idea
You touch me once and it's really something,
You find I'm even better than you imagined I would be. ß She is describing her change of feeling
                                                                                                      when he is and not around her.
I'm on my guard for the rest of the world
But with you I know it's no good
And I could wait patiently but I really wish you would...

Drop everything nowß Repeat of notes from the first chorus.
Meet me in the pouring rain
Kiss me on the sidewalk
Take away the pain
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile
Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down
Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile

I run my fingers through your hair and watch the lights go wild.
Just keep on keeping your eyes on me, it's just wrong enough to make it feel right.
And lead me up the staircase
Won't you whisper soft and slow?
I'm captivated by you, baby, like a firework show. ß She is still expressing how he has this hold over her and she enjoys it.

Drop everything now, ß Repeat notes of chorus.
Meet me in the pouring rain,
Kiss me on the sidewalk,
Take away the pain
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile.
Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down
Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile

And the sparks fly...
Oh, baby, smile...
And the sparks fly...

Storyboard

Rough draft of storyboard.

New idea (part 2)

Brief background on Taylor Swift:

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. She was brought up in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, then moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of fourteen to pursue a career in country music. She signed to the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. The release of Swift's eponymous debut album in 2006 established her as a country music star. "Our Song", her third single, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number one song on the country chart. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 2008 Grammy Awards.Swift is known for her narrative songs about her experiences as a teenager and young adult. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Swift's other successful achievements include six Grammy Awards, eleven American Music Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards and six Academy of Country Music Awards. She has sold over 26 million albums and 75 million digital downloads worldwide.

Brief background on her song Sparks Fly:

"Sparks Fly" is a song for her third studio album Speak Now (2010). It was written and produced by Swift, with additional production helmed by Nathan Chapman. Swift wrote the song when she was 16 years old, prior to the release of her debut single "Tim McGraw" in 2006. Following a 2007 live performance of the song, "Sparks Fly" grew in popularity among Swift's fans. While Speak Now was under production, she received requests from fans to include the song on the album. The song was serviced to country radio in the United States by Big Machine Records on July 18, 2011, as the fifth single from Speak Now. A CD single was released on Swift's official store for a limited time on August 10, 2011. ''Sparks Fly'' gained generally positive reviews by music critics, who praised it for its upbeat tempo. Others praised Swift's lyrics of the song and have claimed that the song is a crossover between country and pop. Following the release of Speak Now, the song debuted at number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number 28 on the Canadian Hot 100, due to strong digital sales. After the song was released as a single, it re-entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at 84. It peaked at number one at the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 500,000 copies. "Sparks Fly" was used as the opening song for the Speak Now World Tour (2011–12).

New idea (part 1)

What was the cause for the original idea change?
We previously chose the song Voodoo Child by the Rogue Trader. After analysing the up to date footage we came to realise the idea was going nowhere and that it would have been more of a struggle to try and build upon it. Reasons for this was that the location (drama studio) was restricted, the mise-en-scene was not coming through and the flow of the narrative was not happening as we pictured it to.

What is the new song choice and idea?
The new song we all agreed on is Sparks Fly by Taylor Swift. We were aware not to choose a popular artist as it would be impossible to measure up to their style but as there is no video for this song we will build it around our chosen genre and style which is edgy punk so it's not similar to Taylor Swift's style who has been described as 'America's sweetheart'. The theme in her songs are based around romance/relationships and she makes this clear through her performances in the narratives for each video such as physical actions, facial expressions and emotions. The idea is the typical boy meets girl narrative but it will be a split screen showing two scenarios of two different couples. Olivia Hartland-Robbins and Josie Crandley will be casted as the female roles. There is not set location, I (May) will be filming the video in various locations such as school, Richmond Park, Olivia and Josie's house. 

As a group, we just felt as though nothing was working with our old idea, and we chose the song Sparks Fly, because both Olivia and Josie know the song really well, and have imagined a fitting music video in their minds every time they listen to the song. Our current idea is to have a boy and girl who have a rollercoaster relationship, enjoying each others company until the relationship starts to go horribly wrong and they start to argue and it goes down hill from there. We decided to add in a plot twist of Josie then falling pregnant, and leaving the video on a cliff hanger.

The idea change was sudden and stressful but I think we can pull it off, considering how well we work as a team and our close knowledge of the song. We looked at Taylor Swift's other videos, because we obviously understand that she is a HUGE artist, so we did not want to copy her image or her type cast/stereotype. We have chosen to make Josie an edgier character. This helps us to establish a difference between us and Taylor Swift.

Some research into a record label.

I've decided to do my research on the Big Machine Records which is an independent American record label specialising in country music artists. It was set up in 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta. The label was part of a joint venture between Borchetta and country singer Toby Keith, although Keith dropped his affiliation in 2006. Big Machine is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and is distributed by Universal Music Group. The label has six Grammy Awards, awarded to Taylor Swift.  

Current artists that are under the Big Machine Records are pictured below in order starting with Ella Mae Bowen, Edens Edge, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift.