Empower yourself or die trying: a thematic and narrative analysis of the most famous music videos of Brazilian pop divas

Abstract

This article reports how female empowerment and female sexual objectification are present in music videos and songs belonging to the Brazilian Pop Divas. From a thematic analysis of video clips and lyrics, about 70 video clips and songs present on Youtube were analyzed. Compared to male artists, female artists were more sexually objectified, held to stricter standards of appearance, and more likely to demonstrate sexually attractive behavior; moreover, female singers were subjected to secondary roles in their music videos before male participation. Therefore, the consumption of Brazilian Pop Divas’ songs and music videos can influence and reinforce sexist attitudes and sexual objectification of the female figure for their consumers since these attitudes are normalized in present music videos and songs of the most acclaimed female singers in Brazil