Blinding Lights (The Weeknd): formal techniques and branded content in MTV’s Video of the Year

The main objective of this paper is the textual analysis of a music video of the year according to MTV, as a representative model of the practices in the current context. The selected music video is Blinding Lights by The Weeknd, winner of Video of the Year 2020 at the MTV Video Music Awards. The application of a textual analysis on a single audiovisual work is a frequent practice in video clip studies. We intend through the textual analysis to discover the keys to its formal articulation, with an informative purpose. The textual analysis allows to identify here frequent practices in the format: variety of shots with a functional sense, many camera motions, lack of raccord between shots, a weak narrative or the circular ordering of events, among others. Furthermore, Blinding Lights is paradigmatic of music video production in the contemporary context due to its obvious commercial purpose, as part of a branded content strategy for the car Brand Mercedes-Benz.