Amy Fogarty

“Fancy” Music Video AnalysisIggy Azalea Feat. Charlie XCX

The music video for Iggy Azalea’s song “Fancy” is a both narrative and performance, as Iggy performs the lyrics to the song while re-creating different scenes from iconic cult classic film. The music video opens with a title sequence that resembles the film ‘Clueless’ opening titles as the font and style is the same and instantly establishes a clear reference to the opening title sequence of the 1995 film ‘Clueless’. Iggy Azalea is playing the role of Cher Horowitz from the film Clueless. Charlie XCX plays the role of Tai with other actors playing the roles of Dionne Davenport, her boyfriend Murray, Elton, Amber and Christian.

In the opening shot, there is a long shot that mirrors a scene from the film “Clueless” as Iggy stands in front of a whiteboard making a speech to the class. The classroom and the outfits of the characters reflect the film and the time in which it was originally set (the 1990’s). The board has a list of the ‘greatest rappers’ alive this could have been done as Iggy may idolizes these artist and is also influenced by them and their work as she is a female rapper. The list has names such as Eminem, Jay Z and Tupac. In the scene she is paying both homage to the character of Cher but also artist of a similar genre and style of music.

All the visuals in the video are inspired by American comedy film Clueless which each scene having a direct intertextual link with scenes from the film. Each shot in the music video is nearly identical to the scenes from the film.

Amy Fogarty

The camera tracks to the left as Iggy and the rest of the characters dance, there is continues amounts of jump cuts from Iggy’s shoes to her face and then to show the rest of the girls. The outfits within the shot resemble and match the outfits worn by the characters in the film. Compared to other scenes the colour scheme is black and white which contrasts well with background colours and brings the characters forward and more in focus.

There is also an Intertextual link between the Highway scene from the film Clueless and the highway scene in the Fancy music video. The video contains similar camera angles and shots as the scene from the film along with the outfits and positioning of the characters. There is a long shot that shows a maroon car speeding down the freeway. The scene features all three of the characters from the film Cher, Dionne and Murray the scene directing mirrors the scene from the film. The facial expressions of the characters in the music video are similar to the expressions in the film along with the different camera angles of the characters being identical to the films shots. There is close-up shot of Murray turning around to look at the truck screaming which is also featured in the film and long with a medium shot of the car showing the three character frantic with a big truck behind them.

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There is a close up shot of Iggy on the phone rapping to the camera this creates a direct mode of address to the audience while also giving the illusion she is on the phone and is actual in the scene of the film. The scene also features the exact hallway from the film along with the matching outfits. The camera also pans up from her feat to show the audience her outfit and it also shows Iggy to be paying homage to the film “Clueless” wearing a canary yellow tartan outfit which was famously worn by the main character Cher Horowitz played by Alicia Silverstone. Like all the other scenes in the music video the outfits and camera angles are nearly identical to them in the film.

Although the music video pays homage to the film “Clueless” it does a much more modern way with more technologically advanced mobile phones and cars. The style of music also doesn’t reflect the time in which the music video is set which is called Bricolage. The music video can also be seen as a pastiche.