Coursework Research - Joe Crowley

The websites for MIA, Childish Gambino and The Cranberries are all aesthetically and stylistically different, however the main aspect of all of them which connects them is that they all are advertising their latest album release, through direct references to the album, as well as through colour schemes and imagery MIA’s website features a repeating, horizontal line flag like design of orange, black and an off-white/pink colour. This connects with the flag imagery in the centralised orange box, which displays an album bundle for sale including a flag with logos on it, the CD as well as vinyl which is green instead of orange as an incentive to buy the more expensive product. Below this are the usual links to streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play etc. Also included below this on the page is a download link to the logos used on the flag, showing a synergistic link between the branding of the website and of the album. The final piece of screen real estate utili...

Zombie by The Cranberries is a 1994 Alt-Rock protest song about the 1993 IRA Warrington bombing. It was the lead single to The Cranberries second studio album: No Need to Argue, and received commercial and critical success, reaching No.1 in various countries, and being named the best song of 1994 by MTV and Triple J. The Alt-Rock genre – which in this instance features a more grunge-like, aggressive sound strongly links to the protest song genre, and as an Irish band, a song about the Troubles seems unlikely to be merely virtue signalling, although some critics such as AllMusic have argued that the song trivialises the Troubles. The music video, directed by Sam Bayer, was filmed in Belfast, and features alternating shots of British soldiers, an abstract scene of lead singer Dolores O’Riordan in full body gold makeup, standing in front of a crucifix with children covered in silver makeup surrounding her, children playing a game where they pretend to fight with sticks, shots of mural...