Iggy or Kyary?

Now I need to decide which of the two albums I will be using for the project. For some style comparison, here's a music video from each of the albums:

Iggy Azalea- Work

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu- Family Party (きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ - ファミリーパーティー)

Comparing the lyrics of these songs in particular show a stark contrast. Iggy's lyrics are all written by herself about her climb to the top, starting from the bottom and following her own 'American Dream'. Kyary doesn't write her lyrics, Yasutaka Nakata both writes and produces her music, so in essence she is just a performer. In spite of this, the creative direction of her videos is interesting, as they're are different from the typical Western music video, while Iggy's are pretty average as far as rap music videos go.

'Work'-

'Walk a mile in these Louboutins
But they don't wear these s**ts where I'm from
I'm not hating, I'm just telling you
I'm tryna let you know what the f**k that I've been through'

'3 jobs took years to save
But I got a ticket on that plane
People got a lot to say
But don't know s**t bout where I was made
Or how many floors that I had to scrub
Just to make it past where I am from'

'No money, no family. 16 in the middle of Miami'


'Family Party'-

'You’re the type of person who’s always joking around
Who pretends to be unreliable
But does things when they need to get done. See, see? Isn’t that awesome?'

'Family Party
Party Party
Family Party
Party   Right now I’m feeling
Things that I can’t see
When I’m by myself, so I’ll protect them with you'


Looking at the lyrics side by side, it's easy to see different the concepts behind the particular songs are. Iggy uses quite strong language in her songs which shows she it serious about what she's writing and that she's proud but angsty. Kyary's lyrics are kind of immature and even totally childish, from the cutesy words repeated as a chorus and a lighthearted approach to the issues in the song (about the family needing protecting and her undertaking a father figure role almost).

Personally I'm more of a serious person and with Kyary's songs being so blasé and different from each to the next, I think it would be more difficult for me to conceive a really solid concept. Iggy's work (although not identical in each song) definitely has a handful of themes used constantly throughout the album, i.e. the importance of wealth and the hard work it takes to reach the top in the music industry. The presence of the typical 'American dream' aspiration is there too and already I can think of some concepts based on this take on her music...

So, the winner is Iggy!

A more serious and narrative concept is something I can work with better than randomised and catchy tunes, and I'm quite good at placing and linking symbols in my work that are related to a concept or theme. Next I will start doing some lyric analysis with songs from the album and drawing up some ideas from there.