Rosalind Wiseman

Ciara is a great artist to discuss, not only because the subject matter in her videos but also because of how one can see in the progression of her music and videos the way that celebrities also make choices based on what the culture is telling them they have to be.

“Love Sex Magic” is Ciara’s hit single off of her Fantasy Ride album that debuted on May 5, 2009. In the song and the video, she and pop icon Justin Timberlake sing about their erotic flirtation. This is certainly not an anomaly in popular music, and you can probably think of 15 other videos as you read this sentence that show the same kind of imagery or present sexuality in the same way. But the reason this video and Ciara are worth talking about are because of the trajectory she’s taken as an artist. 

I recently did a post on one of our favorite videos to dissect: Ciara’s “Like a Boy”, where she’s making a commentary on the double standards present in many in male-female relationships. While not all of Ciara’s videos in the past have the direct purpose of turning the culture on its head and making you think, “Like a Boy” is representative of her as an artist because it reflects the dance roots that put her on the map. (You can check out her earlier hit videos for “1, 2 Step” and “Oh” at the end of this post.) 

With “Love Sex Magic”, Ciara has made a significant departure from her earlier work, bringing in a sexual aspect that we haven’t seen from her in the past. And like so many artists before her, when put on the spot about it, she talks about how she’s growing as an artist, expressing herself in new ways, etc. But does she need to show the more sexual side of her to keep her fans guessing? Here’s a recent post on a www.blackvoices.com message board (run by AOL) discussing Ciara’s “Love Sex Magic” performance on SNL in May 2009:

Sumthinspec: All the sexy sexy stuff isn’t her. She should go back to the mini-Janet Jackson thing she was doing in the beginning because sexy and seductive is not her at all. I felt like she was trying to copy Beyonce. Ciara needs to do Ciara.

Here’s the video so you can check it out for yourself:

Ciara – Love Sex Magic (featuring Justin Timberlake) (Official Music Video) – For more amazing video clips, click here

This may be a little too hot and heavy to play as a media literacy lesson in its entirety if you work in a school, so you could compromise by either using a short clip, printing the lyrics and letting the students read them, or inquiring as to who has already seen the video. We’d also only recommend this video be used in high school and above. Unfortunately, we’ve found that for the most part it’s kids between grades 4 and 7 that watch the most music videos (seriously) so we encourage you to use your best judgment as to what you can and cannot show in order to start a discussion. 

• “Like a Boy” is all about challenging stereotypes. Does “Love Sex Magic” challenge or reinforce stereotypes? What stereotypes does it challenge or reinforce?
• Is Ciara selling out? What are the pros of this? What are the cons?
• Does she lose her credibility for doing this video? Why or why not?
• If an artist chooses to do a sexy video, are they always stuck with that reputation? Is this a good or bad thing? How important is an artist’s reputation to how much people listen to their music? 
• This video was directed by a woman. Do women have a higher responsibility to know what images they are communicating and why? Do you think female video directors feel like they have to “go there” to get credibility in their industry?

If you can’t show the video in a classroom but just want some supplemental material, Ciara’s done plenty of interviews on “Love Sex Magic” and we’ve embedded one below.
Ciara Interview

Finally, if you’re interested in checking out Ciara’s evolution as a singer and artist, we’ve included two of her most popular early videos: “Oh” featuring Ludacris, and her first single “1, 2 Step” featuring Missy Elliot.

“Oh” by Ciara featuring Ludacris

“1, 2 Step” by Ciara featuring Missy Elliot

Ciara – 1, 2 Step (Official Music Video) – The best home videos are here