Beautiful Girls

Total Request Live, or TRL, is a daily, hour long show on MTV, featuring the top ten most requested music videos of that day. Usually airing Monday through Thursday, TRL is not actually "live"; most shows are, in fact, pre-recorded. Interestingly enough, the top ten videos requested in one day most often coincide with the top ten videos in the nation.

But why is any of this relevant? We all know about TRL and MTV but do we really know the subconscious reasoning behind why certain videos are so popular? The answer is no. Obviously songs on the top of the Billboard are constantly fluctuating, but this is because of the music and the message the song is portraying. A music video is a whole different thing.

Wikipedia defines a music video as a "promotional device"; a strategy to encourage people to buy an artist's album. The airing of a particular music video can make or break the sales of an album. And artists like Justin Timberlake, The Backstreet Boys, and Christina Aguilera, who went on a break and then made a come-back, have all been boosted by the airing of their videos on stations such as MTV and VH1.

But it's not just the music that makes a video popular. Actually, it has nothing to do with the music. The images flashing across the screen often overpower the music being heard. Often found in male artists' videos, scantily clad, attractive women dance in the background while an artist is singing. Sometimes, as in the case of Rocco Deluca and the Burden's video to their hit "Colorful", the female will have more screen time than the actual artists. And in a female artist's music video, the camera will often focus on her seductive dancing and/or barely covered body.

The next time you have the chance, check out TRL (3:30 on MTV) and watch the top videos. You will soon come to the realization that the videos all share a common denominator: young, attractive women.