Introduction

In order to plan our own article for our music magazine we selected a professional article that was based on a similar theme to what we wanted to write about and analyzed it to give us a thorough idea of the type of content we would include in our own work. I decided to base my article on a rising artist so I chose to analyze an article about a new band.

Here is the article I analyzed called ‘The Next Frontier’ from a Billboard Magazine:

In this article I managed to pull out key information on:

• Who this article was about – Steve Angello, Martin Garrix and Scooter Braun
• What this article was about – A new big hit band which you can gather from the quote ‘But Braun, as part of an ambitious foray into the dance-music business, is now also managing Angello and Garrix — and together, the three represent nothing less than a redefinition of success in EDM, emphasizing original music and brand-name, pop-style superstardom’
• Why this article was written – To give recognition to this new band which can be backed up from the quote ‘I get instant respect because of who [Angello and Garrix] are. One is a legend and the other is one of the fastest-rising stars in the genre.’
• How this band came to be – One of the guys who works for Scooter Braun, (Mike George) met Martin when he was DJing at a party. Scooter then saw the boy’s potential and in turn became his manager and they hit it off from there.

Structure of  the new band article

You can get a hint from the headline of the article ‘THE NEXT FRONTIER’, that this article is to do with a new emerging band. There is a drop capital at the start of the article which draws readers eyes towards the text which urges them to read. The stand first ‘Music’s endless dance party is only getting bigger as the genre now dominates major festivals, tops the Hot 100 and accrues hard-to reach millennials (and millions in dollars) for the 30 innovative performers, producers and executives on Billboard’s second annual list’ briefly summarizes the article without giving to much context so the reader feels inclined to read about more. The article also includes credits and some graphic features. The magazine is simple and not overcrowded but very colorful and includes a central image across the double page spread of the band  to make it visual and clear of who this article is speaking about.

Presence of journalist

The article is written from the journalists point of view; it is not the band speaking. The journalist however does include quotes that the band members say but it is the journalists’ take on the band. It is written in third person to demonstrate an outsider’s point of view on the band which makes the information much more credible. The fact the journalist is saying all these remarkable things about the band makes readers believe and actually feel interested to check the band out. If the band was saying all these amazing things about themselves it may not be as genuine as they may choose to just boast about themselves to gain people’s attention but as the information is from an outsider’s perspective then it is more of a reliable and believable article.

Language and aim

‘Next’ pops out two readers as it makes them curious to find out what is next? Or rather who is the next best thing? ‘Bigger’ Indicates that whatever this article is talking about is better than something, as people associate bigger with a better version. ‘Fresh music’ Implies that this music is something that has never been heard before which grabs the reader’s full attention and most importantly their curiosity.

The register seems a little informal as we see in the quote ‘But Braun, as part of an ambitious foray into the dance-music business, is now also managing Angello and Garrix — and together, the three represent nothing less than a redefinition of success in EDM’ all though there are uses well spoken vocabulary, there are a lot of pauses within the text that make the text more casual and spontaneous. It reminds you of how a radio broadcaster would speak to keep the audience engaged and hyped which I think resonates with the genre of electronic dance music as it’s fun and boosts people’s spirit.

The quote, “was becoming so big I really couldn’t ignore it,” highlights that a manager who has worked with some top artists and is usually a picky guy, was even impressed with this band which makes the reader feel convinced that these artists are the new best thing and will want to listen to their music or learn more.

Conclusion

In conclusion the journalist represents this band as the new best thing around. The writer brings passion into his article as if the writer themselves are huge fans too which creates this ideology that everyone loves them so the reader feels inclined to hope on board and love them too or at least find out what they’re like. The journalist also communicates that they are not only ‘the new best thing’, but they are unique and different as their ‘fresh music’ is one of a kind, like nothing anyone has ever heard before and not to mention the unusual band members of different ages, backgrounds and so on – Garrix is the 19 year old who brings raw new talent, Angello is 32 who has already got a legendary reputation in the industry and lastly Braun (33 years old) who has worked with hugely famous artists and also has a huge reputation ties all three of them together with his managing skills and talent. 

Reflection

Throughout this process I have learnt a lot of new things that I feel would be useful to include into my article such as a stand first and headline to give the reader context on what the article is about and hopefully if I include the right words that pop out to a reader I can get the reader to be intrigued and hooked on my article. I learned that most articles include 5 what’s and a how to ensure the reader isn’t becoming lost in what they are reading and to be as informative as possible so the words really reach the audience.