Miley Cyrus and the Theory of Parasocial Contact and RegretFor this assignment I will listen to the song "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus and describe it in detail. I will then analyze the song with the parasocial contact hypothesis and regret theories in mind and find two factors that might predict why other people might choose to listen to Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball." "Wrecking Ball" is a pop ballad sung by American recoding. artist Miley Cyrus. Once known and adored by many as "Hannah Montana," Cyrus shed her childhood shell and adopted an edgy, sexualized persona for her fourth album, Bangerz, of which "Wrecking Ball" is the album's second single . The song begins with quiet, minimalist synthesized keyboard instrumentation that is immediately met with Cyrus' anguished vocals. Even in the first 30 seconds where only 26 words were sung, the theme of the song is quite evident: a relationship in crisis. Ciro begins by humming “We clawed at each other, we chained our hearts in vain, we jumped without asking why, we kissed, I fell under your spell. A love that no one could deny” which could be interpreted as two lovers who fought to be together and succeeded, but in the end it was futile as indicated by “we chained our hearts in vain”. As the song progresses, the minimalist keyboard continues to create an open environment for Cyrus' emotional vocals to shine. When the chorus is introduced, Cyrus' vocals and keyboard instrumentation briefly disappear, and when they reemerge they are joined by booming percussion that hits hard, then slowly dissipates. Cyrus' vocal delivery also changes from the softer, more anguished sound to a powerful, almost vengeful roar that quickly returns to the soft delivery with a quaver as Cyrus sings "Yeah, you, yo...... middle of paper... ...could have gotten it if they had made different decisions (Bleichrodt, Cillo, & Diecidue, 2010). People who have been through or are experiencing a heartbreaking relationship will look for media that touches on the topic, such as “Wrecking Ball.” To determine how often the topic is brought up in the song you should just analyze the lyrics and count the lines that cover the topic like; “I came like a wrecking ball, never hit so hard in love, all I wanted was to break your walls , all you ever did was destroy me, yes, you, you destroyed me." This variable correlates with the findings of research conducted by Robin Nabi and his colleagues. Nabi's research found that those who had experienced a specific situation in which they might feel remorse, cheating, they were more likely to choose media that depicted the situation. (Nabi, Finnerty, Domschke and Hull, 2006)
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