Many aspiring artists these days have big dreams but are a lot of times let down and not motivated because the music industry is a hit or miss business. The song “Almost Famous” by G-Eazy is about an artist who dreams of a successful career imagining himself in the spotlight of media. This song deals with G-Eazy and what he determines his career to look like in his late future. For this song, the magazine covers are the visual motif. In both scenes, photographers are doing a photo shoot for him so he can appear on different covers. Right after they take the pictures in the different scenes, they then show what it looks like. The video is simply a timeline of his career and his various photo shoots through the years as an artist. Each scene with the motif depicts a different time period of his respective career. The motif of magazine covers throughout the video help represent the transformation of G-Eazy throughout different time periods of his career, from the times he was a talented novice learning to improve his craft, to being an expert in the field and being the face of the hip-hop industry.  

For the first scene, since the view is directly at the pose, the foreground is his street-wear attire. The mid-ground is the face that he is posing with and the background is the wall and title of the magazine. You can depict that the clothes he wears make him seem like a young artist since many proven artists would tend to wear designer or expensive clothes. He is seen with slicked-back hair, a baseball jersey, slim-fit jeans, and sneakers; that is a look you would see typically worn by a young adult in this generation. Since the alternate title of the cover says “Eastbay’s rising star”, it only makes sense that he wears a shirt that represents a team of the city and where he comes from before he could potentially hit nationwide success. It shows that he is only known in that local area. The color scheme is very basic as the majority of the picture is white other than the title. That says a lot in relation to the music artist because he is an unknown artist trying to get his name known, so the media will not give him the benefit of using vibrant colors most of the time. A medium shot is being used so the viewer can positions him or herself to directly look at the artist in the cover in a way so they can see that he is serious about his hip-hop career. It is a perfect shot in this case because it gives the perfect distance to show the physical features of the artist to someone who has never heard of G-Eazy before. 

On the other hand, the reciprocal gaze shows that the viewer and artist on the cover are on the same page of what the end goal of the career should look like. With the facial expression of the artist, the viewer can see that the artist is determined about his aspirations. The gaze shows that G-Eazy on the cover is trying to send a message that he is working hard to make appealing songs and wants to please his fan base. The gaze can also represent the media trying to get the attention of the viewer; with this gaze, the reciprocal aspect conveys eye-to-eye contact between the viewer and the image, so the magazines intent is for the viewer to remember that face. It could be a reminder that we should expect the artist to breakout and not be surprised if he becomes a mainstream billboard success.

Since this is the first shoot of the video, it is very unique and a milestone for the artist since it shows the beginning of what could be the start of celebrity status.  The motif of the magazine and media relates to the theme of ambition since the artist wants to take his career to the next level after the magazine publication. Since the title says “Almost Famous”, the motif works to promote his career every time he gets with each little opportunity. The motif works with the visual aspect that the type of magazine he shoots for is one that comes from a local community, showing he is known by a small base of people at that time. 

For the second scene, the foreground shows a business-like desk with a glass of whiskey. The mid ground is the artist with a suit on with his feet on the desk and the background shows a wall with a really neat bookshelf. It can be noticed that he is at a point in his career where he is well off because of his established and professional look. His business-like appearance appears to reflect a luxurious lifestyle, one of expensive suits, a beautiful home, and exclusive clubs. Also, the title of the magazine cover being “Esquire”, portrays him as a significant male figure in society like a mogul.  That title has special significance because that magazine only attracts an exclusive group of people, mostly upper class men. The color scheme is dark with the attire but light brown in the background due to the reflection and shadow of the lamp on the desk. The color scheme definitely provides a CEO feel of sophistication, since neutral colors can relate to professionalism. 

The scene now feels as if he is at a point of his career where he has expanded beyond music, where he has created his own label, or explored another field. Unlike the other scene, a point of view shot is used as if the viewer were to walk in the room approaching the desk after opening a door. Also, this time, it is a semi-reciprocal gaze where the artist is looking out the window or into another direction. That is a visual aspect that shows he could possibly be reflecting on what a long and successful career he has had. You could argue that this is the point in time where he had envisioned himself and his life come to all along. But the ironic thing is, it is still a music video and he could possibly still be trying to reach that point in life. The motif relates to the theme of achievement and prosperity since the motif covers the point in life where the real-life artist (G Eazy) wants to reach one day, one of royalty. Now that this scene is at the end of the video, it ends with reality where it is the fans that will determine how successful he will be, which in turn is a preconception the motif creates.

The scenes of the text are directed to the fans of this artist and also people who want to listen to new music that have never heard of him. G-Eazy produced this text to show the public that he is serious about his career and he that he will work hard to get to his goal. The written text for the magazine covers in the video shows the current status of his career but functions as a means of publicity and attention to send a message to people that they shouldn’t be surprised if he becomes a mainstream success. This song is about aspirations and dreams, and G-Eazy uses visual motifs of magazine covers to represent the changes of a career, showing what time and hard work can lead to. That is demonstrated through the color schemes and gaze’s being portrayed in each scene. Each color scheme and gaze reflects on what stage in the career he is in, showing when he is young and learning to where he is an expert in his field. Many artists who dream of making it to the top can find a bigger meaning with this video and it sends a message that people who work hard can achieve anything they set their mind to. Being successful doesn’t happen overnight; it happens when you are at the right place at the right time and performing when it matters most. 