Article Analysis
This is an analysis of an article written by Wyclef Jean. Right off the bat without reading the content of the article the name of the author alone invokes credibility in the advice and tips he’s giving. The actual content of the article consists of ten tips for music artists. The words that Jean uses are all from a first-person point of view but, the way he speaks and informs the audience tells us he’s speaking from experience. Jean says “As a producer, when I was working on [1996 Fugees hit]Killing Me Softly and the record exploded it was like when I was in high school and they were giving me all this sheet music to learn when I wanted to do my own songs.” In this Jean speaks about his past as a music producer, he names drops a well-known song he produced and then continued to give advice about his creative direction. The combination of these two techniques creates a very credible tone, when doing something like giving advice, having a trusted and experienced tone is what can make or break your article. The author continues throughout his article to explain that sometimes he was lost and not sure what to do, this levels the author with lots of readers, it shows that this author who is now succeeding was once in the same place as some of the audience. This does two things, again it makes Jean a credible source of advice and it gives the readers a hopeful comforting feel. It tells the audience that it’s possible and they can end up in the same place as Jean is in and the help of his tips can support you in following the path to success. On top of all this Jeans writing style here is informal, it’s very casual like a conversation with a friend. This furthers the comfort and trust that’s seen in the author here. Late in this piece, Jean writes “I’m like the hip-hop Amadeus, man” this statement is very laid back and informal, choice of words in this article are very down to Earth and make for a trusted relaxed set of advice that readers are more open to considering and taking in when used with these writing techniques.
