Music Video Analysis - No Scrubs by TLC (2025)

‘NoScrubs’ was released by girl group TLC in February 1999 for their album ‘FanMail’. The music video for ‘No Scrubs’ was shot by director Hype Williams. The official music video was released viaTLC’s VEVO channel in 2014 and currently has over 87 million views. The girlgroup consists of 3 members: Tionne Watkins (T-Boz), Lisa Lopes (LeftEye) and Rozonda Thomas (Chilli).

Thisis a performance based video which is evident because throughout the video, thegirls are seen singing and dancing to the camera. Performance based videos werevery common in the genre of R&B. Lipsyncing is used throughout by all members in the music video. The music videoalso relies heavily on the technique of chroma key to create the illusion thatthe girls are in space. For this reason, I think that the music video wouldhave been quite expensive to produce along with the dramatic hair and makeup.

Althoughthere isn’t many, the props that are used along with the hair, makeup andcostume are far from minimalistic. Throughout the video the girls are seen invarious different outfits which vary from black, white , silver and a shinyblue/purple colour worn by Left Eye during her solo towards the end of thevideo. In the shots were the girls are dancing together, they are all wearingthe same colour which reinforces their brand image and the fact that they are agroup. When dancing together in the same shot, the girls are either wearingblack or silver.

T-Boz has vibrant pink hair with a futuristic hairstylethroughout the video which matches her makeup which is also very vibrant – shehas pink eyebrows, wears pink eyeshadow, pink eyeliner and a dark purple lipwhich overall gives her a very futuristic look. In contrast, Chili appears verynatural through her hair and makeup and her all white outfit. Similar to T-Boz,Left Eye also has a quite dramatic look which is expressed through her hair,costume and makeup. Left Eye has blue eyeshadow and also sports a veryfuturistic hairstyle. The fact that T-Boz and Left Eye have dramatic makeup andhair but Chilli appears very natural to the camera makes me think that thedirector has done this to draw attention to Chilli in particular as she isalmost the ‘odd one out’. I think that because she is the lead singer andperformer for this song, she is featured the most and the director has usedprops, costume, hair and makeup to make her stand out from the other girls. Althoughthey all wear trousers and long sleeves for most of the video, all theirstomach’s are exposed which links to Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory.

Not many propsare used in this music video, for the majority of it the girls are just dancingaround however, a white swing is featured at the beginning of the video whichonly Chilli uses which further emphasises the idea that’ she has been made tolook superior to the others. As for location, it looks as if chroma key hasbeen used to make it look as if the girls are performing in space on metallicsets. During her solo, Left Eye wears a vibrant, blue shiny outfit whichreinforces this metallic look. Also during her solo, although still lookingquite futuristic through her outfit and makeup she has a more natural haircolour and style than how she has previously been seen. In the shot where thegirls are dancing together after Left Eye’s solo, they are all wearing silveroutfits – similar to the kind of thing you would wear in space.

Interms of camera work, lots of low angle shots have been used for two mainpurposes: the first purpose is for the male gaze, this is similar to the way inwhich in most music videos the camera will start at the bottom and pan upwardson the female body suggesting that their body is what is important rather thananything else.

The second reason that low angle shots have been used is to makethe girls look powerful and strong which would link with the lyrics of the songas it is about men who have nothing going for them, but this doesn’t stop themfrom hitting on women. The term ‘Scrub’ is used to describe a man who isworthless. As the song is about these types of men, perhaps the low angle shotshave been used to put us into the perspective of these men thus making us feelpowerless whereas the girls look superior and independent. Similarly, a lot ofhigh angle shots are used, I think the main reasons these high angle shots areused is to again put emphasis on the female body to satisfy the male gaze. Itcould also be a contrast with the low angle shots to show that althoughpowerful and independent, they are still slightly vulnerable. There is alsolots of close up which help to establish a relationship between the artists andthe audience. These shots also are effective in showing their hair and makeupin greater detail, assisting them in achieving this futuristic look which tiesin with the overall theme of the music video.

There are also various camerapans at a low angle which have the same effect as the low angle shots, to makethe girls look powerful and superior to the audience in one way or another. Headon shots are also used to show Chilli swinging on the swing where she is alsomoving her hips in quite a sexual manner.

High-key lighting is used throughoutthe video to help achieve the look of them being in space and an upbeat moodwhich makes the audience feel empowered and good for the girls in the video. Theirconfident body language reinforces this idea that they are sick of worthlessmen and deserve better. Facial expressions see the girls nothing but happy andsmiling throughout the video because they are positive about the message thatthey are promoting which is female independence. The video ends with a lowangle shot when the music has faded out but the girls are standing with theirbacks’ to the camera.

Sound

Thesong is sung by all three girls but Chilli sings the lead vocals and Left Eyehas a solo towards the end. Surprisingly, ‘No Scrubs’ was actually the firstTLC song which Chilli has sung lead vocals on. The song overall has a veryupbeat rhythm which links strongly with the lyrics. The lyrics describe a‘scrub’ who is a worthless man and how they don’t want one. The lyrics can beinspirational to women dealing with relationship issues with men however, thevideo may been seen as quite offensive to men as it does a good job of labelingmen who don’t have a high salary or a job as worthless. There are nonon-diagetic sounds in this music video. At the end of the video, the musicfades out slowly while the girls are play fighting and dancing around.

Somesort of animation or special effects is used at the beginning to introduce theTLC logo and the title of the song before it increases in size towards thescreen. At the beginning cuts are used to establish the location when thelights light up. Cuts are used for the first half of the music video to movebetween shots however, fade to black is used when the tempo slow down at around2.03. Then around 2.17 there are short cuts when the temp speeds up again. Towardsthe end of the video, when Left Eye has finished her solo, the footage of thegirls dancing and play fighting is sped up.

Thereis only women in this music video as TLC is a girl group and they arerepresented both positively and negatively. The women are represented negativelythrough the camera angles and the mise-en-scene. In all outfits they wearthroughout the video, their stomachs are exposed which is an example of themale gaze. Low angle shots in particular represent the women in a negative wayby putting emphasis on their legs and panning up which gives the impressionthat their body is what is most important. I would say that through theirrevealing outfits and the voyeuristic angles used to film them, contribute tothis negative representation. On the other hand, I think that it could beargued that the women are also represented positively in the fact that they aresinging about female independence which could be very inspirational to otherwomen watching.

Therecord labels behind this music video were Artista Records and LaFace Records.Looking at the artists that LaFace has signed, I think that it is likely thatthe record label has influenced the final product.

This is I have noticed that most of the artists signed to this recordlabel are R&B artists like Usher, Alicia Keys, Sean Paul etc. On the otherhand, Artista Records have signed various artists from various different genresso it is unlikely that they influenced the production of this music video.

Ithink that the audience that has been target is both young men and women butthe majority is young women. The reason I believe it is young women is becausethey are of a similar age group to the artists, they will be able to relate tothe message behind the lyrics that being about the independence of women. Ialso think that part of the audience may be young men due to the use of voyeuristiccamera angles – these are often used to attract and entertain a male audience.I think the fact that it is a performance video with the artists lip syncingand dancing makes it appealing to a younger audience rather than older. I don’tthink it would be suitable for an older audience as I think they would find itboring and not understand the message behind the lyrics. I think if there wereany secondary audiences it would be middle-aged women – the reason for this isbecause due to their age they can probably still relate to the meaning of thesong and might see an appeal in the fun performance aspect of the video.

Watch the full music video here: