The glitch aesthetic has become a powerful feminist tool in contemporary music videos, as explored by Caitlin Benson-Allott (2013) and Steven Shaviro (2017). Glitches were first celebrated in experimental music and art for their “aesthetic of failure,” transforming imperfections into opportunities for innovation. Glitch art extends this concept to visual media, using deliberate distortions and fragmentation to challenge ideas of perfection and control, inviting deeper reflection on technology’s role in shaping representation (Jochim, 2021).

In music videos, artists like Madonna and Lady Gaga have adopted glitches, freezes, and distortions to critique the male gaze and resist objectification. These deliberate “errors” interrupt polished aesthetics, creating space for critical engagement with how women are portrayed. By breaking the seamless flow of their visuals, these disruptions challenge the notion of women as consumable objects of fantasy, asserting their agency and complexity (Benson-Allott, 2013).

“Stained Glass” by Madison Beer (2020) is a prime example of this strategy. Beer’s picture flickers, warps, and breaks into glitch-like fragments throughout the video, using digital distortions to symbolize both vulnerability and resilience. These effects reject the pursuit of perfection and instead embrace imperfection as a source of strength, challenging traditional portrayals of female performers. This theme resonates deeply with the lyrics of the song, in which Beer sings :”My skin is made of glass, but apparently it’s stained, ’cause you notice all the cracks, but can’t look inside my pain.” The visual glitches mirror the emotional fragility expressed in the lyrics, as the distorted imagery reflects the “cracks” that society often notices while overlooking the inner struggles. The video parallels the song’s exploration of emotional complexity, rejecting societal pressures for women to appear flawless and unbreakable. Instead, it portrays vulnerability as an intrinsic and powerful aspect of human experience, reinforcing the connection between the song’s message and the feminist potential of the glitch aesthetic.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Caitlin Benson-Alliot (2013), “Going Gaga for Glitch: Digital Failure and Feminist Spectacle in Twenty-First Century Music Video”m In: Vernallis, Carol, Amy Herzog, and John Richardson. The Oxford Handbook of Sound and Image in Digital Media. OUP USA, 127-139.

Jochim, B. et al. (2021a) Episode VII. Glitch Art and the other side of failure: Flash Art. Available at: https://flash—art.com/2021/04/the-uncanny-valley-glitch-art/ (Accessed: 22 November 2024).

Steven Shaviro, (2017), ‘Glitch Aesthetics’, Digital Music Video.

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