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Writer's pictureNikka Cornelio-Baker

Similar But Unrelated: Shared Characteristic Relationships

In bibliographic shared characteristic relationships, the idea is that there is a common thread that runs between entities that are not necessarily related. They can have a common author, subject, shared language, or may come from the same country, etc. It's like a literary genre; all books classified as non-fiction are bound by the overarching theme that they are all based on fact. I think of it as a broad type of relationship. Considering the shared characteristic relationship is usually what happens when librarians are assigning a call number for a book in anticipation of shelf arrangement. One of the first things to examine is the defining characteristics the title shares with other titles in your collection, then go from there.


This particular type of relationship is my favourite when applied to music videos, because the units don't need to be specifically related. All that's required is a shared similarity. One of my favourite things to do whenever I go on YouTube benders is to free associate, noting videos with shared visual themes. Jump to the end if you want to know what makes these three similar, or go through each one. The choice is yours! (Hint: it's not the musical genre)


Levitating - Dua Lipa feat. DaBaby (2020)

Levitating is not my favourite cut off the Future Nostalgia album (that would be Hallucinate) but this is a jam nonetheless, and its video shares something similar with the other two.


Elevator - Flo Rida feat. Timbaland (2008)

Nothing like the club bangers of the late aughts. I have a soft spot in my heart for all the Flo Rida releases that hit so big during that era - boots with the fur and all. This probably gives the game away two-thirds in, but oh well.


You're Making Me High - Toni Braxton (1996)

I'm cheating a little bit with this last entry, because I set out to include only music videos released in the past two decades. But this was too good to pass up - it's on theme, the song is - as the kids say - fire, and the video is a naughty little ode to the female gaze. Plus if you were attuned to the late 90s zeitgeist, some of the faces in this video may be more than a little familiar to you.


If you haven't already guessed, yes, the shared characteristic of these three music videos is that they all feature elevator action. In Levitating and Elevator, the artist spends at least 85% of their time inside the elevator, and while You're Making Me High may not place its artist directly in an elevator, the use of one is a major part of its storytelling.


Bonus round, if you're hankering for a little more elevator action:

Lift - Radiohead (2017)

Up We Go - Lights (2014)

Push the Button - Sugababes (2005)


The shared characteristics relationship is fun, and I sometimes like to cover music videos that share a theme or two (but not in a bibliographic way). So if you're ever in the mood, or bored and need something to pass the time, Random YouTube K-holes might be worth your while!



REFERENCES

Tillett, B.B.. (2004). Bibliographic relationships. In Bean, C.A., & Green, R. (Eds.,) Relationships in the organization of knowledge. Libraries Unlimited.












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