Admittedly, I have never reviewed or even discussed a music video before. But, after watching this video today I found myself unable not to mention it in a post.
First heard on the radio a few days back, this catchy beat caught my attention, and though I didn't understand most of the lyrics or the meaning, the song was effectively stuck in my head. So today, while working at my desk and listening to Coldplay's Fix You I glanced at the suggestions bar on YouTube and the strange still image of the video got my attention. I've watched Dance Moms, you see, and I recognized Maddie as the dancer. From the moment I clicked play I realized something was different about this video.
The choreography is intense, and the movements grip your heart and squeeze your lungs. There's something deeply disturbing and creepy about Maddie's facial expressions, and the story told in her choreography. So I asked myself, what is the message in this song that I am missing? The dance was too intense to go unnoticed, and so I realized there must be something more to this pop song that I wasn't hearing.
The meaning of Sia's single Chandelier has a "party girl" starts sounding fun with "feel the love," then sinks into the desperately "just holding on for tonight." At first it's "party girls don't get hurt," sounding like Keysha (or others) line. Lines like "I'm the one 'for a good time call'... they're ringing my doorbell, feel the love". But the darkness stands even in the very second line "can't feel anything, when will I learn?" The party girl isn't loved, she's an object, almost a call girl. She tries to forget with "1,2,3 1,2,3 drink." She tries to "live like tomorrow doesn't exist" partying so hard she'll "swing from the chandelier" (exposing everything)... But even so, she can still "feel my tears as they dry." The disaster comes with more than a hangover. "Sun is up, I'm a mess. Gotta get out now, gotta run from this. Here comes the shame." Sia pulls back the veil on the despair of partying "like tomorrow doesn't exist."
MUSICinsideU Interpretation - Full Article
While the writing in that short paragraph leaves much to be desired, the meaning really hits home for me with the lyrics worked into the wording. Further delving into the subject I uncovered quotes from an interview with Sia that discussed this song, and she said it addressed her hopelessness and depression being trapped in the life of an artist, and her drug addiction.
I don't know who choreographed the dance, but whoever did had a strong hold on the message and Maddie conveyed it magically in this dark and intriguing music video.
Probably the best song and music video so far in 2014, it will be interesting to see what comes of Sia in the future, especially with her career in song writing really exploding. I'm no expert on music or films, but even I can tell that this is something special.
Rosalie Williams
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