Monday 9 December 2013

The Fray - Love Don't Die Video Analysis

When I heard the audio video for this song on YouTube I was so excited.
I'm a big fan of The Fray and I was really looking forward to not not the video but the up and coming album.

A lot of people have said they weren't keen on this song because it didn't sound like what they had come to expect from a song by The Fray, this track has been compared to Counting Stars by OneRepublic and I can see where thy're coming form;  according to the internet OneRepublic's lead singer Ryan Tedder actually co wrote the single.

The only band I like more than The Fray is OneRepublic, I like lots of bands but by far 1R is my favorite band,  maybe the reason I like this track is because it sounds a little like a OneRepublic single whilst still sounding like The fray, maybe other fans aren't as keen because they aren't OneRepublic fans too.





The video takes place at the Cowboy Palace, Chatsworth, California. It's a redneck themed bar.
The video starts with the band entering the bar to perform, the scene is established with a shot of the outside of the bar, there are bikers out side sitting on their motor bikes.
There are placards hung up by the entrance advertising country music and BBQ's.

The bikers also look intimidating which indicates that the other people at the venue are also probably intimidating.

, The band performs on the stage behind chicken wire, the crowd seems unimpressed by the performance.

The personality of the venue is clear, the bar in this video reminds a little of the bar in the film Coyote Ugly.
Cowboy Palace, Califorina                                
Coyote Ugly Saloon, Denver (part of the Coyote Ugly bar chain

Like the bar from the film audience is made of mostly men and the people are loud and rowdy.
The decor is similar too made up of mostly wood, neon lights and flags.


The song starts slowly with just the vocals and the guitar, the crowd boo the band as the cymbals kick in and a member of the audience throws a beer bottle at the chicken wire,as it smashes the drums started playing.

The chicken wire is there for the bands protection, most likely due to the attitude of the costumers not agreeing with the acts, this either implies that they predicated the audience would react violently to the band or violence is a regular occurrence at the bar.

As the video continues the audience seems to start to enjoy the music by getting up and dancing but some people are still throwing beer bottles at the chicken wire cage, this shows how the audience is slowly starting to like the music because it takes some time for everyone to stop throwing bottles and start dancing but it also shows how hard it is to please the audience and how violent they can be.
The band also prove to be quiet brave continuing to play whilst bottles are being thrown at them.

As the first chorus ends a group of women enter the bar, at the front of the group is the actress Candice Accola (from vampire diaries) she is actually engaged to The Frays guitarist  Joe King.

Whilst at the bar watching the band perform Candice is approached by a very tall, heavy man with a bald head who tries to get her to dance with him, Joe notices the man bothering his fiance, he then puts his guitar down, leaves the stage and taps the man on the shoulder.

The man turns around and Joe punches him in the face and the man loses a tooth, the fact that Joe is much smaller than him but still had the courage to stand up to him and actually managed to do some damage to the bigger man could shown how much he loves her.
In a fight usually the bigger guy is better off, it's like love gave him strength.

That's a little cheesy though.
I doubt that's their intention but I do think that when you love someone you will put your self in danger for them and by hitting that man even though he was so much bigger than him he showed that he would protect her no matter what.

Joe gets a chair and hits the man over the back and the chair breaks apart, other men go to attack Joe but he fights them off, the rest of the band are still performing  and not getting involved in Joe's fights.
The lack of involvement is funny, they don't cheer him on or tell him to stop they just keep playing like nothings happening.
I guess it's because it's Joe's fiance so it's his fight, the rest of the band aren't going to start fighting when they don't have a reason to fight and because they don't feel the same way about Candice they aren't going to fight for her.

During the instrumental part after the second chorus other people in the bar start brawling with each other, as the next verse starts the lead singer Issac Slade is singing in through the brawling crowd, again he isn't reacting to the fighting and manages to weave around everyone and narrowly avoids getting hit himself again he doesn't have a reason to fight so he doesn't get involved.

The man from before can be seen with a woman on his back attacking him, I think this might just be included for humor but it could mean that maybe the tables have turned, the fight started because he was bothering a woman and now a woman is bothering him.

The fight is really out of control. Issac is back behind the chicken wire and people are smashing bottles and glasses over each others heads and a man was thrown and slid across the bar where a woman behind the bar bottles him, there is an air of complete chaos and if that woman was behind the bar because she worked there that would mean she just hit a costumer over the head with a bottle.
If the woman didn't work there she some how managed to get behind the bar so that would imply that the people in charge are either no longer in control or they are just as violent.

Joe is still fighting men off and the rest of the band are still performing on stage, Joe King is still very much involved in the fight and the rest of the band are still very much uninvolved until Lead guitarist Dave Welsh steps out into the fight and one of the bar brawlers scuffs his shoe so in return he hits the man with his guitar.
While this may seem funny it also demonstrates how he wouldn't join the fight for Joe or his fiance but he would for the sake of his shoes.
This goes back to the whole point that Joe is fighting for his love and the rest of the band aren't fighting because they don't feel the same about her but given something to fight about they would.

Amongst the fighting Candice grabs Joe and kisses him, this really just clarifies that they are in a relationship (I for one didn't realise they were a real life couple until I looked into it some more.) if anyone didn't know they were together and thought that maybe he was just trying to protect her out of kindness, the kiss clarifies the romantic aspect to the video which is really the message of the video.

The song's message is that no matter what happens love doesn't die, even when the person you love is no longer alive your love for them still exists and the message of the video is that love is a personal and unique thing and nobody else feels the exact same way about a person as you do.
The fact people are willing to put themselves at risk for people they love also says that love is undying and strong.

At this point the only person left on stage is the drummer Ben Wysocki who then decides to join in and jump onto a group of men.
I think this is purely for comedy and probably has no deeper meaning other than just feeling left out and wanting to join in.

It's interesting to point out that Issac is the only band member to have not hit or tired to hurt anyone through out the duration of the video.

The band run out of the Bar and jump onto some motor bikes, they didn't arrive on motor bikes so this means they stealing someone elses bikes to use as getaway vehicles.

As the band ride away on Motor bikes Issac is left with a push bike made to look like a motor bike, as he cycles off the men sitting outside on their bikes laugh.
I wonder why Issac was left with a push bike? It's clearly included for comic effect but I wonder why was Issac the one left with the push bike, he was also the only one not to get involved in the fight so maybe it's to do with that.

Maybe everyone else needed a motor bike because they had been in the fight and needed to get away quicker, maybe it was because he was in less of a hurry to get out so he got the worst bike or something.

And that's where the video ends.
I liked this video, it was funny, action packed and romantic and it was just fun to watch, I would love to hear what everyone else thought.
I know a few people weren't keen on the song so I'm wondering if maybe some people  weren't keen on the video either.

Thank you for reading.

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