Sometimes it's to promote the single or the album, sometimes there is a hype or a demand for the single so occasionally a lyric video is released if the actual video hasn't yet been released.
I think that in this case it is to promote the single, lyric videos aren't usually all that interesting.
This lyric video is actually pretty interesting, it looks and feels like more effort went into it than "we need something fast and cheap to buy us some time."
I can't wait for the official music video.
The video starts with a city scape, an establishing shot to set the scene, a man is shown holding a TV.
The TV is small,old and box shaped, the image on the screen if of a rainbow coloured rocky texture.
The album in which this song is featured is almost rainbow coloured too.
Like also like the TV screen that shows a rocky background the album cover features things like nature animals and a sky background.
The album cover and promotional art and photo's feature in the videos for 2 singles from this album such as:
Something I Need
and If I Lose Myself
Counting Stars had a crocodile and Feel Again was set in a forest, they both feature a nature theme.
The lyrics start as the man walks with his TV, the TV reads the lyrics.
The screen occasionally splits to show shots of shop and street signs which also spell out the lyrics.
I think using shop signs is cool, it not only acts as text for the lyrics but it also shows the mans journey because each sign belongs to a different shop it's showing how he is passing so many shop fronts.
They even mange to sneak the album art in the video.
I wonder if they manged to locate an actual poster or if they put the poster on the wall and made it look damaged?
I also wonder if the actual video will have the poster/album art in it?
Please, correct me if I'm wrong but Feel again and counting stars didn't feature the album art, Feel again was released before the album so it would make sense for the animals to not feature in the feel again video.
I'm not sure why they didn't appear in counting stars, but I would like to see if it appears in the official video for this song.
Whilst the man is still walking down the street he looks sad. That obviously means the man feels sad about something. Obviously.
The real mystery is why is he sad?
The lyrics at this point are:
"I keep on running
I’m building bridges that I know you never wanted
Look for my heart
You stole it away
Now on every single road that I could take"
To me they don't really sound all that sad, to me it sounds like someone who is in love but maybe they let that person down and now they are trying to make it up to them, it's not so much sad as it is happy about being in love and determined/desperate to prove it.
Maybe it's a little bittersweet.
I would like to point out that the way in which the screen is cut is unusual, the first image has the line "that I could take" split into 4, the segments aren't lined up properly, not sure if this is just to make the video more interesting or whether it has a meaning.
I tend to think that things in music videos happen for a reason, because they are so short you need to get the message across quicker.
It could be split in 4 because of the line "now on every single road that I could take" he is chasing every opportunity to get this person to trust him again so he has 4 different options all at once, does that make sense?
I think the "listen" is repeated for emphasis, the second shot is closer so he really wants them to listen to him.
Also in the second image the man is now on a bridge.
If you interpreted that different, please let me know, I would love to hear from you.
I think this shot in particular wants the audience to see his facial expression with the word "fire" so show how he feels about the word.
He might feel sad because his lover makes him feel a certain way, he might feel slightly torn.
The lyrics would suggest that he (I guess this would refer to lead singer Tedder) feels guilty for having so many people in his life and not spending enough time with his wife and he just wants to cut everyone else out for a while.
I guess this man wants to make more time for the people he loves but that would involve making sacrifices which he might not want to do, he looks determined but tired.
He wants to burn his bridges but it's harder to do than he thought, maybe?
The man is then seen crossing the bridge another bridge, I think I've seen this bridge before in the "YOLO" music video by lonely island but I don't know where this bridge is, if it is the same bridge that must means it's well known but I can't find out where it is.
Never mind.
My point is that the bridges used must have been picked for a reason, maybe they are landmarks? Or they have some kind of historical importance? or maybe they aren't significant at all?
The man has now left the city and is walking along a dirt track, The video does another odd screen split.
I don't really understand why they keep splitting the screen, maybe I'm thinking too much into it but I refuse to believe they would do something that big and obvious without reason.
I think the split in the TV might represent plural, as in he has multiple bridges to burn and then they show is neutral face to show he is neither happy or sad about burning his bridges.
That feels a little too complicated however but I can't think of anything else that sounds as logical, if you think this screen split has some kind of meaning please share it in the comments.
There is a establishing shot of the man walking through what looks like a drier place than the previous dirt track, like a dessert.
The man approaches a rocky outcrop and climbs it, he hoists the TV up above his head like in that scene from the lion king.
Then he throws the TV off the rock.
The TV smashes on a rock on the way down.
He then is seen picking up the smashed TV, that is still miraculously working and starts throwing it around to try and break it.
I didn't really question how the TV worked before, obviously there was no power lead for the TV but I thought that maybe there was an internal power source.
But now, seeing the screen broken into shards but the text still appearing on the glass makes me think the text on the TV was created with special effects the whole time.
The text in this part of the video is clearly created in After Effects or something, it would be impossible otherwise but if the text on the screen was done in After Effects through out the video it would be much easier to match the lyrics up.
The lit match sets up the next part of the video.
I'm not sure what happening
I think that either the man has decided to stay where he is and made a fire to keep warm or the man having carried the TV all day he is now burning the Television by night.
It doesn't look like the TV is being burnt however, if he is burning a log that would imply that he can't go home yet, maybe he hasn't earned his lovers trust yet or something.
Fire is now used to spell out the lyrics, I wonder how they did that? I guess they spelt the lyrics using a flammable material but I think it's pretty impressive how clear the letter are.
The video ends as the fire burns out.
I know this isn't the official video (and honestly I will most likely analyse the official video when it's released) but this video does also have a meaning.
I think the meaning of this lyric video is that sometimes you have to make some scarifies in the name of love, this man spent all day carrying the TV to destroy it.
He physically scarified the TV but he also spent a lot of time and energy to destroy the TV.
Taking the TV away from the city to destroy it could be symbolism of getting away from people in order to spend more time with his lover.
The meaning of the song is the same.
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