Anyone who read last week’s Random Stuff post will know I’m partial to a good music video. Not just a good song, but a video that tells a story. My latest favourite is Pink’s new song, Try.
When I was younger, I was a massive film buff. I spent my teens annoying my parents, insisting they leave the video on all night whilst I recorded random indie, arthouse and foreign language films. But in the last couple of years my attention span seems to have shrunk; my husband pesters me for hours wanting me to watch movies with him, but I usually prefer to watch an episode of a good TV show. Now, I really enjoy watching the music channels on Sky, and I’ve been known to record my favourite videos to watch repeatedly, whenever I need a bit of creative inspiration.
Of course, a great video needs an amazing song to go with it, and the right combination can really bring a promo to life.
Three of my favourite videos of recent years are powerful tales of love and broken relationships.
I’m not a huge fan of rap, but Eminem’s Love the Way You Lie is so striking and moving because of the way his lyrics blend with Rihanna’s haunting vocals. The video features Hollywood star Megan Fox, and portrays her violent love affair with Dominic Monaghan from Lost, set against the backdrop of a burning house.
Another of Rihanna’s recent songs has one of my favourite videos. We Found Love opens with a poignant monologue, before we see Rihanna’s relationship unfold on a bleak Belfast estate. It’s a typical music video affair; the couple do crazy things, like shoplifting, riding in trolleys and running topless through a field (Rihanna). All this reflects the intense and passionate nature of their love, before things begin to go wrong and the fighting starts. The frenetic video features recurring snapshots of them drinking, taking drugs, dancing and fighting, which swirl around over and over until things become unbearable and it all ends.
A precursor to Try, is Christina Perri’s Jar of Hearts. It uses dramatic dance moves to tell the story of a woman getting over a relationship with a guy who moves from one woman to another, leaving a string of broken hearts in his wake. It’s a beautiful track, and the video really sticks in the memory.
All the music videos capture passionate and violent relationships, but they all have a poignancy that I find really moving and inspires me to write. The idea of a relationship that is intense yet damaging is something that I would love to capture in a story, and music videos help me find a window onto that world.