Analysis
Clearly, music videos function to enhance an artists’ idea, and help the listeners understand the exact message they are trying to pass. As much as the music videos help an artist in making more money through more sales, they are vital in expressing the artist’s ideas. Therefore, music videos are more than just ideas, and when bonded with the lyrics, they create a perfect picture of what an artist is singing about. Evidently, this can be seen in Avcii’s video called Wake Me Up. His musical video creates a story about two stars who seem to be lost and troubled, sleeping most of the time and perhaps do not want to wake up until they stop being lost. The music video for Avcii, Wake Me Up, starts when the two girls are lost, and eventually find a place where they belong; thus the video creates a deeper meaning of the lyrics sand by the artist.
The video starts by showing a place with huge farm plantation farm, which seems to be the neighborhood of where the two stars in the video are living at that moment. The video then shows an attractive girl with her younger sibling, in a town where it seems they are unaccepted. Certainly, it seems like only her and her sister are boring and unattractive in the city where the song starts. The video then shows similar images, tattooed in their arms. The town seems to be a hick town in the past, many years ago, and seems to be a place in the rural areas away from the city. In the video, the two girls seem to be better dressed than the people around, despite the old surrounding, they seem more modern and living in the present world, compared to the other people. The other people even seem to be getting over a period of depression.
As the two girls walk through the town, everyone seems to be staring at them for very long moments, which seems to be really creepy and out of the norm. Some even stop to stare at them and some girl who seems abnormal tries to follow them as she stares. At this point, the younger girl comments to her sister that they are not liked, and she readily accepts but does not explain why. Perhaps, they are not accepted because they are the only attractive people in the town, and everyone else is unattractive.
Afterwards, the video shows the older girl waking up, perhaps the following morning, after she thought over how they are treated and not liked in their current town. She jumps into a horse, thus furthering the theory of the old times or the 1920’s, because she does not take a vehicle. There seems to be a good road network or specific infrastructure as she travels with the horse, even as passes below an old bridge. She rides through till the sunset and eventually finds a town which seems developed, but isolated (ghost town). She seems to have some excitement upon reaching the town and seem to find some sought of relief as she smiles sheepishly.
She then steps down from the horse, tie it somewhere and starts walking. She notices another attractive girl. They look at each other and reveal their beauty; this is shown through the pyramid stamp tattooed in their bodies (two pyramids or triangles close to each other but facing away from each other) which resemble something, probably in this case, their belonging. Immediately after this, another attractive person appears then they pile in an old pickup as they head somewhere. She is readily accepted and easily makes friends with people in this town. After a short while, they pop up in a place where they are surrounded by exclusively attractive people. The video then shows a concert scene where there is a lot of attractive people with a similar tattoo to the star girls’, at different body parts like the back and the stomach, everyone seems to be having a tattoo. The video at this point shows a lot of modernization or what happens in today’s world. There is taking of photos with smart phones, and attractive people having fun.
Analysis of the Video In Relation To the Lyrics
The lyrics start by the artist singing that he is feeling is way through the darkness, and the darkness is the old town, where the two girls feel unaccepted. They do not know where their journey to nonacceptance will end, but they know where to start. This is demonstrated when the older girl starts her journey and tries to find a place where they feel accepted and where they belong.
The chorus symbolizes a lot of scenes seen in the Video. The two girls are seen sleeping most of the time, especially the younger girl who seems to represent the artist, who wants to be woken up when it’s all over. When the older girl discovers a place where they are accepted, she is now woken up so that they could go to a place where they are accepted. The video also shows three scenes where the two girls are waking up, and the older girl tries to find a better place for the young girl. The young girl does not seem to care whether time passes, she seems to be caught up in a dream, and she seem to be really okay if life passes and she does not open up her eyes. These situations are seen in the music video, as portrayed by the little girl, and also shown by the lyrics.
Avcii says in the lyrics that all this time he was trying to find himself, but he did not know he was lost. This is portrayed by the two girls who really try to find themselves in the old town, and they do not seem to understand why people do not like them and keep staring at them. Apparently, as depicted in the end, they were lost all along, and they were not aware of being lost, until when they discovered the other city, which gave them a sense of belonging.
Avcii also fantasizes about staying forever young, and not afraid to close his eyes. Seemingly, adulthood comes with the need to open one’s eyes, and a certain responsibility. In the music video, the little girl does not mind sleeping, despite having a dream, perhaps to be accepted does not work towards it. She sleep and does not mind sleeping even if time passes by; she just wants to be woken up when it’s all over. However, for the older girl, she has the responsibility of giving her younger sister comfort and perhaps help her achieve her dreams.
Conclusion
Conclusively, the video is an excellent art of work. Most of the meanings in the lyrics of the artist are depicted in the video, in a symbolic manner. Clearly, the video is sweet and enjoyable to listen to as one tries to find meaning in different symbols and scenes portrayed throughout the video.
