Music Video: Sia - "Chandelier" - Page 5

Scotty

Awesome video.

I don't get how people can't understand this is a dark song?

_braaady

This video is incredible and that girl is phenomenal. It better get the recognition it deserves at the VMA's

DayFusion

Flawless video.

collin

The girl is wildly talented and the setting is pretty cool.

But this video blows. Horrible, meaningless and uninteresting. What's the point of this? Just dumb.

collin

Wait, seriously don't understand why everyone likes this so much

ethan

I loved it, the only thing that bothered me was the fact that her leotard was skin colored, it made her look naked (I know that was probably the intention) and I felt weird watching it.

Kai Tai

Giving me Bjork teas a little

I love it

Jeiboy

Video gone Viral, PLEASE SMASH!

MissedTheTrain

Really really cool video, so different from most videos I've seen. Basically an interpretative dance kinda thing. That girl is super talented.

Iman

maddie

i'm so proud of her

i've been watching dance moms since the beginning and my sister just told me she was in the video and i was shocked. i mean i knew she would probably be the only one from the show to work with famous people, but i didnt think it will be this soon.

Grown K

Quote:

Originally posted by Scotty

Awesome video.

I don't get how people can't understand this is a dark song?

This is a song about being drunk all the time right?

zombaland

Quote:

Originally posted by collin

The girl is wildly talented and the setting is pretty cool.

But this video blows. Horrible, meaningless and uninteresting. What's the point of this? Just dumb.

I mean wait a second though. Just because you cannot comprehend a meaning, it automatically becomes meaningless? Aww I didn't know Sia had to cater to each and every person viewing to find meaning it.
If you actually looked beyond the obvious, there is purpose with this video.
Just because you could not render a meaning, it equals being "dumb"?
Hmm okay. I guess people nowadays are used to word by word display of what should be an obvious video in order to make it meaningful.

Mezter

I like the video and song

Rosamy

Wow. This is amazing.

Pecinta Mariah

isn't this song about alcohol addiction?

Grown K

Quote:

Originally posted by Pecinta Mariah

isn't this song about alcohol addiction?

I guess it is.

Pecinta Mariah

I got an interesting explanation from one of youtube comments

Quote:

The first dozen times I watched this amazing video and listened to this amazing song my focus was on the dancer. Then I started looking around at her surroundings. I don't think anything has been randomly placed there by the designers, and there are dozens of motifs that tell the story of this person's life, alongside the dance and the song.

Here are some examples: next to the fridge is a 'Have you seen me' notice with a picture of a man (her father?) and a dog (also pictured in the living room). You put missing notices out on the street on lamp posts, not in your kitchen: this is telling us about not a missing dog, but a missing family - and nobody is out there looking for them because they're only lost within the space of her home. They're only present as pictures on the wall.

This isn't some random place (or a mental institution as I've seen others write), it's her home, and it's stripped almost bare (just as she is). There are some remnants of an attempt at childhood (like the stuffed toy on the table), and there are some hints at promises & aspiration (like the framed picture of the ballerinas on the floor against the wall). Notice too the four coasters on the living room table, but there's nobody else at home and probably never really was. On the wall are the plain yellow (happy colour) and red (angry colour) canvasses: which will it be today/this moment? Suspended from the bedroom ceiling a blue shark is circling above her constantly. We catch a glimpse of the bathroom and it is pristine and white: is this about maintaining outward appearances - the big mirror for putting on the make up to hide the ugly truth?

She gets scolded, and the scolding continues even when she's lying flat on the ground with no resistance left in her. Right before the scolding starts she's trying to be hugged, but the wall (like her parents) doesn't hug her back. When she sits at the table watch her and imagine her parents telling her relentlessly "brush your teeth", "sit up straight", "elbows off the table", "elbows off the table", "elbows off the table" while every other aspect of her upbringing is ignored. Her life is empty and tragic, she's emotionally neglected, it's all about "smile and curtsey", "smile and curtsey", "smile and curtsey". Her parents training her to block everything in and smile for the outside world like she is really alive and they are real parents. There's more to raising children than teaching them good manners and kicking their dreams out of them.

The flat is number 7 but it's far from lucky, and the girl is literally banging her head off the wall to get away from a non-existent home life into the outside world to lead her life (and swing from the chandeliers!).

PS - as far as what she is wearing is concerned, there is a lot of discussion about the appropriateness of this. She's normally clothed, wearing a leotard, like many, many dancers. I'm certain there is a good reason for the colour choice and if the colour offends you, just think of it as boring old beige. I used to strut around in beige trousers and a beige shirt in the 1980s and I never considered myself to be a naturist.

Quote:

Thanks everyone for the replies - and Simon I really appreciate that. It's frustrating that with comments now, they get pushed into oblivion after about 24 hours. Come back tomorrow and this will have vanished. I've reposted it a few times because I can't remember ever seeing (or imagine ever seeing again) a more beautiful, coherent piece of storytelling in a song and dance. It's so easy to miss, but it's also so easy to see when you really look. I don't know Sia, but I gather she struggled with alcoholism in her later life. The song obviously references that, and here she is giving us insight into her soul, heart & childhood, and the things that led her to drink. But I think she's also telling us that while she cannot forget some things, she has broken free from them now.
She tells us that when she drank she lived like tomorrow didn't exist. Now she's trying to live like yesterday didn't exist.

from user flutcher1996

Fireman25

The video reminds of Pink's video for Try. I like the song.

Alejandrо

Quote:

Originally posted by Pecinta Mariah

I got an interesting explanation from one of youtube comments

from user flutcher1996

Slay Sia

Music.ology

I just watched this video, what a strong video.

I also love this comment left on youtube:

Quote:

it's about people that hide their feelings through celebration, or swallow themselves in drinking to forget, when it's actually self-destruction as a result of some sort of depression. The song reflects also further reflects on what really occurs. For instance, most of the beginning of the video is her enjoying herself with her friends. But when she leaves the room, she's representing that she's headed home. At home, the feelings of depression and self-shame are experienced (at the curtains and finger wagging at herself to what is supposed to be mirror). We can't ask anyone for help, and the depression and substance abuse continues. We mask it from our closest friends and family (fake smile at the end).