Song Narrative Analysis/ discussion:
The main idea of the song's narrative discusses having a strained family. It reminisces of the past where everyone got along and how much easier it was to communicate as a child. There is a huge contrast now the person is older, and he feels as though it is all his fault they don’t get along and he is finally expressing this openly.
The writer and singer of the song, Josh Katz said ‘This song is very important to me. I’ve spent a lot of years of my life trying to understand certain qualities about myself. Why I constantly distance myself from the people I care about the most. Why interacting with my family feels so uncomfortable as an adult.’ (‘Badflower Unleash Inner Turmoil in 'Family' Video, Announce Album.’, 2021). This shows how personal the song is to him and shows the narrative the song has. He goes on to say ‘I let it get this bad. I still don’t know exactly how to fix it; all I know how to do is articulate the way it feels through music’. ‘Badflower Unleash Inner Turmoil in 'Family' Video, Announce Album.’, 2021). The music video is very deep and layered. The song is heavy, loaded, and powerful accompanied by a moving video.
This is very inspiring to me as music is a great form of expression when talking about a subject is difficult, or feels impossible and I feel the same way as Katz in that respect. I admire how in the video he visually represents this through photography too.
Music video/ shots Analysis:
It begins with Katz watching videos from when he was child, playing on a large TV. He starts standing up and it quickly cuts to a shot of him sitting down.
Here, the medium close-up highlights the dreary emotion and amplifies the feeling of loneliness and emptiness he feels. The colour palette uses cool tones of blue emphasising this. I like how the colour tones reflect his emotions.
When the shot changes to a wide shot, it helps to capture his isolation in comparison to the room. There is nothing else and no one else in that room with him. This reflects the song lyrics/meaning as he lost touch and upset all his family. Behind him, the cool toned screen is replaced by a black rising substance (through projection). It gives connotations of a black hole and numbness perhaps reflecting on these new feelings Katz is facing. It makes me think of horror films where someone is being consumed by a dark or evil being. This again could link to his emotions as he is consumed by his guilt (as mentioned in the lyrics ‘tastes bitter on a guilty tongue’)
I appreciate how these visuals can link to such strong emotions. By carefully thinking about framing, posture, colour and sound it makes for a more captivating and engrossing music video. The shot of him hunched over shows how withdrawn he’s become and reflects all of these negative feelings through a simple position.
There are more shots of him looking at films from his childhood, this time he is sat in front of the screen not stood. It shows the progression of emotion and how it has become unbearable to stand. Often looking back on movies from when someone was a child happens when someone passes away and someone wants to remember them. However, for this video, this is not the case. He is thinking about past times when he was happy, and his family were happy. Again, this is reflected in the lyrics ‘First fifteen years I'm the favourite son, last fifteen years I'm the hated one’.
When he finally manages to stand, he places his hands on the screen, looking longingly at it as he ‘tries to understand his feelings and behavior’ (‘Badflower share new music and announce sophomore album,’ 2021).Hes desperate to get back that steady relationship that he had as he’s lost touch with who he used to be.
This lighting almost represents a shift. Although he’s still feeling all this guilt and pain, he’s finally acknowledged it. The projection in the back shows a child sized shadow run past him. This suggests his old self is leaving as he’s become a new person. There is no need for him to keep reflecting on his past experiences as he can move forward to create new, more positive ones. Katz said, ‘I needed to say the things I said, and I needed to hear myself say it. And by the end, I had a better perspective on some of my most complicated emotions.’ (Badflower share new music and announce sophomore album,’ 2021).
This shot is my personal favorite. I really like the clash of contrasting red and blue colour tones. This is eye-catching. At a quick glance, it looks like he is lying in a pool of blood, however it's just a projection. I'm not sure if this shot was explicitly supposed to be showing anything but to me it doesn’t matter. I have realised that not everything has to have a meaning and I can take inspiration from this, knowing that if it’s a good shot it can still work well.
These two shots connote ideas of violence when they are on their own, however with the lyrics it has double meaning of the word blood. They say ‘I cursed my blood tonight’ this could be his own and his family’s.
Due to all the pain and guilt, he is feeling he feels cursed but he also feels as though his family are ‘better off without him’ and hes responsible for causing them pain. This is more of an explicit image than the ones before leading us to believe he’s becoming more open.
The final part of the segment finally unleashes these built-up emotions. They are raw and powerful emotions that typically wouldn’t be broadcasted on the internet. The video isn't glamorising the difficult situation he’s in which some programmes or videos do in the media but instead he is being vulnerable, this interpretation is backed up by Josh Katz himself as he said ‘Being vulnerable in music is what I’ve always done, and that space is typically where [I] feel the most comfortable.’ when speaking to Altpress. (Badflower share new music and announce sophomore album,’ 2021).
It inspires me in a way as it shows you can progress as a person through expression in different forms. Art and culture are a huge part of this expression. I almost felt like I was intruding on a personal moment while watching it. This is a personal learning curve for him and we have watched him come to terms with it.
This final shot wraps the video up perfectly, showing him sitting alone in low-key lighting still carrying through the theme of lonliness. He’s sat at his computer screen and its as if he’s watching back all that’s just happened finally accepting his role in the situation and learning to accept the consequences.
Katz hopes “the song helps someone else with similar issues on either end. As a way to start the conversation or even just inspire people to be a little more mindful of the people we love and who love us. (This is everything you need to know about Badflower's upcoming album 'this is how the World Ends',2021). He’s shared this form of art with the world in order to inspire them and perhaps comfort them in knowing they aren't alone. Personally, I found inspiration through the emotion and vulnerability he put on display, and I also found influence on a creative side with the consideration of shots.
Overall, this video and song are both ‘very raw and very real’ (This is everything you need to know about Badflowers upcoming album, 2021). There was nothing I disliked about it. I really like how openly vulnerable this is, it has inspired me greatly as it shows there isn't a limit in what you can express and if you cannot explicitly express it with words, music and visual images can aid in that.
I find this videography very inspiring as it represents feeling through images and in a striking way.
The overall meaning of the song inspires me as a person due to showing self realisation and acknowledgement of difficult emotions.
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Bibliography/references:
Anon, 2021. This is everything you need to know about Badflower's upcoming album 'this is how the World Ends' - News. Rock Sound Magazine.
Accessed March 21, 2022
Linzinmeir, T, Alternative Press Magazine. 2021. ‘Badflower share new music video and announce sophomore album.’
URL: <https://www.altpress.com/features/badflower-album-this-is-how-the-world-ends/>
Accessed 21 March 2022
Childers, C, 2021. ‘Badflower Unleash Inner Turmoil in 'Family' Video, Announce Album.’ [online] Loudwire.
URL : <https://loudwire.com/badflower-family-video-lyrics-this-is-how-the-world-ends-album/>
Accessed 21 March 2022
‘Family’ (2021), DIR: Josh Katz, United States
Music video by Badflower performing Family. © 2021 Big Machine Records / John Varvatos Records
Video URL: https://youtu.be/Rwsh17a9Lqk
Accessed 7th July 2021
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