Music video- Detailed textual anaylsis
Cheryl Cole- The Flood
Context
'The Flood' was written by Priscilla Hamilton and Wayne Wilkins for British recording artist Cheryl Cole It was for Cheryl's second album 'Messy Little Raindrops'(2010). 'The Flood was released on January 2 2011 through Fascination Records as the albums second single. The song is soft rock and has lyrics that refer to a "natural disater love" and make refrences to the allusion of shipwrecks, the sea and water.
'The Flood' recieved a mixture of reviews from music critics, some saying that the song was perfectly suited to her voice and others questioning her voice as a ballader. 'The Flood' peaked at number 18 in the UK charts and was the first of Cole's singles not to reach the top five.
The song was accomapained by a music video directed by Sophie Muller in November 24 2010. Filmed on the southern coast of England against a backdrop of white cliffs, it portrays Cole alone in a remote house overlooking a stormy ocean, while she struggles to adjust to life without her love.
Lyrics
Turn the lights out, in the light house,
I saw you coming,
Felt the ship wreck
Saw the wreckage, I heard you yelling,
Just a mess when I saw your reflection in the sand,
Wondering where you were washed up,
Or I ran to the water, Mmmmm,
I can put my hands down in it,
But I won’t bring nothing up,
Sitting at the shore all day, waiting on the tide to come
But you can’t hold on to water,
It fills you up but never stays,
It’s only good to wash away,
Today and your loving me like water,
You’re slipping through my fingers touch,
Natural disaster love, bringing on the flood,
The flood,
Love me like a flood, the flood,
Bring it on,
Stay the night out, by the beach house,
It’s oh so quiet,
Lit a candle,
By the window, so you might find it,
Hope you know you’ll always have a place to call your home,
Still I can’t help but think I could have saved you from drowning,
Ohhh, oh,
I can put my hands down in it, yeah,
But I won’t bring nothing up,
Sitting on the shore all day
Just waiting on the tide to come,
But you can’t hold on to water,
It fills you up but never stays,
It’s only good to wash away,
Today and your loving me like water,
You’re slipping through my fingers touch,
Natural disaster love, bringing on the flood,
The flood,
Love me like a flood, the flood,
Bring it on,
I knew the waves were icy, when I felt them all retreating,
Went to take a dive in the deep end,
Oh, what was I thinking?
But you can’t hold on to water,
It fills you up but never stays,
It’s only good to wash away,
Today and your loving me like water,
You’re slipping through my fingers touch,
Natural disaster love, bringing on the flood,
The flood,
Love me like a flood, the flood,
Bring it on,
Ohohohoh Ohohohoh
Rising and falling in my dreams,
Rising and the falling of my tears that fill the ocean, (the ocean, the ocean)
Content
The video starts of with a still mid shot of a window with a reckless ocean on the other side,then the music starts and we go to a high angle image of the artist Cheryl Cole laying in a double bed with white sheets.
We then get a close up of a candle flame which stays there for seconds then disapears, next is an extreme close up of the restless ocean out of the window. Then there is a close up of the artists face whilst she is lying in the bed from the side,
which leads into a close up of two hands coming together. This whole sequence is then repeated but a bit faster then singing starts. We then have a mid shot of cheryl walking towards this window which is looking out at the ocean, we then see what Cheryl is looking at so we have a close up of the ocean.
These two shots are then repeated whilst Cheryl is singing, because Cheryl is singing parts of the song we can connect with it and get the sense that the song has a meaning to the artist in this case it being Cheryl. We then have another high angle image of Cheryl in the double bed but this time she is rolling around in distress.Then when the chorous comes in we see a mid shot of Cheryl walking out of the house or beach house or whatever it is walking towards the ocean. She is wearing a coat and a scarf which is the use of mise-en-scene which emphasises the fact that shes going out side and it might be cold but she doesn't care. We then have a shot of her siging at the window sill she is singing the line "it fills you up but never stays" this line could be on about water but it could also be about her lover who seems to just come as and when he pleases. The next few shots are of Cheryl running around the beach right near the water and the lighting on these few shots is very dim showing the sadness and lonly ness she feels also the fact that you dont see anyone else on the beach emphasises the fact that she is lonely. Then the song lyrics say "you're slipping through my fingers touch" and at this point we get the shot of two hands comeing apart which emphasises this line of lyrics so shes saying there no longer together. Then we get to the big part of the chorous and as she sings "bringing on the flood, the flood, love me like a flood, the flood" she looks like shes standing high above the ocean and singing with all her heart and the ocean is very rough and waves are smashing everywhere which narrates the lyrics with the video.
"lit a candle by the window, so you might find it" then theres a shot of her lighting a candle in a dark room so her lover can find it and come back hopefully. We then have a shot of Cheryl in a mermade costume in a room which looks under the water so she is emplying that she is part of the water and part of her lovers life. The next scene is where she realises her love isnt coming back and she blows the candle out which was meant to be to show her lover the way but she had enough.
We then have a close up of Cheryl's face were she is singing the lines "I knew the waves were icy, when I felt them all retreating,Went to take a dive in the deep end,Oh, what was I thinking?" this emplys that she wanted him but then she realised how stupid she was being by taking him back and that's why it says "went to take a dive in the deap end oh what was i thinking" because she was going to have him back but after everything hes done she realises he's not worth it. Then it comes to the end of the song and we see the clips from through out the video played really fast and building up the story. And then we have Cheryl walking out of the house again with a smile on her face and this time it seems to be lighter which shows she is in a happier mood which is good.
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