Artist: James Bay

Song: Let It Go

Narrative & Visuals:

This song is about the process of finally leaving a toxic relationship and the struggle of doing so. James Bay is talking to himself to let her go and move on. The video displays this inner torment. For the first minute, James does not move, he just sits in silence and hopes that with time, the current situation will get better. However, during the second third of the song, the house he is in begins to burn, symbolises the destruction of his relationship. James now stops and thinks whether it's wiser to leave the situation now before he gets severely hurt, or stay where he is, a place with no positive outcome. Upon leaving, the entire building goes up in flames which is Bay's way of telling himself that if he would've stayed in the relationship, it would have killed him. When Bay is inside, he appears very cold as his breath is visible in the cold air. However, when he leaves, he sees that his entire surrounding was set alight, spreading scorching temperatures. This is a metaphor for his ideology that what he initially thought was right turned out to be wrong and that everything is not as it seems. Even when Bay is inside and his breath is visible, symbolising the cold temperature, a fire is just behind him which conveys how blind a toxic relationship can make you.

Conventions:

I think this video is quite conventional as it suits and links in with the lyrics of the song. The lyrics portrays an ending of a relationship and the video emphasises this. The genre is highlighted as the acoustic guitar gives a sad vibe to the song and the video has a sombre tone.