Lyrics.
I see the bags in the empty hallway
and I can tell that something has changed.
I see the pain written over the face
and I know I pushed you too far.
If you want
to leave me,
You must know
one thing.
I could have given you everything you wanted
Everything you needed. x4
I know times I am lost, I am gone,
I am told I'm only half there.
But you were there
in my thoughts,
in my head,
in my heart,
above the left side.
I know the time for us has passed,
but you must know one thing
I could have given you everything you wanted
everything you needed. x4
And I say,
Dale Dale I'm a deero
we're finding it hard to breathe x4
I could have given you everything you wanted
everything you needed. x4
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
The video begins as a black screen, negative space. Yet the audience is assured it is part of the video as four non-
diegetic beeps are played. This is followed immediately by a long shot of Kele looking casual wearing a yellow t-shirt, jeans and a red hat. As he walks towards the camera (singing the lyrics) it becomes apparent that the camera is purposely handheld as the camera moves with him, facing him the entire time.
He looks casual, due to both his attire and the way he is moving- wandering across the street. What I find enticing is the fact that he doesn't look at the camera. Eye contact is very significant in this video. It seems as though he physically cannot bring himself to look into the camera, however, is going about it in a reasonably subtle way.
Even extremely early on, the audience realises that the subject is very personal to him and carries so much emotion. This is later confirmed.
Cut to a rear shot in medium close-up of Kele as he walks aimlessly through the streets an unidentifiable city.
Cut back to him facing the handheld camera again, the shot is now a close-up of his face. This draws attention to the fact that he is refusing to make eye contact with the camera. The audience begin to see his emotions through his facial expressions ever so slightly, entwining with the sad and melancholy lyrics. This shot leads right up to the word 'everything' in the chorus.
Instantly cuts become rapid and choppy, fitting in time with the beat of the music, making the song come alive. Shots of coloured lights that are purposely out of focus surround a view of water next to the city. Cuts to snippets of his face and repetition of the lights give the video a new psychedelic approach.
There is an extremely brief cut back to a rear-view shot and is body language as he is singing is so passionate.
During this sequence we see Kele making eye contact with the camera for the first time as we hear the lyrics 'I could have given you everything you needed'. He looks bemused and dazzled, confused and sad. There is a close-up of his face in darkness, with double exposure lights framing his face. He is in a nightscape and his eyes are locked onto the camera. Piercing all the way through to the viewer. This sense of sorrow reflects the lyrics in a way that assures the viewer that Kele is singing of a true experience that happened to him, a break-up and a heartbreak.
The next sequence of shots that we see is of Kele's face in a range of extreme close-up angled shots. The significance of these are that he is only singing in a few of them. The lyrics have overwhelmed him so much that he has too much sorrow to sing. The cuts are short and choppy yet not too short that the audience miss what is happening. There is enough time between cuts to understand each individual shot that the audience gets to see.
Eye contact varies between looking completely away from the camera to face-on, eyes beaming down the lens. The shots in which he is looking straight down the lens are the shots that he is singing to the camera. These are only sprinkled sparsely between shots of him looking too emotional to speak.
He looks down a lot and away from the camera even more, it is as though he is trying to escape being under constant watch by this camera.
Once the verse begins, we see the initial shot of him walking down the street in medium close-up. The background is now out of focus and it becomes apparent that every single shot apart from the opening one has such a shallow depth of field that he is the only object in each shot that is in focus.
This helps to draw the audience to his performance as opposed to concentrating on the irrelevant backgrounds.
The cuts are very long throughout the verses which contrasts the extremely short cuts of the chorus.
The framing for the bridge shows us Kele is left-aligned in shot standing in front of a cityscape in extremely shallow focus. This takes us all the way up to the chorus which once again varies extreme close-up shots of his face, only this time we see tears starting to protrude.
This is the most memorable shot of the entire video. As 'everything you needed' is heard, we see this extreme close-up of his eyes filling with tears. In a sense this shot is harrowing due to the constant attention we have been paying to Kele and his passion for this song.
We see the anger in both his face and his body stance as he almost shouts the words 'I could have given you everything you wanted, everything you needed' down the camera.
The flashing lights continue to strike coinciding with the beat of the music. This extreme close-up of him rubbing his eyes shows the grief he is facing.
We now face a loss of eye contact once again, his eyes are now shut in the majority of the short cuts. This becomes very apparent.
During the lyrics 'Dale, Dale, I'm a deero, we're finding it hard to breathe' we witness a close-up of his face straight on to the camera, tears falling down his cheeks.
Cuts get faster again reflecting both the intensity of the song and of the words.
The lights are flashing throughout.
These are the screen grabs from the final shot of the video. The pace of editing has completely slowed down to subtly prepare the audience for the end of the song. He stops singing for this entire shot, it is just a close-up of his face with tears running down his face. Lights are flashing still yet his face remains visible throughout the flashes.
He has intent eye contact the entire time, just compelling the viewer to watch him. There is a definite sense of helplessness within him yet the very end of this shot shows a flame of courage in his eyes.
Screen goes black and the music fades shortly after.
