VOTD: Tame Impala — “Lost in Yesterday”
Tame Impala fans are bursting at the seams waiting to hear Kevin Parker’s newest record, The Slow Rush on February 14. Although four songs from the album were released as singles including “Borderline,” “It Might Be Time,” and “Posthumous Forgiveness,” his latest track, “Lost in Yesterday,” is the first to get a long-awaited music video.
With Parker and his band performing on a small stage up front, the video takes viewers through time as the same wedding scene is depicted over and over in one continuous shot. Right off the bat I began trying to decode the message that the video tries to convey. The same party-goers are in every scene, but as time goes on their outfits and mannerisms change. Could this be depicting different decades? Or, perhaps, Parker is trying to make a statement about socioeconomic status.
However, after watching the fourth time, I came to the realization that the music video portrays a wedding scene from the mind of someone who is trying to remember the event fondly instead of feeling ashamed as time goes on. Each time the memory is resurrected, it changes ever so slightly until the perfect scenario exists in which the bride is wealthy and popular instead of pregnant and penniless.
While the very first scene has a woman throwing a drink into a man’s face after he clearly said something offensive, the last scene shows the man getting down on one knee offering a ring to the woman with lavish decorations and butlers in the background. Even Parker’s band increases in size and becomes better dressed.
The surprise twist at the end of the video shows that no matter how easy it is to rewrite the past in your head, reality will always remain the truth. This is definitely the kind of story you need to go over several times in order to pick up on all the details while still appreciating the creativity and meaning behind the song itself.
With The Slow Rush coming out this week, Tame Impala is sure to make more waves within the upcoming months.
— Melissa Weinstein
Catch Tame Impala live promoting The Slow Rush at Capitol One Arena on June 6, 2020!
