Synopsis: The music video begins with Louis standing a long way off in an empty (beautiful) landscape, looking at a bonfire burning in the distance during the daytime. He finds a large stick, and walks for a long time until he can add it to the fire. He then goes for another stick, etc. In total he adds three sticks as night falls, decreasing in size and with the third one being wet, before pocketing a fourth very small stick and sitting down to watch the fire.
Points of note:
- the only time he looks directly at the camera is on a repetition of “I don’t hear those voices anymore”
- the bonfire seems to not be one he’s made. it’s possible that he built it and we’re seeing him in the process of gathering wood for it, but that seems unlikely.
- this is the first song off a new album; the last song on the old album was Only The Brave, which has been widely interpreted to be about closeting/being queer, and has been taken by the fandom as a queer anthem. It’s possible (likely imo) that these two songs are in dialogue with each other.
Louis and Tour/Fans:
- Louis has talked repeatedly both at his shows and in interviews about how transformative this tour has been for him. how when it began he was very nervous about it, and didn’t know how it would go, but that the fans give him strength and completely changed how he saw himself and his shows
- he’s also mentioned several times how he feels seen, and safe, and protected, and supported by his fans, often saying these things either right before or right after singing OTB, which is a song that inevitably turns into a sea of pride flags, or right before or after Beautiful War, which is often the target song for the rainbow light projects.
- he’s mentioned (i believe, though i haven’t tracked down the quote) that Bigger Than Me is at least partially about his experience with the tour, seeing how his piece of it is small compared to what the fans take away, and that his music/fans/tour are so much bigger than just him.
Thoughts (i have connected them):
- this bonfire is pre-existing, and he sees it from a long way off. he didn’t build this bonfire - this bonfire is a guide, a beacon, from someone(s) who have gone before. it’s set out to draw him in; or, upon seeing it, he is drawn.
- a huge bonfire in a deserted landscape is a complicated metaphor: it’s safety, certainly, in a lot of ways. it keeps predators away, it provides light and heat, you can cook on it, it might draw others to you. it’s also dangerous, though - it can become a wildfire, or maybe it attracts something which is a threat. fires are a classic metaphor for both creation and destruction, there being a fine line between the two, if there is any line at all.
- either way, he clearly looks at it and thinks, “i can burn shit in this”, or maybe “i should bring fuel to keep this going” - possibly both.
Premise 1: the fire is a symbol of the queer community, and the safety represented by his queer fans who show up at his shows and demonstrate their support for him. He is being drawn in to the safety and community, in spite of potential danger. He is bringing fuel for the fire, destroying things for his own good and also to keep the flame burning.
- the sticks he brings could be a number of things: they could be his own fears or self-doubts; they could be parts of his or the wider history (OTB says “set fire to history”). I kind of think that they’re things he’s been told, or restrictions that have been placed on him - the things which the lyrics mention that would make someone call him a liar, maybe.
- he is not carefully placing these sticks on the fire; he’s throwing them. this is an emotional act.
- the sticks get progressively smaller, which is interesting. is this a nod toward the progress he’s made? either emotionally with seeing and accepting himself? or possibly in gaining more control over his image and self?
- there is a wet stick. wet sticks don’t burn well, but it doesn’t matter, he throws it into the fire anyway, and it catches. (if we’re going to see harry in here anywhere, i think it’s this - water is so much associated with harry. but i really think this video is about louis himself and his fans than anything else)
- at the end, he picks up a small stick and thinks about throwing it, then puts it in his pocket instead. is this a reminder of what he’s been through that he wants to keep? is this a remaining restriction that’s still on him that he can’t burn yet? some combination of both?
Premise 2: He is feeding the flames of creation/destruction/community with his own experiences/the boundaries that have kept him in the closet. It is all now fuel for his own growth/rebirth/connection with the fans, who as he says, need him and are needed by him.
- the bridge is interesting, especially the bit about “how do you sleep at night when you’re just like me”? i’ve seen someone say this could be pointed at s*mon, who has also been rumored to be gay. it could also be more broadly directed at other people in power or media who pushed for the closeting/abuse of 1D while themselves being closeted to a greater or lesser extent. (if you want to get real hurty about it, you could point this, too, at harry, whose stunts have been a pretty big deal during the time in which this song is written. but again, i don’t really favor that interpretation.)
- i think this song clearly echoes OTB (”set fire to history”; “church of burnt romances” and also “I didn’t read the signs” vs “when you know you know”), but i also think there are echoes of Copy of a Copy of a Copy, which i’ve always interpreted as him singing reassurance to himself/his younger self about how he’s not the first person to struggle with being closeted. the thing that i think sticks out as different here is that OTB and CoaCoaC are very personal or individualized songs: even when CCC is talking to the “young man”, it’s still using an individual experience to describe a wider reality. in BTM, he’s very pointedly saying “i’m aware now there’s a bigger picture, and it’s not only related to mine, it’s huge”
- i’m really stuck on “i’m waking up from my sleep”: in the context of what i’ve laid out above, i feel like his “sleep” is having believed what he was told about how closeting would be better for the band/his career, whether through naivete or willful blindness or whatever. but now after a year on tour, after seeing how much his fans love and support him, he’s not able to maintain that myth anymore.
Premise 3: He’s seen the bonfire and woken up to a wider reality in which he is part of a larger community that was here before him and will burn after he’s gone. He’s still got a reminder/restriction/memory/burden in his pocket, for unknown reasons, but it’s small, and he chose it (at least for now). He is now sitting and watching and waiting and anticipating what is happening and what is to come.
Conclusion:
I think this video is saying a lot with very little. The song itself has a lot of lyrics that made me raise an eyebrow when I read them, but I think the video really elaborates on the lyrics. I read this both as being very in conversation with pieces of his past work while also being a very big statement about how his connection with his fans feeds, supports, and frees him.
