VIDEO APPRECIATION POST . Gwen Stefani "Cool"
I love a music video with a story. As a matter of fact, my favorite music videos, and what I believe are the best ones, are those that have some sort of narrative. Whether it be a narrative-performance style or straight up narrative, the reason why they work is because they illustrate what the song means to the band. When you listen to a song, you probably have your own narrative in your head about it – for instance, when you hear “We Found Love” by Rihanna in the club or at a bar somewhere, you start dancing and think, perhaps, “This song makes me think I’ll find love in this shity bar!” or when you hear the lyric, “It’s the way you feel that I just can’t deny —” you may be thinking, “Oh my gosh I know that feel, this guy/girl makes me so happy!!!!” You think the song is happy. You think the lyrics are positive. When you watch the video, however, you see that it is quite the opposite. Rihanna’s (or whoever directed the video’s) interpretation of the song is completely different than what you would expect. The video follows a familiar narrative (love and drugs) but has twists, style, and energy embedded in every cut.
Gwen Stefani’s “Cool” is a good example of a lyric-to-video narrative. The song is about how she and her ex-boyfriend are now good friends, although they used to be together and had a very tumultuous relationship, and it details meeting his new girlfriend and remembering old times together. And what’s in the video? Exactly what I just described. The editing is well done and well paced, and the way the story is expressed is subtle but unforgettable, and more relatable than its fairy-tale setting would make you think.
In the beginning, Gwen greets her ex-boyfriend and his new fiancé at her front door and lets them in. The make small talk as they sit around a table, and the video cuts to scenes of when she and her ex were together (notably, when Gwen is a brunette – gorgeous still). These scenes are of a simple, cute, ideal love, full of romance and a beautiful (perhaps Italian) backdrop. The memories and reminisces to their past together are shown deftly, with a cut from the scene in Gwen’s house to a scene of the pair together long ago. For example, when she bumps into him, their bodies move in a motion that is similar to when they embraced long ago, which the video then cuts to briefly to show the moment, then cuts back to the parlor scene.
I think the highlight of this video is how the deterioration of the relationship is shown. It is very subtle, and does not answer any specific questions. The viewer only knows that something went wrong, something broke down, and they were no longer in love. They don’t fight, there isn’t a cutscene to him cheating on her or a verbal argument – simply, one day they are together, standing in an alley way, and Gwen looks at him, imploring him to hug her. He stands limply against the wall and he shakes his head, Gwen’s face shows sadness (not anger), but she takes his arms and wraps them around her anyway, and she looks away from him, her eyes expressing understanding that it is over, it has changed, but she still cares.
In the following parlor scenes where the three are altogether, Gwen’s face does not express jealousy, but rather genuine happiness. It is very clear through her acting and how she looks when sings in the “performance cuts” (where the singer/band is shown performing or singing lyrics to the song). Near the last part of the song, where the chorus speeds up, there are “mirror cuts” between Gwen and her ex like before – shared looks in the present reflect shared looks in the past. Their eyes are the focus here, and it is as if when they look into each other’s eyes they can see the past replaying.
Still, in the end, Gwen walks out her two guests, who are now hand in hand, smiling.
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