literature

Chandelier Interpretation

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ImaginativeEccentric's avatar
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So most of you have probably seen Sia's new music video Chandelier. I saw the live performance on Ellen and decided to look up the video, which was similar but did have a lot of differences.  Anyways, watching this video I realized that there was a lot of hidden meaning in both the song and the dance moves, so that being said, I'm going to explain how i interpreted it. Please watch the video before you read this or it probably wont make much sense.

What I'm getting from this video is that it's about a girl living in a broken home with a poor family that uses her talents (dancing) to exploit her for money. They starve her to keep her in 'dancing condition' and expect nothing less than perfection from her. Now, I'll try to explain this the best I can so bear with me. The clothing, hair and makeup choice reminds me of a barbie doll. Platinum hair, purple eye shadow, blush, pink lipstick and gloss... and that alone gives me the impression that the girl is trying to be 'perfect' like a doll. A lot of the dancing is a mix of traditional dancing that you would expect a young dancer to do, common dancing exercises, and just weird goofy moves. The goofy movements are what you would expect a child to do to their favorite song alone in their room, maybe singing into a hairbrush, but she also does a lot of traditional moves that gives me the impression that she's losing her child-like state of mind to wrap herself solely around dancing because that's what her family is urging her to do. Through the whole video you see her making crazy faces, falling down, and pulling her hair. This makes me think that her current situation is driving her crazy. When she makes her way to the kitchen table, she pretends to eat and then 'pass out', then picks herself up by the hair. She leaves the kitchen rubbing her stomach, indicating how hungry she is. She then moves on to do a split and mimic the words 'one two three one two three' with her hands, in a sort of mocking way. The numbers represent her trainers harshness and strictness for the girl to be perfect in her dancing. It's the trainers creating a rhythm for her to practice to. The words are saying 'just holding on for tonight' she's starving and tired but she has to hold out for one more night, one more performance. I'm gonna fly like a bird for the night, those lyrics tell me that she enjoys dancing if even just a little, even if it's destroying her. I'm gonna swing from the chandelier I think is just a way of saying she's hanging on because some day she's going to be something big and she can leave her abusive home and everyone one who wronged her behind. The reason I keep saying abusive, broken and poor is because the setting is a very poor and unkempt house , like what you would find in the 'poor part of town'. And at the end of the video, she stops dancing and does several perfect curtsies at the door, as if she'd greeting someone, who is probably her parents. She stops expressing herself through the dance and turns back into the perfect little barbie doll she has to be and greet's her parents at the door.
© 2014 - 2024 ImaginativeEccentric
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Hawkheart29's avatar
I didn't understand the MV at all but I think I figured out what the lyrics mean-it's about a girl who is literally on the brink of a breakdown. She's barely holding it together. Every night she parties and drinks to keep herself away from the abyss, "I push it down", just trying to hold out until morning comes, "I'm holding on for dear life...keep my glass full until morning light, 'cause I'm just holding on for the night". But when morning comes she's so ashamed of her actions (that is, drinking and partying to keep her emotional turmoil at bay) that she doesn't even try to face them; instead she runs away. She keeps running until day turns to night and the whole cycle starts all over again. It's really sad. :'(