Bright Light Bright Light gets showered with disco glass.
British singer Bright Light Bright Light is fittingly obsessed with lights. From light sabers to different colored lighting, his music video for his new single, "Love Part II" tells a story of metamorphosis by using light contrast. Contrast is the key.
The chorus on "Love Part II" proclaims "I'm in love again", which implies that the song is about a person being in love, but the video offers another interpretation. It's clear that the video is about a man falling in love with God or some higher power. There are many examples in the video and on the song that hint at religion and God.
Bright Light Bright Light opens "Love Part II" singing "Clever boy, you got one eye on the clock, so you don't waste time, do you." One eye is commonly associated with God's All-seeing eye, like the eye on the U.S. one-dollar bill. As Bright Light Bright Light lies down with a profile view of his face covered in black making him a silhouette, shots of him are intercut wearing all-black clothing resembling a priest. These intercut shots look like flashbacks or memories. With the black background of these shots and Bright Light Bright Light's all-black clothing, the scene looks like a priest sitting in the darkness of a confessional. It's clear that he is in the shadows.
As the first chorus explodes with urgency, his black jacket is unzipped revealing a black tank top. It's a change from the all-black jacket that made him look like a Catholic priest. Two people, a man and a woman wear black wedge hats covering their eyes, signaling blindness. They stand and dance behind Bright Light Bright Light, winding their arms around like the hands on a clock. Remember "one eye on the clock." The background is various black pyramids doused with white light.
Bright Light Bright Light opens the second verse singing "Clever boy, you've got one hand on my side, don't let me slip out of view." He stands against a black backdrop wearing a black jacket. The scene lights up revealing the wedge-headed duo holding poles of light that look like light sabers from "Star Wars." Bright Light Bright Light's black jacket turns from black to a gray color. The light sabers could be phallic. Sigmund Freud would think so since he thought all symbols are related to sex. Maybe the two light sabers represent two penises, meaning homosexuality.
This is why the "Love Part II" video is so open to interpretation. Bright Light Bright Light could be expressing his gay love for the world to see or he could be expressing his love for God. I'm confident the video is about making a life change because time isn't promised.
By the time the second chorus arrives, Bright Light Bright Light is dressed in a windbreaker (jacket) and a wrinkled t-shirt and his hair a bit mussed. He sort of looks like he's been jogging in the streets. As the chorus explodes into action once again, Bright Light Bright Light is showered with glittery pieces that could very well be the remnants of a disco ball. The wedge-headed duo are still present, but they're less in focus, and their black wedge hats have turned gray instead of black. They're fading away. Time is weightng less on the mind of Bright Light Bright Light.
Next, he walks towards the violet light, his face soaked in purple light. As the last chorus explodes, the scene explodes with red light and red confetti. The wedge-headed duo wear red wedges, eyes still covered, but they wear red pyramids in the center of their torsos. What do the pyramids mean? The crimson red of the scene clearly represents love. Something about the glittery red scene reminds me of the Queen of Hearts from "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland."
Now a close-up shot of Bright Light Bright Light lying on broken glass, that appeared as a flashback at the beginning of the video, intercuts the red scene. The close-up shows a black gloved hand shielding Bright Light Bright Light's face as glass shatters. Does this gloved hand belong to his protector? Then he falls onto his back, in the red scene, as well as the broken glass scene. The scene with broken glass seems to be reality and the red scene is his unconscious. Crimson red fills in the cracks between the shards of glass that Bright Light Bright Light lies upon. The ending is ambiguous because he could be going to sleep, back to a dream, or it could be dead. Maybe Bright Light Bright Light takes the metaphor of "falling in love" literally, and somehow he has fallen from a building to a bloody death---that is, the bloody death of his loneliness and darkness.
Since the Art Director for the "Love Part II" video is Alun Davies, it's no surprise that the video is bursting with creativity and visuals that touch the human senses. The elements of glitter and glass in the video are also reminders that these elements are constant in a lot of Davies' work. Davies designed outfits for Lady Gaga's "Monster Ball" tour, which he calls "mirror ball" outfits. Mirror ball is basically the same thing as a disco ball. Also, the shattered glass in the "Love Part II" video looks like pieces of a disco ball. Maybe the broken glass as a disco ball is a symbol of Bright Light Bright Light seeing himself reflected in the world's earth-as-disco-ball. He's at one with the world, and now he can be reflected through the world. He's opened up his soul, whether to a man or a woman or to God, and now he's reached a state of piece.
Watch the "Love Part II" video after the jump.
.jpg)