"Let her go" Passenger music video analysis

Artist: Passenger

Track: Let her go

Genre: Pop Folk Acoustic

Year: 2012

Relationship between visuals and lyrics: The principal meaning of this song is about a break up (That’s what I heard from the artist himself when he was being interviewed) and it is very difficult to see if there is a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics in this video because the video isn’t suggesting that there is a relationship like theme to it. Practically the entirety of the video is a performance in front of a crowd.

Performance: The performance is very easy to analyse in this video due to the fact that the whole video is showing Passenger on stage performing the song. I think that the director intended to make the whole video a performance mainly because this song was the artist’s first number one hit single and that he wanted to let the audience know what the singer may look like when performing on stage during a proper concert, and that it may make people excited about going to see him live, thus potentially creating more revenue for the artist and his manager. The beginning of the video is also showing Passenger setting up for the gig and during this point in the video, he comes across as a straight up regular fun guy to be around because of the way he smiles and composes himself. This could definitely allow the audience to relate to him and to let them know that he is just a regular person and that he is not superior to everyone else in the world just because he is a successful musician with lights shining on his face on a stage.

Mise en scene: The costume used in this video is again much like other videos of this genre and that is simply regular everyday clothing which can again make the audience want to relate themselves to the artist. The props in the video are mainly just instruments. The main instruments that the director likes to focus on seem to be the guitar, the microphone and the keyboard. I think that this is because those are the main instruments you would hear if you listened to the song without actually watching the video as if to let the audience know what principle instruments were used in the recording of this track.

Shots: There are a lot of close up shots to the face used in the video, again because I think that the director wants to introduce this new artist with his new song to the audience. There are also more close up shots to the actual instruments and the playing techniques that the musicians are using to perform the song. There is also an establishing shot of the venue and the audience he is playing in front of which could allow the people who are watching the video to feel like they are a part of the production and that they are actually in the entire scene.