Review of
Annabel Fay’s Music video for ‘River’.
By Nikki Meehan.
Final word count: 1110
New Zealand
has had some very talented musicians accomplish their dreams of making it in
the music industry. One who stands out is the beautiful singer-songwriter
Annabel Fay.
Annabel
Fay’s Music has been described as pop-soul and her album has songs that are
up-beat dance anthems as well as some strong pop ballads. Annabel says that she
aims her music at the younger market and because of this she tries to be a
positive influence and be careful about her behaviour. Some of her songs are
mainly light and fun although depending on how each person hears and listens to
the lyrics they can be perceived differently to each individual.
At a young
age of 23 Annabel Fay has released two albums; her first self-titled album when
she was 19 did really well and helped her to get a deal with EMI records.
Annabel Fay’s second album ‘Show me the right way’ received a considerable
subsidy of $50,000 to produce the album which included $5,000 to shoot a music
video in Cuba. Annabel received some negative criticism for this because she is
the daughter of merchant banker Sir Michael Fay who is one of New Zealand’s
richest men.
However this
starlet has earned a name for herself working hard on writing and producing her
music. Quoting an article by Natalie Scarr who wrote the bio on Annabel Fay’s
website, Annabel says “The messages I’m sending are of strength and
perseverance because a lot of the time I needed both of those things to get the
records finished.”
Annabel
Fay’s hit single ‘River’ which is from her album ‘Show me the right way’ is a
pop song with catchy lyrics. It’s a song about loving someone enough to let
them go and knowing that they love you enough to come back to you. Below is the
chorus and main part of the song.
“And I
believe it time to walk away,
and it ain’t
easy,
the sun will
rise again but on another day,
but you know
like the one who finds the seat
the soul will
always flow right back to me,
like a
river, a river
right back
to me like a river, a river.”
The music
video was filmed in Cuba, as an idea from one of the producers. In some of the
shots there are building walls that have Che Guevara’s face painted on them.
Che Guevara
was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, and has been voted “Argentina’s
greatest historical and political figure.” Che has written in a poem once that
said “a promise to fight for a better world, for a better life for all the poor
and exploited.”
He was a man
who fought for a better life and risked his life in countries that weren’t even
his own. In 1967 at age 39, Bolivian president René Barrientos ordered that
Guevara be killed and made to look like he was killed in action. As proof that
he was dead several photos were taken and in them Che Guevara is laid in a ‘Christ’
like pose. This caused such a stir as being represented as saint-like and just
like Christ giving up his life. The people of Cuba see Che Guevara as a hero
and seeing him dead in a Christ like state gave them hope as though he was
coming back to them even just spiritually. In a way he did come back because
his legacy still lives on today.
While I’m
not sure of others opinions, it could be that Cuba was chosen for the filming
of this Annabel Fay’s music video ‘River’ because it’s a place that remembers
Che Guevara. He is remembered so much that it is almost like he did come back.
This song is written about knowing someone will eventually return to you.
In the music
video Annabel spends most of the time inside a large, old stone building and
after reading her bio on her website it sounds like it felt safer for her
rather than being outside a lot. Annabel says “It looks glam, but behind the
scenes it was 40 degrees. There was a hyena in the street and street kids were
pulling my hair.” “I was so sick too and lived on crackers for two days. But
the video looks amazing.”
It’s not
apparent form the video what it was like walking around in the city but her
clothing changes suggests she felt more comfortable in more casual clothes
outside.
The shots
outside show her in a t-shirt, with a pale denim jacket over top, and with a
mini skirt giving her a more street look.
Inside the
setting is like a mysterious private gathering and Annabel Fay and her guests
are dressed in more elegant evening wear.
In the first
shots Annabel wears an outfit including a leather jacket and gold mini skirt
paired with simple black stilettos, giving her a classy look with the jacket
giving it a bit of an edge.
Annabel then
goes on to wearing a knee length black dress that has some cuts through the top
of it. This outfit has an elegant feel and the cuts keep her having that little
bit of an edge to her look. This seems to be her style with the dressing nicely
with a bit of attitude thrown in.
The final
outfit we see Annabel wearing is a short black dress with long sleeves. On
parts of it there are lines of shiny gold beading sewn on which reflect the
light from the moving torchlight she stands in. It’s here in the video that
others who have dressed up enter the dark room and start dancing.
The black
and shiny gold of her final dress gave her an Egyptian look and in a dark stone
room that looks very similar to that of the inside of a pyramid. Here I think
it’s keeping with the feeling of the song and the idea of living again,
returning to someone or somewhere that’s loved, because ancient Egyptians used
to have beliefs too about the spirit of a person still being around after
death.
In my
opinion Annabel Fay has written a song about a love that’s left but made their
way back. I think that unintentionally she has also raised the topic of actually
losing someone when they die and believing that they can come back spiritually
if they want to. I feel that the choice of venue for the video has deepened the
meaning of the song and given her a bit more of an edge than if she had just
filmed it in the country that she is from, here in New Zealand.
