Panic! at the disco // This is Gospel

Panic! at the disco // This is Gospel

Meaning of the song - Some interpret this song to be about suicide and the people who live after their loved ones have taken their lives

This is gospel for the fallen ones
Locked away in permanent slumber
Assembling their philosophies
From pieces of broken memories
Music video - The camera pans up on the singer lying on a hospital bed, hes starts lip syncing to the words whilst keeping a straight, blank face.
Meaning - The song writers are trying to use their lyrics to explain, to those who are left behind, why people commit suicide and how even though their life seemed like it was happy and they were kind and smiling that it might have actually been hard for them to live it.

Oh, this is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart [x2]
Meaning - This is how the person feels deep down, that even though they don't show this torture, they feel it in their heart.

The gnashing teeth and criminal tongues conspire against the odds

But they haven't seen the best of us yet

Music video  - There is a flash of light (almost as if a light has been turned on) and doctors starts to examine and pull at his face and body before then covering him up with a hospital blanket and putting a cross over his heart.
Meaning -  They are torn apart and pushed towards suicide by the people who bullied them in life and made life hard for them and because of this they weren't able to see all that the person offered and as a result the society is now stuck with the bullies who don't deserve to live and love and have lost the people they actually care about.

If you love me let me go

If you love me let me go

Music video - At this point the singer pushes off the doctors and oxygen mask and sits up, fighting of the doctors.

Meaning - The lyrics are saying exactly what it means, that if the people who love them really do love them then they should let them go, they should be excepting because life isn't happy for them.

Cause these words are knives and often leave scars

The fear of falling apart

And truth be told, I never was yours

The fear, the fear of falling apart

Music video - The doctors restrain the singer and start to strap him down to the table so that he cant 'escape' again.

Meaning - The words that someone says can actually hurt another person, no matter how much

they say it or how much they mean it and that, even though, we teach our children that "sticks and stones may break their bones but words will never hurt them" they can. "I never was yours" also refers to the fact that we don't actually belong to society and its norms and values and that we can be free of them, its just that we are too scared not to be and that the only way that they can see to get away from that is to take their own lives.

Oh, this is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart [x2]

Music video - the doctors put an injection into the singers arm causing him to go to sleep, he then 'wakes up' but is no longer on the operating table.

Meaning - This is how the person feels deep down, that even though they don't show this torture, they feel it in their heart.

This is gospel for the vagabonds,
Ne'er-do-wells and insufferable bastards
Confessing their apostasies
Led away by imperfect impostors

Oh, this is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart [x2]
Music video - The morticians start to dress the singer in a suit and tie and put make up on him and do his hair as if getting him ready for an open coffin viewing, as you would do a dead person, they then lower him down into a wooden coffin and nailing him into it.
Meaning - They are shouting out to the other people who feel this pain and sense of loss and who feel led astray and controlled by things such as religion and society, frowning upon suicide and labeling it as a crime and a cowards way out, saying that they don't need to feel that way and they just need to confess how they feel.

Don't try to sleep through the end of the world

And bury me alive

Cause I wont give up without a fight

Music Video - They start to pour water into the coffin so that it starts to fill up around his body, eventually covering his face.

Meaning - It is telling them that they don't have to commit suicide but that they also don't have to follow society, they just need to fight to survive and show people that they are brave and they are tough and that they wont just give up because society and life is hard, that they will live out the life they were given  and that the only way to survive is to keep on fighting, not by killing themselves and giving their loves ones another thing to mourn. 

If you love me let me go
If you love me let me go
Cause these words are knives and often leave scars
The fear of falling apart
And truth be told, I never was yours
The fear, the fear of falling apart
Music video - The singer breaks through the coffin and starts thrashing around within explosions of water that fill the screen, he then proceeds to start breaking through the hospital walls and the doctors following ripping through the plastering to try and get to him as he 'escapes'. When the doctors catch him then rip open his shirt and pull ropes from where his stomach should be a tie him up with them.

Oh, the fear of falling apart

Oh, the fear, the fear of falling apart

Oh, this is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart [x4]

The fear of falling apart

Music video - The singer tries to escape the ropes and the doctors and eventually breaks free of the bonds that are holding onto him. The video ends with him running off in silhouette

Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?

The artist has used a series of close-ups throughout their video to help show facial expression. This makes us feel more connected with the artist or character in the video and allows us to properly understand the emotion that is portrayed through the actors (or artist) within the video.

how is the record company looking to sell this track?

The record company is looking to sell this track as an emotional or heart felt track, choosing instead to focus on the meaning of the lyrics and sentimental value of the video instead of the sexualisation of woman and performance. This is clearly shown through their decision to make a more narrative video than one filled with performance elements.

Video Research

There are many different ways that artist choose to represent their songs through their music videos, these often include Performance videos, and videos with a strong narrative story line. Performance videos and narrative videos are often the more popular of the music videos with many artist choosing to do this type to showcase the meanings of their lyrics or show the audience that they have a wider variety of skills, often including dance or musical skills.

Some good examples of narrative music videos are the following videos:

Love is a camera - Sophie Ellis Baxter

Give me love - Ed Sheeran

Performance videos:

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

We are Golden - Mika

Concept Videos:

Radioactive - Imagine Dragons

Pink // Just give me a reason

My chosen video to do research on is the duet between Pink and Nate Reuss called, Just give me a reason. I chose to analyse this video as I believe that it is very powerful even though it is simple and really gives across the meaning of the lyrics through the video.

Below is the official video from the official Vevo YouTube channel:

What is the relationship between music and visuals?

In her music video, Pink has chosen to link the music in with the editing and have the video cut to the beat. She has done this by having the images change on major pauses or drum chords throughout the song so that it flows more but also subconsciously helps the audience to follow the song and the music video as one piece.

An example of this is the section of the music video that is shown below:

As the music progresses and increases in speed and tempo, the video speeds up to match it. it does this by using longer video clips and faster scene cuts. it mainly changes scene at the end of every line of song or on specific words, such as "enough" and "our love".

An example of this is the section of music video that is shown below:

Pink // Just give me a reason - video analysis

Pink - Just give me a reason

Meaning - the song is about a couple who has just started to come out of their "Honeymoon" period and so are starting to experience some of the changes within a real relationship.

Right from the start
You were a thief
Music video - Pink (the lead singer) is shown her singing into a microphone but looking distant.
Meaning - She is remembering the past and how she fell in love with him at first sight


You stole my heart
And I your willing victim
Music video - She is huddled up on her bed (barely clothed) cuddling into her covers, showing that she misses him.

I let you see the parts of me

That weren't all that pretty

And with every touch you fixed them

Music video - The video switches between close up shots of Pink singing into a microphone and close ups of her lying on the bed look helpless and vulnerable. The use of a giant teddy give a childish side to the video, enhancing her pain and venerability and making it more raw to the audience.

Meaning - He was more than a lover to her, he was also like her best friend and every time she was broken or upset he would "fix" her and make her better.

Now you've been talking in your sleep, oh, oh

Music video - Pink looks away from the camera at this point, almost as if what she is saying is to painful.

Meaning - She feels as if he wants to say something, or that something is wrong because he's "been talking in his sleep" 

Things you never say to me, oh, oh

Tell me that you've had enough

Of our love, our love

Music video - There are various different camera angles used at this point, showing her lying on a bed looking sad and depressed, surrounded by empty food containers and a teddy (females may sympathies with this if they have been through a similar thing)

Meaning - Even though he has helped her and fallen in love with her she is starting to over think things as the relationships settles down and starts trying to get him to admit his feelings.

Just give me a reason

Just a little bit's enough

Just a second we're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again

Music video - The video switches between shot of her thrashing around on her bed to her alone with her boyfriend, cuddling him but without expressions of love (this is shown through their lack of eye contact)

It's in the stars

It's been written in the scars on our hearts

We're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again

Music video - It focuses on her being alone on her bed, just floating in the marsh. (the use of placing her bed alone on the marsh emphasizes that she is stranded)

Meaning - They have been through problems within their relationship or previous relationships ("scars on our hearts") and know that their relationship isn't perfect.

I'm sorry i don't understand

Where all of this is coming from

Music video - Nate is alone on the television screen singing whilst pink lies on her bed, showing the distance between the two singers.

I thought that we were fine

(Oh, we had everything)

Your head is running wild again

My dear we still have everything

And it's all in your mind

(Yeah, but this is happening)

Music video - He is still singing on the television screen and she is alone in her room, except this time she is watching him, almost showing anger towards him.

Meaning - He doesn't know what she is talking about because he thought that everything was ok and their relationship was going well because he loves her. She is comparing their relationship now to the honeymoon phase when they were inseparable ("we had everything") and he is trying to reassure her telling her that its her insecurities pushing them apart ("your head is going wild again)

You've been having real bad dreams, oh, oh

You used to lie so close to me, oh , oh

There's nothing more than empty sheets

Between our love, our love

Oh, our love, our love.

Music video - She throws popcorn at the screen just before the video starts switching between Pink and Nate singing together and he sadly hugging her man.

Meaning - He is trying to tell her that he has never stopped loving her and that the passion is still there and that she needs to stop worrying. This is then shown as being a fight  when they sing "our love" twice, one using a low key and the other screaming.

Just give me a reason

Just a little bit's enough

Just a second we're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again

I never stopped

Your're still written in the scars on my heart

You're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again

Music video - The video switches between clips of them singing together, her jumping into the water and "drowning", him singing alone on the television with her watching or lying in bed.

Oh, tear ducts and rust

I'll fix it for us

We're collecting dust

But our love's enough

Music video - It mainly shows her under the water and screaming in her bed

Meaning - She feels like she is doing something wrong as she has been hurt in the past and he is trying to reassure her and tell her that he will fix them and they will be ok.

You're holding it in

You're pouring a drink

No nothing is as bad as it seems

We'll come clean

Music video - She is still drowning in the water but this keeps switching with clips of them singing together in silhouette and almost fighting (shown through their body language). it then showers her

falling backwards onto the bed in despair.

Just give me a reason

Just a little bit's enough

Just a second we're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again

It's in the stars

It's been written in the scars on our hearts

That we're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again

Music video -  It jumps between clips of her drowning, them singing together and her hugging the man that she is in a relationship with.

Just give me a reason

Just a little bit's enough

Just a second we're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again

It's in the stars

It's been written in the scars on our hearts

That we're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again

Music video - the video cuts between pink kissing the man in the water surrounding her bed, singing

with Nate and sitting alone on her bed. The video also shows a four second clip of a heart with two pulses.

Meaning - He finally gets it through to her that it is not a bad thing that their relationship is changing as it is normal and that they will be fine.

Oh, we can learn to love again

Oh, we can learn to love again

Oh, oh, that we're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again

Music video - shows her surfacing from the water and hugging her man. it then finishes with her hugging her teddy.