Lost All Care

Some music videos go down in history because of how purely iconic they are. Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ inspired a legendary dance, A-Ha’s ‘Take On Me’ is incredibly artistically beautiful and creative, whilst Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ is inarguably the greatest of all time, legendary in all sorts of ways and a defining source of media that shall continue to inspire for generations to come. The music video for ‘Lost All Care’ doesn’t live up to those pantheon of greats - few music videos by even the greatest artists do - but what’s most disappointing is that it doesn’t even try to anything bold.

The song is by an artist called Emde, and it is the kind of generic pop song that you’ll hear whenever you turn on the radio. It’s not bad music, but it isn’t memorable either, lost in the endless plethora of these sorts of songs that are released each year. The video is directed by Chris Wu with a little more invention than the song, but not enough to truly captivate the audience visually.

The music video features the artist Emde singing as visual props and frames are used around her. She is framed as being isolated despite being surrounded by people, trapped by the social conventions of the party she’s attending. She argues with another woman before rhythmically dancing her way into a misty forest of some sorts. Intermittently we see her trapped within the frames of a photograph singing down the telephone about the walls that surround her. Often she has a brick wall behind her.

That gives you an idea of the level of depth in meaning of the music video. The visuals do not tell the song’s story or message in any interesting away, only falling on tropes and conventions that are familiar and basic. This means that it never feels in any way creative, or as though it adds to the drama that the music provides. Neither does the music add to the drama of the visuals. The sets are of a poor quality, and despite the editing - which is good throughout - it is poorly directed by Wu, who lacks the finesse needed to make the music video feel cinematic or anything beyond the surface-level.

There is nothing particularly special about ‘Lost All Care’ - both the song and the music video that accompanies it. The video is devoid of creativity and risk-taking, not having the boldness needed to make the songs lyrics truly hit hard and have any weight to them.