Everyday, we are exposed to a great variety of different signs and symbols, and how we interpret them can lead to a certain ideology. Semiotics is the study of signs and their interpretations. Semiotics is often broken down into three different aspects; an icon, a symbol, and an index.

An icon is something that is a graphic representation of something. A photograph of an elephant represents and elephant. The photograph represent something that is real and there is no need for people to learn it’s meaning. A symbol is something that doesn’t have a graphic representation. Words, and punctuations do not look like what they mean. We have to learn what a word punctuation represents. An index is something that has a physical relationship to what it represents. A certain smell or sound can be an index. The sound of a waterfall is an index. You can literally hear the sound of water crashing down.

Music videos are full of signs and often enhance a certain idea that is present in the song and lyrics. Professor Kaun-Hsing Chen, from Tsinghua University, has described how music videos abandon the ideology of a reality principle. It replaces it with a simulacrum that is absorbed with a whole range of cultural form (Railton, 2011, p3). Music videos, in essence, are an alternate reality.

Halsey - Now Or Never

I will be analyzing Halsey’s music videos, Now or Never. According to Halsey, Now or Never is the story of two impatient young lovers, however, there is a force that keeps them apart. It takes its idea of two star-crossed lovers from Shakespeare’s’ Romeo and Juliet.

Church

The video starts with a religious leader telling two opposing communities to make peace with one another. The way this scene was set up, it denotes that there is a clear distinction between both sides. On the left side is a community that is dressed in red with yellow accents. On the right side is a community that is dressed in a futuristic, all white. The crosses, candles, and black hooded people in the scene connote that this is a religious place. A church in modern day is known to be a place of peace. The same ideology is used here. When the religious leader tells both parties to make peace with each other, it implies that they are up against each other.

I don’t wanna fight right now

These are the first few words of the song and it support that idea.

Logos from both sides

The logos from both sides have an distinctive element. The red side has a bee, whilst the white has a sword. A bee is known for its strong work ethic. It lives to produce honey for its colony. A sword is known to be a weapon for warriors. It represents strength, bravery, and aggression

Contrast of both sides

The first half of the music video jumps back and forth from each community and the two lovers. The scenes between the two communities help establish that they couldn’t be any more different. The red and yellow side play the roles of gangs whilst the white — the rich and wealthy. The colour white is often used to represent purity, cleanliness, and heaven. Everyone in the white community is relaxed. When they are all gathered together, they put together a royal stature. The colour red is often associated with power, fury, and sexuality. Yellow can be associated with caution and danger. The combination of red and yellow shows that they are powerful and unpredictable. Drugs and sex can be seen in the music video of the red side. Modern day gangs are known to be an organization of criminals. Drug dealing is illegal however they are clever enough to stay outside the law to avoid being caught.

Star-Crossed Lovers

The scenes in between the two communities show the relationship between the two lovers from each side. These scenes are the only scenes in the music video so far where both parties are interacting with one another in good nature. Throughout the scenes, both communities are aware and cautious of each other.

Tarot

In the middle of the music video, Halsey is seen visiting a fortune teller. The fortune teller is within the white, rich and wealthy community. They can be seen hanging around outside before Halsey steps in. The fortune teller proceeds to use tarotology to read her future. The lover card is shown and the card itself represents that lovers are indeed blessed and protected by an angel above. Following the lover card, the three of swords is displayed next and it represents grief and sorrow. Thirdly, the judgement card is shown and it represents an inner calling and absolution. The fortune teller then summarizes that the love is pure but may never align. Tarotology is apart of Cartomancy, or fortune telling using a deck of cards. It was first seen in fourteenth-century Europe (Hudson, 2004). This idea of divination uses the principle that the universe has a pattern and it can be predicted. It is shown in the music video for it’s Romeo and Juliet’s influence. It occurs at the same time period as for where fortune telling was first seen, people were willing to try it.

Halsey in the middle of a gang shootout

Halsey is interrupted and is escorted out by a member of the white community. On her way, the rich and wealthy have set up a roadblock, thus bring Halsey and her gang to a stop. The rich and wealthy begin shooting and killing members of the opposing gang. Halsey manages to escape by hopping onto a motorcycle and riding away. Despite being told to make peace in the beginning, the gangs have not peace. This emphasizes the roles of gangs in society. They play the role of criminals causing chaos and bloodshed within a city. The idea of gangs being dangerous is still greatly present today. Organized crime accounted for 48% of violent crime in the United States of America in 2011. Some jurisdiction such as California, Arizona, and Texas reported up to 90% of crime committed was gang-related (National Gang Threat Assessment Emerging Trends, 2011). Gangs will always try to beat one another to be more notorious and famous than the other.

Halsey cutting her own hair

The end of the video shows Halsey cutting her hair. The act of cutting one’s hair short is a simple act with a very strong statement. “Hair is one of the most important aspects of our expression of who we are and who we want to be seen as,” Dr. Patricia A. Farrell states. “Dramatic haircuts would indicate a wish to make a drastic change and then fit into that new persona we’re creating.” Halsey’s realization that the relationship she had is not going to work out as war has broken out between their communities. Cutting her own hair is her first act of accepting that fact. Makeovers are done to essentially become a ‘new’ person. An extreme makeover has been present in popular media.

Princess Mia before and after The same idea of a makeover to become a new person can be seen in the 2001 film, The Princess Diaries. In short, she learns that she a princess, however, according to the Queen, she doesn’t look like one or have the same characteristic. In the movie, she learns what being a princess is about. First and foremost was a makeover of the hair. It is a drastic change as she went from frizzy hair to a very neat and tidy hair.

Reference

Huson, P. (2004). Mystical Origins of the Tarot. Rochester: Destiny Books.

National Gang Threat Assessment Emerging Trends. (2011). Washington, DC.

Railton, D., & Watson, P. (2011). Music video and the politics of representation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Whyte, W. (2018). Halsey Reveals The True Meaning Behind “Now or Never”. PopBuzz. Retrieved 26 March 2018, from http://www.popbuzz.com/music/artists/halsey/features/now-or-never-song-lyrics-meaning/

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