After already bringing us three music videos (“It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody,” “Grapevine” and “Hearts Aglow”) from her fifth album, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, Weyes Blood reminds us to keep listening with her latest visual for “Twin Flame.” Directed by Ambar Navarro, “Twin Flame” differs from the more grimly surreal “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” and “Grapevine,” while being more fantastical than the “tour documentary” premise of “Hearts Aglow” (not totally unlike Lana Del Rey’s video for “Let Me Love You Like A Woman”).
As she did with “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody,” Weyes Blood employs an animated sequence at the beginning of the romantic video. One that depicts a “savior-like” man on a horse galloping through the darkened woods as he heads toward a castle in the distance. One that’s entirely dark save for a lone flame in the top window, just beneath one of the spires. Then, with a single bolt of animated thunder, the video becomes live action as we see Weyes Blood staring out the window like a combination of Rapunzel and Guinevere, the latter being the regal, courtly medieval queen best known as “King Arthur’s wife” (and also portrayed in T. H. White’s famed fantasy trilogy about the king, The Once and Future King, which includes The Sword in the Stone). Both women have their own abduction stories, of course (for, in the lore of the medieval era, what purpose does a woman serve apart from being “stolen” and then rescued?). This being significant because of the Bluebeard’s Castle undercurrent that’s also at play in “Twin Flame.”
But one other “figure” Weyes Blood channels in this particular narrative is Meat Loaf in the Michael Bay-directed “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),” itself borrowing heavily from the story tropes of Beauty and the Beast and Phantom of the Opera. Like Meat Loaf, Weyes Blood, too, wanders through a lonely, dark castle (in Meat Loaf’s case, his castle is the architectural modern equivalent: a mansion). The perfect setting for creating dramatic, striking tableaus, as Weyes Blood does by positioning herself at the center of many burning candelabra (Meat Loaf obviously loves the decorative cachet of candelabra as well) as smoke billows around her. Setting such a dramatic stage, she delivers the opening line, “And how I tried so hard to hide the pain/What bad temper we’re keeping/And so I followed a light into the night/And you kept me waiting in the dark with no place to hide.”
Least of all from her true feelings for this twin flame of hers. The flame who has currently recoiled from the intensity of their love because he got “spooked” by it, therefore leaving Weyes Blood to roam through the castle like a lost soul as she carries a lone burning candle in her hand. The symbol of the “flame” she’s meant to represent as she waits for her twin soul to return. His absence has left her bereft and rudderless, prompting her to lament, “And I’m standing here laughing at my shame/‘Cause you’re my twin flame/You’re my twin flame/And you got me so cold/When you pull away.”
Although the visuals might be decidedly “the 90s interprets medieval times,” the music itself is drenched in the moody sounds of 80s bands like Depeche Mode and The Cure. To that end, the witchy, “goth” portion of the video arrives about halfway through, when we see Weyes Blood seated at a small table with more lit candelabra positioned next to her, giving her an Elaine (Samantha Robinson) in The Love Witch aura. And clearly, there must be something magical about her for, just a few moments later, a set of keys materializes out of thin air in the palm of her hand. This is convenient since the corridor she’s walking through presents itself with a keyhole-sporting door. Although she peers through that keyhole before opening the door, nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to see inside. And this is when the video veers from “romantic” to “romantic-eerie.” This because, behind that locked door, are the skeletal remains of two humans. Shrieking in horror, Weyes Blood runs in the other direction as blood then begins pouring down the walls of the dungeon.
As to who these people might have been, it can either be looked at as: they were two twin flames themselves who died together in the castle or, like Weyes Blood, they were the bereaved single flames awaiting their twin flame to rescue them from their misery. Or, the third option: Weyes Blood is actually trapped in a music video version of Bluebeard’s Castle. Whatever the case, it’s little consolation to an already emotionally-beleaguered Weyes Blood. Indeed, she seems to be so affected that her heart becomes, what else, aglow (because this is the And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow universe, and we’re just living in it). After which, things get even more bruja-oriented as blood spills onto a book, a seemingly ceremonial goblet (a prop Meat Loaf is also fond of using in “I Would Do Anything For Love [But I Won’t Do That]”) is knocked over and ripped pages start fluttering wildly throughout the room.
The supernatural element to the video is, to be sure, intended to play up how powerful having a twin flame can be (even if he’s a Bluebeard). Though not everyone is lucky (or unlucky, depending on who you ask) enough to find that romantic twin. As Weyes Blood stands her ground amid the sorcery-based tempest, a glittery-esque “magic dust” starts to cover elements of the natural world outside: butterflies, snails and a flower. And yes, things get très supernatural during the denouement of “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” as Meat Loaf’s own “twin flame” (portrayed by Dana Patrick), while sitting on a luxurious “daybed,” proceeds to levitate with it into the air. This is as Meat Loaf sits in much the same position as Weyes Blood at her small “witch’s” table filled with candles. Because, perhaps without even realizing it, Meat Loaf was highlighting the twin flame analogy here, too. Complete with an opening title card that reads: “I have traveled across the universe through the years to find her. Sometimes going all the way is just a start…”
Weyes Blood’s journey echoes that sentiment, particularly when recalling that the video opens with an animated “white knight” on a horse galloping toward the castle. And, though we don’t see him show up later on in the video, one can still dare to dream that Weyes Blood’s conclusion with her twin flame can be as happy as the one Meat Loaf gets to experience by the end of his narrative. Then again, Meat Loaf tapped a Hollywood director for the video, so of course it would get a Hollywood ending. In which case, Weyes Blood might be showing us the reality of the outcome when you find and lose your twin flame: you end up going a little bit mad inside a fortress. The one you also built up on an emotional level to protect yourself from any further pain.
[…] Genna Rivieccio Source link […]