Analysis of Chosen Song

Oh Wonder - Lose it (Jerry Folk Remix)

We have chosen to create a music video of Jerry Folk's remix of Oh Wonder's Lose it. Surprisingly, Folk doesn't have an official YouTube channel of his own. It is evident that he relies on other channels with a high following to post his music such as, Le Belle Musique, Majestic Casual and CloudKid. The video above in particular was posted by Le Belle Musique and has a whopping 15 million views which is more than the official music video for the original song. Folk's decision of relying on popular music channels to post his music on YouTube has expanded his audience as more people come across his music who listen to similar music from these channels.

Oh Wonder - Lose It

Since Folk didn't have any music videos for us to take inspiration from. We looked at the  official music video for Lose It by the indie pop duo, Oh Wonder. The video is a 'concept' video of five dancers in particular auditioning for the music video for the song itself. The duo artists are shown holding the auditions and the video demonstrates how people 'Lose It' through dancing.

Deconstruction of Lyrics

Downtown we let it go
Sunset high and our bodies low
Blood rush in the hazy glow
My hands, your bones

The first verse uses a half-rhyme technique which emits an inharmonious feeling, suggesting the subject of the song is yet to be completed. The artist describes her excitement and rush of her first time dancing with her partner. However, this description can also be interpreted as her first encounter with her lover. The blood rushing describes the feeling of your heart racing as you encounter someone you like.

Loose up we break the scene
One step deep as you fall to me
Heart clap, we skip a beat
Count one, two, three

The verse continues to use half-rhyme as it expresses how the heart skips a beat, representing falling deeply in love with a person. This is followed by the artist counting to three which is generally used in music to count down to the climax of a song. This is also used in dancing for the same purpose or to count down to a specific dance routine.

And don't you stop the music, get into it
Won't you dance with me?
Find a space and lose it, you can do it
Won't you dance with me?

The same word is used every other line to highlight what the artist is stating. The artist tells their partner that they shouldn’t be afraid of this feeling and to continue dancing and going with the flow of the relationship. The artist goes onto telling their partner to find a mental state of freedom and to just focus on dancing and the other person.

Move your feet and feel it
In the space between
You gotta give yourself a moment
Let your body be
We gotta lose it
We gotta lose it
Lose it, lose it, lose it
We gotta lose it
Lose it, lose it, lose it
We gotta lose it

The artist teaches their significant other to give themselves some time to eventually relax and ‘lose it’. ‘It’ refers to worries, pain and anything else that restricts us in life. The song encourages you to let go and dance without worrying about anything.

Your name I'll never know
As we get down in the world below
Caught up in an overflow
My hands, your bones
Wide eyed, you look at me
Set on fire in a silver dream
Spin round you can feel the breeze
Count one, two, three

The first line of this verse makes it clear that she is having a one night stand with her partner. She doesn’t know his name and they are too caught up in the moment to take things slowly. The artist describes her partner’s excitement as dreamlike and it’s clear he is feeling more relaxed as he dances.

Make a spark, break the dark
Find a light with me
Who we are from the start
Won't you dance with me?
Make a spark, break the dark
Find a light with me
Who we are chasing stars
Won't you dance with me?
Won't you dance with me?

The spark refers to the strong connection they have with each other and the darkness is a symbol for their loneliness. The artist encourages her partner to find a light through dancing and ‘losing it’.

Exploration of Synesthesia:

Synesthesia is when a stimulation evokes the sensation of another, in this case, when hearing a sound produces a visualisation. I asked my focus group to listen to my chosen song and tell me what the images they visualise from it. It is important to get a range of interpretations in order for my final media products to appeal to my audience. 

"The images that come to my mind from this song are: travelling, holiday, beach, dancing, coloured light, searching for someone/something and positive moments like laughing and enjoying life."

"For your song, I imagine a female character walking around landscapes or a village with the camera following from behind, close-up shots of the character's feet and point of view shots of her surroundings. The happy and dance feel of the song makes me imagine bright colours such as pinks, greens and blues to reflect the character's mood. I don't think the song has much relevance to relationships so a narrative along those lines wouldn't be suitable."

"I can visualise travelling shots and dancing shots. More specifically, attractive landscapes, nature and sunsets. I can also imagine flashing lights to the upbeat rhythm."

"I think of summer, beaches, chilled out settings and calming things like sunsets."

Overall, my focus group visualised things to do with travelling, summer, dancing and landscapes. I have created an online mood board representing the specific images my focus group visualised from listening to Jerry Folk's remix of Lose It:

This mood board gives me an idea of the use of colours, settings and theme for my media products.