An analysis of Giveon's powerful new video for 'Heartbreak Anniversary'

The first time I listened to Giveon, I was transfixed. To me his songs held an equal and rare amount of balance, soul, syncopation and story-telling. When you hear Heartbreak Anniversary, you can’t help but remember your ex. You know exactly who I’m talking about, we all have that person who propelled us high and dropped us low. That roller-coaster kind of love that couldn’t last, because you two couldn’t meet in the middle.

When I first heard this song, I was transported through time. Suddenly I was seated on my ex’s bed; laughing, playing, kissing and then the next moment the mise-en-scene had changed. I was still seated on her bed, but now she was standing far away. Her words resounding at a high octave- indicative of her anger- and her shoulders hanging low. That’s Giveon’s power, his music is hauntingly beautiful. It reminds us of the not so great times and even the nasty parts of our own minds but still, we listen.

In true Giveon fashion, this video, directed by Salomon Ligthelm, embraces the aging but timeless 30mm film look. Beginning with a cinematic wide angle shot, we get to see the artist resting his weight against a classic American muscle car. His shoulders slumped and his eyes casted downward in contemplation. There’s a stagnance to the pose, the feeling seeps into you as you watch and is intensified by the freight train moving in and out of frame behind him.

The time seems to be just before sunset, a metaphor maybe, for the sun finally setting on his relationship. He pushes himself off of the side of the car, his leg swinging to kick at the loose dirt of the ground, while he holds a cigarette to his lips. When the camera angle changes to a medium wide shot, he’s standing by the open front door of his car looking in. You wonder briefly, about what might be inside, and as that thought ends, we see the beautiful Samantha Logan sitting in the passenger seat.

There she is, the face of heartbreak. Her eyebrows knit together and her posture screaming, “leave me alone!”. If there was ever a scene that depicted the sentiment ‘so close but so far away' so purely, then this is it. In a flash of black and white, we see a memory. A vision of the past where the couple is happy, dancing and holding one another close. The contrast between the warmth of the present and the colourless past is almost ironic.

When we’re taken back to the present, Giveon has finished his cigarette and shifts rather heavily into the atmosphere of the car as he starts the engine and drives into the distance. As he begins to sing, we see him seated on an armchair in an otherwise empty room. You wonder, why? What’s the significance? Then, when the shot changes, it's a medium close up with Samantha in focus. We watch her as she fights back tears caused by the melancholia that grows in her heart. A deep knowing that this love has reached its end.

As the pre-chorus swings back around, so do those bittersweet memories of happy days past, in their distant black and white. Giveon sits again in the empty room and we begin to question whether this is the true present. A time when he and his love have separated and he’s left in this empty house with only his memories. When we see him again he’s driving, concentrated on the road ahead but behind his eyes lies painful thoughts. He pulls up to a house, Samantha bolts from the car. Throwing her jacket over her shoulder in an angry gesture.

Giveon sits in the front seat, witnessing it all. When he finally cuts the engine and follows behind her, there are quick flashes through time: the past, the present, the future. The speed and chaos of these visuals leaves a feeling of discomfort in their wake. Soon we understand why, as Giveon stands confronted by Samantha in the living room of the house. She shouts something along the lines of, “Just go, please!” We notice a few moving boxes scattered around the room. A foreshadowing of what has begun. She’s moving on.

Going into the last verse, Giveon walks away. Still being confronted by memories of the past. Those black and white neusanses. He gets in his car and just goes. No one knows where this road will take us, not even Giveon. One of the most interesting scenes plays out after. In it, Samantha sits atop a bed, gazing longingly out of a window. Giveon stands in front of her singing but she doesn’t register his presence. Even when he leans on the bed, singing his heart out to her, she’s looking detachedly at the empty space next her. Missing him, but not seeing him. Damn.

So this is the Heartbreak Anniversary. Both of them living apart and dreaming of being together. It's the two reminiscing on the good and the bad. Still connected, despite it all. When Giveon stops driving, we see that we're now in an empty parking lot. Our boy Giveon, reeling from just having lost the love of his life. He parks and gets out of the vehicle. A full circle moment occurs when Giveon hops out of the car, and leans against the frame, but this time we see him much closer in a medium close-up. His shoulders are slumped, his heart is heavy and day has turned into night. The sun has finally set on this heart achingly beautiful love and these memories will stand the test of time.