A Postmodern Analysis of Tom Odell's Wrong Crowd Music Video

A Postmodern analysis of Tom Odell’s “Wrong Crowd”

What is postmodernism? Postmodernism is anti-authoritarian by nature, refusing to recognise the authority of any single style as definition of what it should be. Resultantly, postmodernism can be characterised by its self conscious use of earlier styles and conventions and an eclectic mixing of different artistic and popular styles. It is a sarcastic playful parody of western modernity and the “John Wayne” individual and a radical, anarchist rejection of all attempts to define, reify or re-present the human subject.

How then can a music video be a postmodern text? There are certain characteristics within music videos that make them indicative of postmodernism that can be picked up on by the audience. However, perhaps the more important question is why is a music video a postmodern text. Despite postmodernism rejecting any attempts to define humans, music and songs do exactly this by discussing human emotion in clearly defined iconography that will be accepted by society- sad love songs will discuss all the good things that the person is missing about them, upbeat songs will clearly state all the great things the artist is doing and on and on. Therefore postmodernism must come into play to somewhat parody this definition of the human subject as well as present it the way it should be presented, as opposed to making it something new. However, in doing this, a new way of representing humans comes about. Postmodernism as a theory is full of contradictions.

Tom Odell’s Wrong Crowd was released on the 4^th April 2016. The song tells of a boys newfound association with a group of people who are disliked by his family. However, he believes he cannot help it and will always be with them, destroying everything in his life. The music video as a whole amplifies the lyrics as we see Tom, playing a man (be it himself or a character) go and party his life away. The music video is somewhat against the usual iconography that comes from an artist like Tom Odell, as more indie acoustic videos do not necessarily show a party lifestyle. However, this could be combatted with Ed Sheeran’s more recent music such as his video for Sing, which again demonstrated the idea of a “party lifestyle” while still fitting in with his own indie acoustic style. This in itself somewhat goes along with the anti-authoritarian nature of postmodernism as it refuses to distinct itself as an acoustic indie song. It is not necessarily a parody of this kind of video but is more reflecting real life with the idea that to some people, this is what is normal. It takes its inspiration from somewhat true life, though there is an element of exaggeration, much like there would be in any form of film in regards to the party lifestyle. Consumerism is a large part of a large scene of a party such as this, especially with the use of champagne, which connotes to being rich. The fact that they don’t actually drink the champagne and merely pour it on each other represents a blasé attitude to what is being consumed and further shows younger people as wasteful. There is a large amount of focus on Tom unsurprisingly, since he is playing the main character in his song.

Our establishing shot for the music video is in the character’s hotel room. The audience is able to see the messiness throughout demonstrating his unease and sadness. We can here the diegetic sound of Tom’s song Constellations playing, which adds to the general mood of the scene sing it is a love song and Tom is alone. The darkness within the room with only a small amount of light adds to this. Though at this point we haven’t seen much evidence that he is out of love, when the video has been viewed more, the intersexuality that is here is evident. Wearing a white robe, there is some suggestion of a Miss Havisham character, who has been spurned by his lover and will just sit and wait. Though Tom eventually does move, this image of a man who has lost the love of a woman is in mourning is a common theme across the genre.

The close up of Tom’s neutral face and half eaten food in the background increases the sense of sadness and loss. He seems somewhat helpless and numb.

It is in this shot particularly that we begin to understand the situation that Tom’s character is in. The loving images that we see on the computer screen demonstrate the lover that has now left him.

The repetition of the original image with the one of Tom curled up crying is very powerful as his sadness is put on full display for us. This also shows a different representation of men, as men are often seen as more masculine by not feeling as much emotion. This somewhat is what is shown in Tom’s more neutral expression, but this scene contrasts it.

We watch Tom change his appearance in this video, though unlike videos by female artists, we do not see him naked in anyway. He is not objectified in the way that women usually are, which we somewhat see with the close up images of the party goers, though unlike usual the focus is more on their faces. However, in reagrds to the scene where Tom is drenched in champagne, there is some seuxal nature since the image of him is wet with his clothes clinging to his body, showing off his body in a somewhat sexual way. Star image is emphasised throughout the video since we focus on him and even see him sing, which would suggest that we are focusing on him and his voice.

 

This darker scene of Tom drinking is somewhat reminiscent of James Bond in the sense that he has now changed to join the “wrong crowd” so that he no longer has to feel the pain from the loss of his love, which we saw in the previous section. He is now suited and drinking the whiskey, though two different characters, gives us the sense of James Bond as happy in his loneliness, though we know it is only an act.

The walk down the long corridor is very symbolic, as it demonstrates how much he wants the change. He is forcing himself to walk the length of this corridor because he doesn’t want to be himself anymore, though it is hard. It is somewhat a Damascan road image, though rather than turning from evil to good, he is turning from right to wrong.

Once again the characters self image is demonstrated. Though he has changed on the outside truly inside we know that he is still sad. The reflection in the mirror is who he wants to be though it is not who he truly is.

The variety of shots regarding Tom within the party is very similar each time. One of the most important visual signs of the fact that Tom is often being held onto, working with the lyrics “I guess I’ll always be hanging round with the wrong crowd”. Now that he has joined them, he physically cannot escape- they won’t let him despite his mother and brother’s pleas (which we are told in the lyrics) for him to get away.

The final shot of Tom going towards the car is somewhat sad. We know that Tom is drunk and that there is no one behind the wheel. This somewhat eludes to the idea that something bad will happen to Tom since he is getting behind the wheel when he cannot think.