Childish Gambino: Video Analysis
Childish Gambino, whose real name is Donald Glover, is a rapper and comedian. In 2014, STN MTN and Kauai was released which was a combined release of his seventh mixtape and second extended play. Kauai include a very popular song that goes by the name “Sober”. The music video has won awards for best video and as of November 29th, he has gathered over 30 million views. Glover was very creative when producing the song and video. I feel that he intended to create a second meaning to the song through the lyrics and the video. The song “Sober” by Childish Gambino does an excellent job of using video to create the idea of being high even though he has a completely different meaning than what the lyrics are telling you and what the video is showing you.
The video revolves around the …show more content…
idea of a man trying to get the attention of a women waiting for her food at a restaurant. He does so by talking to her using lyrics of the song and motions that relate to these lyrics. This does not appear to work because she soon walks away.
He continues to dance and talk to her and at one point he opens an egg in front of her which contains a note that says, “I’m so high”. After this he continues to dance with the beats of the song and sing the song. After dancing alone for some time, he eventually dances with the women as she makes her way to pick up her food and leave the restaurant. One thing I find very interesting about this song is the fact that the name of the song is “Sober”, but throughout the song he says “Now I’m so high”. Throughout the video, Glover acts as if he is high. He approaches the women in an odd way as if to show the audience that he is high. He walks to her stumbling quite a bit and he throws himself into the booth in front of her. He starts making out actions that relate to the song which does not impress her. At this point, the music takes on a slightly different sound. In the beginning, you could only hear a piano, and a drum synthesizer but as he attempts for a second time to approach the women, an intense bass sound is introduced. He continues with his attempts at impressing her. The song finally reaches a point where the music starts to build up to completely different
sound. This new sound is pixelated and distorted. During this time, Glover dances to the beat of the music. When the music slows down, he slows down. When the bass comes in, he pretends as if he is playing it and he does the same when the piano returns. The setting of the restaurant also changes. The lights begin to flicker continuously and Glover beings to dance in a way that appears as if he is possessed. At this point, it is very clear that he is trying to show his audience that he is high even thought that is not the meaning of the song. His actions make it obvious that he is high due to his stumbling to the table to talk to the women, his random movements that relate to the song, and his very cool yet weird dancing he does when the song changes. Another thing that I find very interesting about this song is the hidden meaning it has. The hook of the song includes the words “Now I’m so high” multiple times yet I do not believe that he wants his audience to believe he is high. In my opinion, he is trying to tell his audience that he is in love and Glover’s weird actions are a result of his love. Glover is trying to show that being in love can feel like being high. It is confusing and requires a lot of patience. He shows this through his stumbling to the table to speak to the women, his imitating of the lyrics, his multiple attempts to get her attention, and his weird dance solo. A large part of the audience believes that Glover is singing only about never being sober again. Due to the fact that he presents himself in a not normal state, it makes it unclear that he is actually singing about being in love. In the song “Sober”, Glover attempts to get across the idea of being in love. While watching the music video, it appears that Glover is high. It appears to a large portion of the audience that he is glorifying the use of drugs. He makes it look as if it is a fun experience. In reality, Glover is no trying to do this. Glover is attempting to relate the idea of love and being high and he does this throughout his video. Glover is saying that he is in love and, in his opinion, it feels like being high. He shows this in the video by stumbling around a bit as he walks up to a woman sitting alone in a restaurant. He does crazy imitations to the lyrics of his song and he dances to the song in way that one would think of as not normal.
The video revolves around the …show more content…
idea of a man trying to get the attention of a women waiting for her food at a restaurant. He does so by talking to her using lyrics of the song and motions that relate to these lyrics. This does not appear to work because she soon walks away.
He continues to dance and talk to her and at one point he opens an egg in front of her which contains a note that says, “I’m so high”. After this he continues to dance with the beats of the song and sing the song. After dancing alone for some time, he eventually dances with the women as she makes her way to pick up her food and leave the restaurant. One thing I find very interesting about this song is the fact that the name of the song is “Sober”, but throughout the song he says “Now I’m so high”. Throughout the video, Glover acts as if he is high. He approaches the women in an odd way as if to show the audience that he is high. He walks to her stumbling quite a bit and he throws himself into the booth in front of her. He starts making out actions that relate to the song which does not impress her. At this point, the music takes on a slightly different sound. In the beginning, you could only hear a piano, and a drum synthesizer but as he attempts for a second time to approach the women, an intense bass sound is introduced. He continues with his attempts at impressing her. The song finally reaches a point where the music starts to build up to completely different
sound. This new sound is pixelated and distorted. During this time, Glover dances to the beat of the music. When the music slows down, he slows down. When the bass comes in, he pretends as if he is playing it and he does the same when the piano returns. The setting of the restaurant also changes. The lights begin to flicker continuously and Glover beings to dance in a way that appears as if he is possessed. At this point, it is very clear that he is trying to show his audience that he is high even thought that is not the meaning of the song. His actions make it obvious that he is high due to his stumbling to the table to talk to the women, his random movements that relate to the song, and his very cool yet weird dancing he does when the song changes. Another thing that I find very interesting about this song is the hidden meaning it has. The hook of the song includes the words “Now I’m so high” multiple times yet I do not believe that he wants his audience to believe he is high. In my opinion, he is trying to tell his audience that he is in love and Glover’s weird actions are a result of his love. Glover is trying to show that being in love can feel like being high. It is confusing and requires a lot of patience. He shows this through his stumbling to the table to speak to the women, his imitating of the lyrics, his multiple attempts to get her attention, and his weird dance solo. A large part of the audience believes that Glover is singing only about never being sober again. Due to the fact that he presents himself in a not normal state, it makes it unclear that he is actually singing about being in love. In the song “Sober”, Glover attempts to get across the idea of being in love. While watching the music video, it appears that Glover is high. It appears to a large portion of the audience that he is glorifying the use of drugs. He makes it look as if it is a fun experience. In reality, Glover is no trying to do this. Glover is attempting to relate the idea of love and being high and he does this throughout his video. Glover is saying that he is in love and, in his opinion, it feels like being high. He shows this in the video by stumbling around a bit as he walks up to a woman sitting alone in a restaurant. He does crazy imitations to the lyrics of his song and he dances to the song in way that one would think of as not normal.