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Emeli Sandé- Heaven

Emeli Sandè’s song Heaven is her debut single. It was released by Virgin Records after she signed  a record deal with label. It was the first release from Sandè’s debut album Our Version  of Events. The single was added to BBC Radio 1’s playlist in June 2011. The song was also crowned record of the week by the station’s daytime DJ Fearne Cotton. The song is written by Emeli Sandè, Naughty Boy, Craze and Hoax, with producer Mike Spencer.

Songs meaning and inspiration:

“Heaven came from a conversation I was having with my producer Naughty Boy, we were talking about what it means to be good in this day and age, and how it’s harder for our generation because things move so fast, and how there’s so many influences and avenues, and he said, You just have to keep your heart clean. It was the imagery of a clean or dirty heart that inspired me, and we wrote it in about half an hour. I knew I wanted it to be my first song from the off.”

“I definitely believe in God and I believe in heaven, although I don’t follow religion. Heaven was about trying to be good. My idea of heaven? A lot of music, somewhere very calm. I felt it at Christmas with the family around. Kids are so pure and innocent, and one was learning the piano. It reminded me of when I was learning.”

Music video

Sandè’s music video for her song Heaven puts the meaning behind her song into images, as said previously her song is about whats good in this day and age, so the video focuses on many themes such as, drugs, heaven, God, religion, youth and whats right and wrong etc.

The themes are expressed through key shots in the video. Heaven is expressed through the use of wings as wings  are a symbol of heaven. The wings are shot firstly with a girl standing in front of some on the wall and secondly a man with a pair tattooed on his back. Both shots are quite different, as the one of the girl is very innocent and elegant highlighting a theme of good. Where as the tattooed man creates a more edgy and rough vibe, highlighting a stereo typical theme of bad. By having two shots of the same thing but presenting different themes they are expressing there story of what is good because tattoos were used on bad people where as now it its used as a trend, insinuating times are different from what they used to be and by using the innocent girl, they are divulging we don't know who is good or bad from just looking at them.

One of the first shots we see is of a lady in a red dress walking down a dark alley, this symbolises prostitution. This divulges people do bad things to get money and get themselves through, this shows we should help people and prevent them getting themselves into bad situations.

1minute and 39 seconds into the video they do a shot of a window where someone has written the quote; “Fear is your only God”, this insinuates that fear is very powerful as its comparing fear to God and God is all powerful and the greatest being. It also highlights that fear is very controlling, it forces people to do things they shouldn't and it also makes people feel miserable.

1minute and 49 seconds into the film there is a shot of two young girls in a playground, this highlights a sense of innocence, youth and happiness. This divulges when you're young you don't worry about what is right and wrong and what is good, you don't have the worries of living a good, healthy life. The shot shows the contrast between the personalities of a youth and young women, I.e the children and the prostitute.

In the middle of video there is a shot of a mother and there baby. Meanwhile this shot is shown Sandè is singing about, if she did something wrong would they forgive her, “they” meaning her parents.

2 minutes and 31 seconds into the video there is a shot of young man smoking, linking to drugs, this a key shot as drugs is associated with people who have either given up on life or who are suffering emotionally I.e depression. Also 2 minutes and 51 seconds into the video theres a shot of two people passing a lighter between them, also associated to the theme of drugs.

Straight after the previous shot there is one of someone under a blanket in a field, a homeless person. This shot links to the meaning of the song, what is good? You question did the homeless person do something bad to get there, or did life just not turn out well for them, and you also think is it a good thing to help a homeless person? Also 3 minutes and 14 seconds into the film there is another shot of a homeless man begging for money, this shot highlights a sense of willingness, sympathy, upset and need.

Opinions

In my opinion the music video was really appealing and interesting to watch, it showed some very key shots of the problems people face nowadays. However it is quite confusing, if you didn't know the meaning of the song you wouldn't understand the music video. The music video is supposed to help the viewer understand the meaning of the song. Other than that the music video is amazing and very eye-catching.

Other peoples opinions on the video are;

The Guardian- “Heaven, Sandé has shuffled closer to the spotlight in her own right. With 90s drum'n'bass beats and rich horn blasts, Heaven sounds both retro and contemporary, fitting snugly alongside recent singles by Yasmin and Katy B. Anchoring the whole thing is Sandé's voice, which seems to be on the edge of delirious, rich with emotion but cracking in all the right places.”

NME- “A combination of good songwriting, and un-originality.”

Conclusion

In conclusion the video was very powerful and got Sandè's point across. The strengths of this video are; it portrays a good story, the key shots have an impact on the viewer, the song and video are very emotional and also it allows the audience to connect with it. The weakness's are; the video is very confusing if you don't know the meaning behind the song, also the song is about others however she is in most of the shots.