Music Video Analysis

Sacrilege - Yeah Yeah Yeah's

The music video I chose to analyse is ‘Sacrilege’ by the band ‘Yeah Yeah Yeahs’, an indie rock band originating from New York. The genre of the song is indie rock; but there are not many defining characteristics present in the video due to it’s film-like nature. As well as this, the band is not present in the video at all, meaning no characteristics can be inferred from their clothing or style. However, the song itself has a certain “atmosphere” that most indie rock songs give off - more melodic and not as heavy as rock, incorporating the electronic music genre more than rock. 

The video does not feature the band, but it does tell a story, making it a narrative. There is no singing or lip syncing from anyone in the video, nor any sort of dancing or routine, which erases the idea of it being a conceptual or performance based video. It literally is a small film, shot in non-chronological order, starting at the finish and ending at the beginning in a sequence of shots. The video was directed by the French director group Megaforce, and was shot in Texas.

There appears to be an evident relationship between the visuals and lyrics - the song is titled ‘Sacrilege’, which is to desecrate something regarded as religious. The whole idea, or concept, of the video is the desecration of marriage. The video depicts a congregation of people who are burning a woman and her presumed lover alive. 

The video then travels backwards, where we see the girl having multiple affairs with various people of a town, until we reach the beginning, where she marries a man with all the townspeople present. The video is heavy throughout with religious connotations, which relate to the lyrics - for example, “fell down from the sky” and “halo ‘round his head” etc. The video does not correspond to the lyrics exactly but it does relate to the religious theme of the song. As well as this, a gospel choir was used alongside the band, which adds to the religious aspect of the music. This hints at a little intertextuality - Madonna similarly used a gospel choir in her hit single ‘Like A Prayer’.

Whilst the band was not present, they did use Lily Cole as an actress, Cole being famous enough that it would likely garner the attention of a wider audience - much like Weapon Of Choice, Fatboy Slim; famous actor Christopher Walken starred in the video. However, most Americans would not know Lily Cole if they saw her, in comparison to Weapon Of Choice. There were many close up shots of Cole, who was present throughout the majority of the video.

There was a very voyeuristic element incorporated into the video, which begins with the townspeople being present at the wedding - they are avidly watching the union; or rather, they are avidly watching Cole, whom most of them desire. If the video were to be in chronological order, the start would be the wedding, and the affairs would come afterwards.

However, upon closer inspection, it appears that the affairs might not have even transpired. Cole isn’t caught in the act once despite having multiple affairs, which begs suspicion - did the affairs occur at all, or were they just the fantasies of the townspeople? If so, it adds greatly to the voyeuristic element of the video, especially the sexual side of it. In addition, when Cole and the priest are found together, a man watches them together through the window. It looks like he mumbles the word “sacrilege” which again relates to the lyrics and title. The video itself seems to be voyeuristic, or giving the impression of looking in, as we - the viewers - watch on as the events occur.