Ok, I have to start this off my saying that 16 Lines is my favourite Peep song of all time, quickly followed by Kiss. So I have a lot to say about it and you'll probably think I'm crazy. There will be a lot of gushing. Starting now. The lyrics hit way too close to home, and they're so simple but so devastating:
"10 years ago I went blind / I've been on my own since age 9"
"I wonder who you'll fuck when I die"
"Is anybody out there? Can anybody hear me?"
There's something about the slow, slurred desperation of the way he sings. And the song's direct reference to his drug use as a way of coming with mental pain: "16 lines of blow and I'm fine." I hadn't realised this, but, as I read in a comment on Instagram somewhere, and as is now available on the Genius.com analysis, this song's chorus has 16 lines. So it's also a reference to how he writes music to numb the pain. GOD. Amazing. I also have this deleted insta post of him, which shows how he's cut sixteen lines of coke on a book about torture. Interpret that how you will (it's pretty direct to me: the sadomasochism is parallel).
But I'll start with the comparison now. And I do have to start with the difference between the actual music used in each: the leaked original music video uses the demo that everyone listened to before COWYS Part II came out, which has the re-produced version that was used in the released official music video. (The music video, by the way, came out on 16/1. Amazing.) When the album came oiut, I really didn't like the re-produced version, which messed with the song too much in my opinion. I especially didn't like the removal of the last ornament in the beginning guitar riff - it took our complexity for me and I was so attached to that riff. I still don't like the change, but after re-listening to this new version while watching the official music video, it's actually grown on me, and I might re-download it - I currently still listened to the leaked demo. Another difference between the two versions of the song is the isolation of Peep's vocals in the into lines. I still don't know how I feel about it, or which I prefer - the rawness is nice, but I don't think it's a good way to hook in listeners, especially new and less fanatic listeners.
Anyway, let's get to the actual music video. I love the original, so I was really scared about how much it would change. And you know what? I actually like the new version better.
Original (shhh):
Official:
Thankfully, it was still edited by Wiggy (@omgimwigs) and Mezzy (@getmezzy). (It was shot by Wiggy, who shot the benz truck music video, ie my favourite music video of all time. I wanna do an analysis of it but it'd be soooo long.) I won't comment on the (forced) removal of GBC affiliation, such as the removal of the gothboiclique tags in some of his other songs, and the removal of the GBC logo at the start of the MV, because I don't think I have a right to comment. I know his mum and family's really angry at GBC for essentially letting him self-destruct and die, but I don't think Mackned killed him on purpose (actually, I personally think Peep killed himself on purpose, but that's another post all together), and GBC loved him, and I don't know if the rumours that he was going to leave GBC after the tour are true. But I wasn't there, and don't know shit about his personal life, so I'll shut up.
Let's get into the actual music video. What I missed about what was cut out of the new video is the inclusion of the flower shots. The leaked original had a very prominent pink/purple colour scheme, from the purple flowers in the apartment he's lying in, to his pink/purple tie-dye pink jumper (made by @witchcraftangel), to his pink/purple hair, to his pink diamond grills. Very Peep, all in all. With the exclusion of the flower shots in the official, and the extra proportion of B-roll from in the car (which at this point can't even be called B-roll anymore) where there's no such colour cohesion, it falls from prominence, which is a shame, because I associate the song so strongly with the colour light purple. Though, now that I think about it, that might be because, in my grapheme-to-colour synaesthetic mind, "6" is a lavender colour, and "1" is a neutral black.
There's also a tiny bit less movement in and out of focus, but that might be because they used a lot of different takes for what are essentially the same shots. And it makes a huge difference, these 'new' takes - they're slower takes where it's more obvious that he's high (probably xanned) off his fucking head. The deadness in his eyes, paralleling the emotional dead-end of the sunglasses he's wearing indoors in some of the A-roll shots, is more obvious. It makes the pain clearer, more distilled to me, and combined with the sad sad lyrics it actually made me cry in Westfield Bondi Junction. As Zapte of @gothboipictures pointed out, these 'new' shots are also much longer;
there's less cutting from shot to shot, which, to me, makes the pain and the numbness more obvious - it's really evident how deadpan and dead inside he is, continuously. The longer stares directly into the camera also make it a lot more personal. I feel him staring back, crying for help.
I also love that in the new official release, the last shot is changed. It's a shot of him in the car, he's looking down at his lap, and he quickly (well, for his state) looks up and stares into the camera: one final plea for help.
The most talked about difference is the removal of the shot where Peep actually does a line of coke in the apartment. Personally, I don't really care that much. It didn't add much to the song - we all already know he snorts a lot of coke, he even says it in the song. I didn't even realise it had been removed till I saw a comment about it, ie, it hadn't been a prominent part of my viewing of the original. So eh, whatever.
All in all, I think it's pretty cool that the new music video was able to change my mind about the re-production of the song itself. That's when you know a music video's good - when it adds to the song like that.
I hope someone reads this and enjoys it, because I care about this a lot. "Is anybody out there? Can anybody hear me?"
"10 years ago I went blind / I've been on my own since age 9"
"I wonder who you'll fuck when I die"
"Is anybody out there? Can anybody hear me?"
There's something about the slow, slurred desperation of the way he sings. And the song's direct reference to his drug use as a way of coming with mental pain: "16 lines of blow and I'm fine." I hadn't realised this, but, as I read in a comment on Instagram somewhere, and as is now available on the Genius.com analysis, this song's chorus has 16 lines. So it's also a reference to how he writes music to numb the pain. GOD. Amazing. I also have this deleted insta post of him, which shows how he's cut sixteen lines of coke on a book about torture. Interpret that how you will (it's pretty direct to me: the sadomasochism is parallel).
But I'll start with the comparison now. And I do have to start with the difference between the actual music used in each: the leaked original music video uses the demo that everyone listened to before COWYS Part II came out, which has the re-produced version that was used in the released official music video. (The music video, by the way, came out on 16/1. Amazing.) When the album came oiut, I really didn't like the re-produced version, which messed with the song too much in my opinion. I especially didn't like the removal of the last ornament in the beginning guitar riff - it took our complexity for me and I was so attached to that riff. I still don't like the change, but after re-listening to this new version while watching the official music video, it's actually grown on me, and I might re-download it - I currently still listened to the leaked demo. Another difference between the two versions of the song is the isolation of Peep's vocals in the into lines. I still don't know how I feel about it, or which I prefer - the rawness is nice, but I don't think it's a good way to hook in listeners, especially new and less fanatic listeners.
Anyway, let's get to the actual music video. I love the original, so I was really scared about how much it would change. And you know what? I actually like the new version better.
Original (shhh):
Official:
Thankfully, it was still edited by Wiggy (@omgimwigs) and Mezzy (@getmezzy). (It was shot by Wiggy, who shot the benz truck music video, ie my favourite music video of all time. I wanna do an analysis of it but it'd be soooo long.) I won't comment on the (forced) removal of GBC affiliation, such as the removal of the gothboiclique tags in some of his other songs, and the removal of the GBC logo at the start of the MV, because I don't think I have a right to comment. I know his mum and family's really angry at GBC for essentially letting him self-destruct and die, but I don't think Mackned killed him on purpose (actually, I personally think Peep killed himself on purpose, but that's another post all together), and GBC loved him, and I don't know if the rumours that he was going to leave GBC after the tour are true. But I wasn't there, and don't know shit about his personal life, so I'll shut up.
Let's get into the actual music video. What I missed about what was cut out of the new video is the inclusion of the flower shots. The leaked original had a very prominent pink/purple colour scheme, from the purple flowers in the apartment he's lying in, to his pink/purple tie-dye pink jumper (made by @witchcraftangel), to his pink/purple hair, to his pink diamond grills. Very Peep, all in all. With the exclusion of the flower shots in the official, and the extra proportion of B-roll from in the car (which at this point can't even be called B-roll anymore) where there's no such colour cohesion, it falls from prominence, which is a shame, because I associate the song so strongly with the colour light purple. Though, now that I think about it, that might be because, in my grapheme-to-colour synaesthetic mind, "6" is a lavender colour, and "1" is a neutral black.
There's also a tiny bit less movement in and out of focus, but that might be because they used a lot of different takes for what are essentially the same shots. And it makes a huge difference, these 'new' takes - they're slower takes where it's more obvious that he's high (probably xanned) off his fucking head. The deadness in his eyes, paralleling the emotional dead-end of the sunglasses he's wearing indoors in some of the A-roll shots, is more obvious. It makes the pain clearer, more distilled to me, and combined with the sad sad lyrics it actually made me cry in Westfield Bondi Junction. As Zapte of @gothboipictures pointed out, these 'new' shots are also much longer;
there's less cutting from shot to shot, which, to me, makes the pain and the numbness more obvious - it's really evident how deadpan and dead inside he is, continuously. The longer stares directly into the camera also make it a lot more personal. I feel him staring back, crying for help.
I also love that in the new official release, the last shot is changed. It's a shot of him in the car, he's looking down at his lap, and he quickly (well, for his state) looks up and stares into the camera: one final plea for help.
The most talked about difference is the removal of the shot where Peep actually does a line of coke in the apartment. Personally, I don't really care that much. It didn't add much to the song - we all already know he snorts a lot of coke, he even says it in the song. I didn't even realise it had been removed till I saw a comment about it, ie, it hadn't been a prominent part of my viewing of the original. So eh, whatever.
All in all, I think it's pretty cool that the new music video was able to change my mind about the re-production of the song itself. That's when you know a music video's good - when it adds to the song like that.
I hope someone reads this and enjoys it, because I care about this a lot. "Is anybody out there? Can anybody hear me?"
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