On June 7th, Aurora released her new album, a human of a different kind. I will make a review of the entire album and share my thoughts, but first I will make this review and analysis of the third single and tell my thoughts and interpretation.
The River
The Music Video:
It begins on the water, and the camera turns up to show the land, beautiful and green with trees and a pavilion. There is an instant theme of nature
She sits on the floor. Maybe it's supposed to look like a dungeon, how she feels she can't let her emotions out. Or it could simply be a pretty place she wanted to include in the video. There's a fluffy carpet beneath her, maybe a reference to an interview when she said she likes to feel things or that's why she added it. And to give the room texture rather than just being hard. She's sitting still, but you can tell she's feeling something very powerful.
[Verse 1]
Hold your hands up to your chest
And tell me what you find
Out of you, a sparrow comes
And sees without its eyes
She asks the listener to find the emotion in their heart. Set it free like a sparrow. The line about it seeing without its eyes may be saying that its flying and navigating it's way using emotion.
The view switches between her and different plants. Also showing another Aurora at a different point in time, the other one is curled up. Both Auroras have scissors.
[Pre-Chorus 1]
Don't forget who you are even though you are hurt
You are caught in a wire and soon it will burst
She knows that it's easy to get caught up in pain and let it change you. But what's important is to not forget who you are. Everything changes, and so will bad situations, meaning whatever wire you are caught in would soon burst.
[Chorus]
You can cry
Drinking your eyes
Do you miss the sadness when it's gone? (Gone)
And you let the river run wild (Gone)
And you let the river run wild
She says that it's okay to let your emotions out and cry. In this culture, crying is typically seen as weak or simply something that we shouldn't do. But we often feel better after a good cry.
When she cries, the tears are plants, which I think is a creative and extraordinary touch. What is even more brilliant, whether intentional or not, flow rhymes with grow. This means saying "let your tears flow," and "let your tears grow," sound very similar.
They slowly grow, but cuts them. At this point the viewer knows the purpose of them. If they think about it, they will find that Aurora having them at all times symbolizes how she won't let herself cry and release it, becoming a burden or storm cloud following her.
When she cuts the plants, she prevents it from growing and becoming something beautiful. If you can remember, there were plants, similar to the one she just cut, on the floor in the beginning of the video. This shows that she has already been cutting them and preventing herself from crying for a while.
[Verse 2]
I'm a shadow, I am cold
And now I seek for warmth
Stitch your skin onto my skin
And we won't be alone
After the hurt she's now dark and alone. She now wants to feel better and move on. She asks to stick together so neither of them will be cold.
Mist rolls on the flowing water. She walks into it in deep thought. It also cuts to her curled up in a ball in the water and her playing with scissors while laying on the floor. She opens the clippers as if she's anxious about something or feeling restless. The Aurora walking in the river sees a petal and possibly thinks about how free is it is
[Pre-Chorus]
Don't forget who you are even though you're in need
Like a bird in the night, your emotions deserves to be freed
Once again she calls to the listener to not forget who they are and let the load of your emotions free. Locking up emotions can cause more stress.
[Chorus]
You can cry
Drinking your eyes
Do you miss the sadness when it's gone? (Gone)
And you let the river run wild (Gone)
And you let the river run wild
You can cry (You can cry)
Drinking your eyes
I don't miss the sadness when it's gone (Gone)
And the feeling of it makes me smile (Gone)
As I let the river run wild
She talks a little about the theme of the song in this tweet that I took a screenshot of July 10th.
She paces and thinks about how she locks up her sadness and never lets it free. She stares at the clippers and considers it. If she should keep doing it.
[Bridge]
You can cry, you can cry, you can cry
To where the ocean is bigger
Become a part of the river
You can cry, you can cry, you can cry
Can you let the river run wild?
She's swimming in the river, becoming part of the river. Letting her tears run wild like the river and shares her sadness with people.
[Chorus]
You can cry
(You can cry, you can cry, you can cry)
She finally releases the clippers which had been with her the whole video, that she held onto and could never let go. Throwing them away, she finds freedom.
She finally allows the plants to grow and spread on her face, turning into something beautiful.
Drinking your eyes
Do you miss the sadness when it's gone? (Gone)
(You can cry, you can cry, you can cry)
And you let the river run wild (Gone)
And you let the river run wild
You can cry
(You can cry, you can cry, you can cry)
Drinking your eyes
(To where the ocean is bigger)
The petals are like the tears and sadness being released and shows that it's something beautiful, not ugly or weak.
I don't miss the sadness when it's gone (Gone)
And the feeling of it makes me smile (Gone)
As I let the river run wild
[Outro]
You can cry
Drinking your eyes
Do you miss the sadness when it's gone?
And you let the river run wild
And you let the river run wild
She lays in the petals, symbolizing her tears and sadness in a beautiful way, and is glad that her emotions inside were finally released.
I like the video very much. I love all the nature and the beauty of it. I believe that there is now a face filter with the plants that Aurora cries that I may need to get. She made a post about it on twitter
If you have not heard the song yet, I suggest you do, because it's beautiful music and has an important message we usually don't hear.
If you would like to read other reviews and analyses, here they are below:
Aurora - Infections of a Different Kind review
Animal by Aurora - Lyric and Music Video Analysis
Aurora - I Went Too Far lyric analysis