The music video for 9 Crimes by Damien Rice was directed by Jamie Thraves in 2006. The music is of the piano pop genre and conforms to its characteristics of a classical, all-piano arrangement but with vocals that can appeal to a mass audience, as common in the broader Pop genre.
The lyrics "leave me out with the waste" are represented in the video through the visual of additional vocalist Lisa Hannigan's head cast aside amongst waste bins in an alleyway. This surreal image later evolves as her head flies upward like a balloon and is lifted away by the wind. The lyrics "if I give my gun away when it's loaded, is that alright?" are loosely represented in the video by the young boy who, at the end of the video, uses a slingshot to burst Hannigan's 'balloon head' and she is left on the ground, her face burst apart. The lyrics "it's a small crime and I've got no excuse" could also relate to this from the perspective of the boy.
The video cuts to the beat of the music effectively throughout. During the crescendo of the music the video cuts away from the alleyway setting to the pavement of a street, where Rice pulls Hannigan's head along like a balloon on string. This is portrayed as jovial as he had earlier attempted to grab hold of her, but the wind had kept blowing her away. Pete Fraser, in the article Teaching Music Video (BFI, 2004) says that "many music videos draw upon cinema as a starting point." This is true for this video, which has a very cinematic aesthetic and is more concept-based than traditional music videos, feeling more like a short film by an experimental filmmaker than a music video.
The artist, Damien Rice, is featured in close-up shots often. He is portrayed as an ordinary person, as he is dressed in scruffy jeans and a bomber jacket, which adds to his star appeal. This is consistent with his previous videos as he wears ordinary costumes and is presented in an image of a professional, serious singer/songwriter. According to Keith Negus in the book Producing Pop, stars created from the organic ideology of creativity are approached by record labels with a naturalistic intention and a long-term plan. Rice fits into this category and is thus an organically ideological star. His music is aimed at a higher sophistication of consumer than the general pop genre.
The video is predominantly concept-based, presenting a unique and interesting visual image. The narrative-base is used much less in the boy's slingshot destruction of Hannigan's face. The artist, Damien Rice and additional vocalist, Lisa Hannigan do perform throughout the music video, lip syncing not to the camera, but to each other. In conclusion, this video is unconventional and experimental. However, it does still conform to some music video conventions, such as performance from the artist and a fractured narrative.
According to Richard Dyer in the article Stars (BFI, 1981), some of the common values of music stardom are "originality [and] creativity/talent." He also theorises that "a star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines etc as well as films [music])." Rice's appearance in the music video is an image created by the record company, as he is not performing live as a true human being, but instead acting. Rice fulfills these criterion and can therefore be considered, from Dyer's theorisation, a star.
A very thorough analysis of a beautiful song. Be careful not to forget that music can also just be music.
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