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When it comes to capturing the sadness that lurks just beneath an idyllic suburban setting in a music video, Madison Beer continues to have most others beat (even, perhaps, Lana Del Rey). And the video for her latest single, “Bittersweet,” is no exception. Co-directed by Beer and Iris Kim, the stage is immediately set at the end of a cul-de-sac as the camera, panning forward at a fairly rapid pace, lets the viewer know, almost right away, just where we are. Indeed, “Bittersweet” instantly connects itself to the video for “Spinnin,” during which Beer is in a much more concretely depressed state after a breakup while chillin’ in suburbia. In said video, Beer awakens in her already “sleepy” suburban neighborhood to find that everyone else has seemingly disappeared (hence the question, “Has the world stopped spinnin?”). Needless to say, such a concept has some very Twilight Zone-esque vibes.
As does, in its own way, the video for “Bittersweet.” But before the surreal aspects of the video take hold, the viewer is made privy to the fairly average scene of Beer knocking on the door of her now ex-boyfriend (played by The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Sean Kaufman, doing his best impression of a douchebag here). When he answers, wearing a shirt that reads “Button Your Fly,” he regards Beer with eye-rolling annoyance. Even so, there are a few moments there where Beer looks at him almost hopefully, like she wishes he would call off their already established breakup. Instead, he coldly tells her, “Yo, we’re done” (rivaling Britney’s acting in the “Stronger” video when she says, “Whatever”) as he thrusts a box of her shit at her. The opening notes to “Bittersweet” then begin to play as he slams the door in her face.
Turning around to face the street—and the world—Beer chokes back tears as she starts walking to her own house. However, the initial “sadness” of her mood is interrupted when she turns around to see that there are fireworks going off over her ex’s house. This being the first indication of the universe’s unyielding support of her relationship’s demise. Then there’s the sight of confetti on the ground, prompting Beer to drop her box of personal belongings before the camera cuts to a marching band and various “revelers” holding up a sign that reads, “It’ll be okay!” in giant block letters. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for reassuring signs.
Soon after, Beer also notices such encouragements as, “An angel gained its wings,” “Newly Single,” “Congrats on your breakup,” “Just the beginning” and, the coup de grâce, “Mom I am a rich man” (the famous Cher quote that’s gained increasing traction over the years, to the point where it also appeared in Taylor Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down” video).
So it is that Beer’s frown is turned upside down as the parade effectively “goes through” her. And yet, that happiness seems to disappear just as quickly as it came while she sings, “Right now, I’m bittersweet.” That mixture of emotions still inferring that, at any given moment, she can become just as overpowered by her sadness as she is by her “sense of liberation.” Thus, in the midst of that melancholic emotional overtaking at the parade, she scurries back over to her house to seek refuge. Slamming the door behind her, a quick change of light indicates that some time has passed before she reemerges to the sight of various paparazzi and news representatives snapping photos and getting her “hot take” on the breakup (with the caption “Hear How She’s Really Been Doing” when the footage suddenly turns all “90s news-y”). Beer’s response? “One day, I’ll wake up sad/But go to bed so glad/Knowing you know what you could’ve had/Now I’m choosing me/It wasn’t so easy/God forbid forever on my knees.”
Beer then takes the microphone from the reporter to sing into it, “Know you won’t make it right/Can’t look me in the еyes/Good for you/I always think I knew.” In the wake of this statement, a flash of images of Beer and her ex in various moments of heated tension occur before she’s “headlining” the very parade she walked into at the beginning of the video. But, once again, it’s not all embracing “being free” as, in the next scene, Beer is shown lying in her bedroom clutching the heart-shaped locket she’s wearing as its mirrored interior shines a bright light outward that ends up projecting scenes of her past with this ex onto her ceiling (in a scenario that is very reminiscent of Ariana Grande’s Brighter Days Ahead short film—which only adds to the overall “Grande-ness” of this song anyway, in terms of sound and lyrical motifs). Which would, of course, make it even harder for anyone to get over the person they once (thought they) loved.
However, at the end of the video, just to lighten the mood—the bittersweetness of it all—Beer is shown in the same scene with Kaufman as the viewer saw at the beginning. Except, this time, Beer sweetly says, “Hi,” to which Kaufman answers rudely, “What do you mean ‘hi’?” He then breaks character to start laughing along with Beer who then imitates his line to make fun of him. It’s a “tag” to the video that adds more levity, rather than just concluding with the scene of Beer heartbrokenly lying in her bed (a “finale” that would have only mimicked the ending of the “Spinnin” video), reflecting back on these better times with her ex. The kind of times that make her wish it wasn’t over instead of realizing it’s for the best. As the parade goers reminded her with no subtlety.
And yet, sometimes a person (and, let’s face it, especially a woman) who has just endured a breakup needs to be “hit over the head,” so to speak, with that kind of reminder in order to wake up from the sadness that’s enveloping them. This to shed the bitter in “bittersweet.”
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Genna Rivieccio
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