Nobody shows us how to be loved, but at least we have AURORA to make us feel this absence in the video for the song “To Be Loved.” The video starts with a thought: In black and white we are introduced to the idea of wanting to be loved. Images flash before our eyes, and we sense how they are something intangible, almost nonexistent. The video flips to AURORA in the center of what looks like the aftermath of an explosion. The image is clear. Toward the middle of the song, however, the visuals take a twist.
A couple begins to appear and flames rise up from the ground above AURORA. It is almost as if she could touch this feeling of love, but just before she does, she sees herself trapped in between the flames—something that could have been but never was. The video was directed by Shopia+Robert, who have produced various music videos for the likes of David Guetta, The Kooks, and Pale Waves.
The song, a collaboration between the Norwegian producer Askjell and singer AURORA—who is also Norwegian—feels personal and intimate, but is arranged in a way that makes it feel chaotic. The visual representation, in a sense, aims to inspire the same mix of feelings in its viewers. It explores an aesthetic of chaos where quick cuts and turns take the lead to bring about the narrative and rhythm of the song. A catharsis of feeling creates an atmosphere of love, making you vulnerable and defenseless. Once you are in love, you cannot escape it, and you end up craving it when it is no longer there. Love, in itself, is the foundation for human life. And for AURORA and Askjell, it is central, beautiful, and exploratory in “To Be Loved.”
Featured Image by Universal Island Records
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