Dua Lipa and Angèle cascade through the lit-up London streets in their Fever music video, giving viewers a refresher on what night life was like pre-pandemic.
Fever’s lyrics switch between Lipa’s English drawl and Angèle’s French lilt, blending the two singers’ languages together. They sing about the missing pieces of themselves and their longing for the person who fosters the connections between those parts. This type of heartbreak contrasts with the allure of falling in love in Europe—an idea that is abundant in American culture.
For a song about feeling emotionally incomplete, in the video, the singers are carefree. Illuminated by traffic lights and car headlights, the girls dance and run around the rainy streets presenting an alternative world untouched by masks or election anxieties.
The video opens with the camera positioned behind a taxi window panning over a nightclub entrance, before focusing on Lipa as she runs up to the car. She originally asks the cab to go home, but Angèle runs up and asks to walk in an attempt to extend their fun for the night.
The shaky filming style continues as the girls carry on with their adventures. This style of filming gives the audience the feeling that they are watching an iPhone recording, or that they themselves are witnessing the events first-hand. It does not give the video a cheap effect, but rather exudes the feeling that viewers are watching a recount of a night that could be anyone’s, lending a personalized quality to the video.
Through the video, the audience is made to believe that Lipa and Angèle are not the singers of the song, but are listening to it from another source and singing along. This is evident as the girls are waiting for the train. Fever can be heard playing in the background as the girls discuss how to say “neutered,” referring to Lipa’s dog, in French. This idea is again apparent at the end of the music video, when the girls are singing the French lyrics of the song to themselves as they walk through a market the next morning.
Fever offers a nostalgic glimpse into what life was like before days were spent inside in quarantine. It also projects a hope for what life can be in the future. Although our current reality is much different than the one portrayed in the video, Fever is the perfect song to play in order to forget one’s worries and transport listeners into a free and dance-filled world.
Photo courtesy of Warner Records
