Anavae – Lose Your Love (2018)

Anavae is an English rock band from London.  The duo consists of Rebecca Need-Menear and Jamie Finch.  The band formed in 2011, and has since released a substantial amount of albums and EPs.  Their latest video release is titled ‘Lose Your Love’ from the EP, Are You Dreaming?.

‘Lose Your Love’ is about a conflicting battle within a person on whether or not to let someone go, or make them stay with you.  A line I really liked from the song was “It’s the same view a thousand times, but with a changing mind”.  For me, this lyric is extremely relatable to my own life, and it holds so much truth.  You can see the same thing over and over again, but you will always change your mind about it, and in this case, they are referring to the relationship at hand.  I think it was really beautifully written to get the message across to the listeners.

The instruments in the song were mainly focused around the drums, and were played in an echo as if they were off somewhere in a big empty room.  I think this ties in well with the meaning of the song.

The video begins with a burning candle, and a girl dancing in the background.  She is dancing with her back facing the camera and dancing a contemporary style of dance.  Her movement follows the instruments of the song as they become more dramatic in the build-up to the chorus.  She dances in a field, which creates an atmosphere that is peaceful and calm – almost like a place to think and clear her head.  This juxtaposed with the intense dance moves shows the internal battle the girl is going through, and we see that it is tearing her apart.

At the end of the video, she walks up to the candle and blows it out, which I think holds a level of symbolism.  A burning candle is an object that can be seen as sad because it is burning; it is slowly dying, losing life.  For this song, the burning candle reflects the decision she has to make, and the effect it is having on her.  By blowing out the candle at the end, it allows us to believe that she has made a decision and that she won’t let this problem destroy her anymore.  She is choosing to walk away.

This video was entertaining, but it took me a while to figure out what it was trying to say.  I believe dance has an ability to force the viewer to interpret what they are seeing, which is what this video is asking.  I really enjoyed the way the video linked with the song as they both showed exactly what was happening, as well as asking for a personal interpretation.