The single “Gunshot” is from Swedish singer Lykke Li’s third album I Never Learn and while the song and the video revisits a favored theme of the pain that results from love, in this particular instance it’s starker and more violent compared with prior efforts. “Gunshot” speaks to not just hurt feelings but permanent damage done. Lykke Li herself says about the song,
“I wrote “Gunshot” straight after a meditation I had and the words just came out kind of violent words. So this is also the moment in, in a relationship where you’ve fucked up and some things you can never take back. I think that a lot of people can relate to that moment where it’s just gone forever.”
Washed of color, the video was filmed in Paris and directed by Fleur and Manu in a parking lot that is literally ripped down its middle. Like many of her videos, the shoot reflects a dream-like quality but this time feels more like a surrealistic play with an extremely dark edge.
Lykke Li’s makeup is equal parts zombie and mime as she convulses through the various set scenes, all which are populated with dark characters who in the moment appear to be devoid of any human warmth or kindness. In one of the final more jarring scenes, a group of women are twerking and given the parking lot backdrop their moves translate as ugly and aimless, providing a flip side look at a dance that as of late has been endlessly celebrated and hyped. It’s an exclamation point on a series of behaviors that illustrate the human tendency toward and comfort with emotional disconnect.
