Ameera's Similar Text Analysis (2)

Hinder- Lips of an Angel

Hinders’ lips of an angel, is a post grunge genre song and was in released in the U.S in September 2006. The song is themed around lost love.

The lyrics are about the singer describing his feelings when his ex- girlfriend calls late at night. He refers to the call being a secret, for example when he says “I gotta whisper, cause I can't be too loud”. This suggests he knows having the conversation is wrong; because if he truly believed everything was OK he wouldn’t be afraid to tell his current girlfriend about the conversation.

Themes of grunge music tend to typically be angst-filled, often addressing themes such as social alienation, apathy, confinement, and a desire for freedom. Hinders’ Lips of an angel does show themes of desire for freedom in terms of missing his ex-girlfriend and apathy because he doesn’t feel much passion with his current girlfriend.

The structure of the video is narrative based featuring a lot of performance. This means the video is telling a story but also just has cuts to the band performing. Within the whole production there are three main locations.

The first location is in a house, the video opens with a mid-shot of a house phone, then the lead singer picks up the phone and as he sings it is as if he is talking on the phone. In the house the camera is predominantly based in one place - one on the wall by the house phone; therefore facing directly at the man on the phone. Whilst he is talking, he pulls out a black and white picture of a woman from under some paper; this leads the audience to believe that is who he is talking to.

Throughout the video his current girlfriend is in the background. This connotes that she is not as important to the song or to the man in the video, as the girl he is singing to. Also you can see in the video that his current girlfriend wants the mans’ attention as while she is getting ready, she keeps looking at him, but he doesn’t notice, again signifying she is not as important. In terms of representation this shows that the man is in control of the situation because he has two girls after him, giving him a choice and a upper hand on either one of the girls.

When the song reaches the chorus, and the band plays more heavier notes, the mise-en-scene changes to the second location; a dark room (like a basement) filled with candles. This is where the band is performing. This is a characteristic of “grudge” music, whereby the band presented themselves as no different from minor local bands ( i.e. not with a large audience in a big stage). This is explained by Jack Endino in the 1996 documentary Hype! where he said Seattle bands were inconsistent live performers, since their primary objective was not to be entertainers, but simply to "rock out."

Whilst at this setting, there are a lot faster paced, close up shots of the band and their instruments. However, even within this setting the lead singer is still the main character rather then all the band members getting equal screen time. Post-grunge bands usually use the distorted guitar and apathetic and teenage angst ridden lyrics. However, Hinder uses a more hard rock structure in guitar solos, longer song lengths, more commercial sounding production and generally at a little slower pace. Also, another distinctive feature of Hinders’ lips of an angel is that it uses very melodic and emotional lyrics to get an emotional response out of fans. Bands that do use this feature tend to focus more on the lyrics than the music unlike Grunge who focus more on music than lyrics.


The video also then cuts to its third location. It features black and white shots of the girl in the picture and the lead singer in a car laughing and having fun. This suggests they are on a road trip as a couple. When they reach their destination, they get out of the car and walk hand in hand bare foot on the beach. This is a romantic setting and suggests that when he was with his ex, it was more about love and spontaneity and now he has settled down for a normal “boring” life.

The black and white editing serves two purposes. Firstly, by showing it in black and white, it differentiates the memories from real time, which makes it clearer for the audience to see that the scenes are flashbacks. However it also adds to the romance of the couple, like an old black and white love story.

The song ends just as it began, with the singer saying “Honey why you calling me so late?”, However, when he says it at the end of the song, it is less literal and more figurative, with the underlying meaning "so late" not as in at night, but as in too late in life; because he is now unable to continue the previous relationship.

In terms of representation, grunge musicians usually were outdoor clothing and keep an unkempt appearance. Hinder also keeps this appearance with brown and black t-shirts and messy hair.