Mr. Probz - Waves
by Eva Schmitt
Introduction
The song “Waves” was originally released by
Mr Probz in 2013 as an acoustic studio version from the album “The Treatment”.
This version of the song only made it to the 26th position in the
Dutch charts. In 2014 the song was re-recorded by Robin Schulz as an electronic
version which made it to the top positions in the charts.
The remix
of the song “Waves“ puts the lovers of electronic beats into a summer and
holiday, but at the same time, melancholic mood. The song and its video are a
nice way to chill and relax in the summer without having to put too much
thoughts into it. The music video depicts the lyrics perfectly and shows Mr
Probz’s message of suffering for love. Lines like “I’m slowly drifting away” or
“it feels like I’m drowning” are performed during the video straight forward
when the main character drifts into the pool and tries to drown himself. It is
a sing along song and definitely has a hunting melody perfect for the summer
and this combination might be the reason why it stayed in the charts for such a
long time.
Due to the
fact that this music video does not have a very creative part to it, this paper
puts a big focus on the storyline and the possible thoughts behind it but will
as well point out some of the filmic devices used. At the end a conclusion is
drawn to sum up the discusses points.
The Artists
In general
the two artists, Mr Probz and Robin Schulz have not much in common and
especially their musical style is contrasting. This on the other hand might be
the secret to their success with the song “Waves”, a combination of a nice tune
and electronic beats and therefore a totally different version than the
arcoustic version of Mr Probz.
Mr Probz[1]
Born as
Dennis Princewell Stehr the artist with Dutch and Antillian decent started his
career through the graffiti culture and writing his own lyrics which lead the
way into the hip hop scene. Rumors were spread that he was a victim in a
shooting and therefore became part of the Dutch hip hop scene. But for a fact a
role in the hip hop film “Bolletjes Blues” really gave his career a push. In 2010
he released his debut album “The Treatment” which included his best known
single “Waves”. After the great success of the single in the Netherlands it
took a while for the song to come to international success but with the help of
the German DJ Robin Schulz Mr Probz became worldwide known.
Robin Schulz[2]
The German
electronic DJ, producer and label owner started his career from a young age
being a DJ at small events but at the early age of 20 started to host his own
electronic parties and this lead to him getting booked as an act on festivals.
His party range “Electroschnipsel” became a huge success in Osnabrück and soon
more and more clubs hosted his. In the year 2009 he started to produce his own
songs in order to implement his ideas. Starting out rather small he soon
founded his own record label “Lausbubenrecords” where he re-released unknown
songs and mixed them with his own electronic beats to lead them to
international success.
2014 seemed
to be his year of success due to the fact that next to the huge achievement
with “Waves” he also remixed the song “Prayer in C” with the French artists
Lilly Wood & the Prick and achieved even greater results. In September 2014
his new album “Prayer” is released.
Music Video “Waves”
The song
“Waves” consists of two different verses and the refrain which makes it easy to
sing along to. But not just the lyrics are kept simple and as well the melody
is easily remembered due to its catchy tune. The storyline of the video itself
is kept straightforward and easy: A
good-looking man gets stranded on a lonely island. The whole atmosphere in the
video is gloomy and the weather on this dream island seems to reflect this. He
is in a very thoughtful mood and keeps having flashbacks about the romantic
holiday he had with his girlfriend in Mexico. The nice parts about the country
are shown throughout the video such as old ruins but as well the poverty and it
seems that during their holiday they like to see boths faces of the country.
The man sees his girlfriend everywhere, dreams of the nice moments they have
during their getaway and keeps having hallucinations of her being on the island
with him. Through the flashbacks the reason for the separation of the couple
becomes clear. They have an argument during their romantic time out and she
leaves him to flirt with other men. He ends his grief by getting drunk and
trying to drown himself in the hotel’s swimming pool. This again leads to the
beginning of the video when he is floating in the ocean.
Neither one
of the two artists are shown during the video in any way, but the couple acts
out Mr Probz message of the suffering for love. They try to represent the young
and rich lifestyle with a carefree and unproblematic life but still make
themselves problems and end up seperated. The man looks as if he shoots a
commercial; he almost died in the ocean but still looks seductive with his
ripped clothes. He never loses his sadness and especially his eyes make the
viewer have sympathy with him. The lifestyle the couple represents is typical
for the “electronic Ibiza generation”, travelling to different countries and
being layed back but still not wanting to foregone anything. This lifestyle
became common during the last couple years: Backpacking tourists travelling
through to poor countries and showing
compassion with all the suffering people but still not wanting to be without
the luxurious preferences.
“Why travel all that way
to look at poor people?”[3]
As already
mentioned in the music video the main characters are represented as young
travelers with a great passion of discovery trying to learn more about other
countries and their cultural background. When having a closer look at them
though it becomes clear that they, even though they travel to a third world
country, like to be far off the poverty in a nice luxurious hotel with all
their common amenities. The question arises why they even travel to such a poor
country with all this poverty when they much rather stay in safe distance to
the reality. It might be because they like to enjoy the advantages of countries
with a weak currency; feeling like kings and queens without actually paying
much for it.
In this
case though it is more likely to be due to the fact that they like the dropout
feeling in a country like Mexico. Following the neo-hippie chic is to separate
themselves from the other rich and luxury loving young people and making
themselves look like they do not care about money and the financial situation a
lot, even though they obviously do otherwise they would not care for a nice
hotel. They are trying to be someone they are not quiet. It certainly is a
matter of the financial security whether or not people can afford to have a
break in their life and have a little time out. The characters chosen in this
music video fulfill all these traits; they are young and good-looking, seem to
be rich and enjoy the layed back lifestyle.
Filmic devices
The music
video is not a piece of very creative artwork and the director puts a bigger
focus on the storyline instead of the filmic devices, due to that fact the
music video depicts the lyrics very well but not in a very creative way. It
cannot be said though that the director does not use any special tools to bring
the message to the viewer.
In order to
create a romantic atmosphere a slightly faded filter is put over the whole
video. This lets the viewer dive into the main character's mood and he is able
to see the world through the man's eyes. In order to achieve this, the director
uses a camera angle from the man's perspective which makes it seem like the
viewer looks through the man's eyes. Through this simple trick the viewer can
feel sympathy for the man and gets his passionate love for his girlfriend brought
closer.
All
throughout the video the beautiful landscape of the Mexican island is put in a
special focus and dominates with a gloomy atmosphere, contrasting this the
shots of the man and his girlfriend are brighter again and the colors change to
more vivid tones. This could be due to the fact that when the man strands on
the island he shows an expression of sadness whereas when he is on holiday with
his girlfriend they are spreading energy; at least before their argument.
The video
uses quick screen changes that are in the same rhythm as the beat of the song,
as well as a quick change between the two settings, the island and the romantic
holiday. This again shows the man's disruption between the feelings for his
girlfriend and the pain caused by her disloyalty.
Another
cinematic device the director uses are blend ins, which are supposed to
represent the man's hallucinations. He is in a melancholic mood and dreams of
his girlfriend. These blend ins are placed perfectly so that at first the
viewer cannot be sure if his girlfriend might not be at the island with him,
but as quick as she blends in, she also blends out again.
Conclusion
The story
of the music video shows a mixture of the neo-hippie culture and the luxurious
youth, where the couple represents the dropout lifestyle without fully losing
their comfort. They are “wannabe” laid back with having a security cushion.
The whole
storyline is very cliché with a couple on a romantic holiday, but whereas he is
in a romantic and thoughtful mood, she just wants to have fun. After a fight he
ends up on the island of melancholy and even though she was the one not wanting
him he sees her in every move he makes and truly misses her. Funny enough even
though he seems like a softy, he knows very well how to survive on a lonely
island without losing the perfect look from a shower gel advertisement.
The
director of the video puts the meaning of the song directly on a plate and does
not leave the viewer much room for own interpretations. From the creative viewpoint the video does not
offer a firework for the senses but is still a nice and easy to listen to song
for a summer day.
After
listening to the song and watching the video over and over it can be said that
a catchy tune can get annoying very quick. Especially the monotone melody and
lyrics are produced to get stuck in people's heads quick but also get on their
nerves after a bit. So the at first summer and sing along song turned out to be
my personal most annoying song.
Sources
- Biography Mr Probz, http://www.billboard.com/artist/5895217/mr-probz/biography,
27.07.14.
- Biography Robin Schulz,
https://www.facebook.com/robin.schulz.official/info, 29.07.14.
- Groundwater,
Ben. Why travel all that way to look at poor people. Sydney: 2012.
- The Sydney
Morning Herald. Date of access 04.08.14
<http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/why-travel-all-that-way-to-look-at-poor-people-20120718-2292e.html.>
- Music Video
“Waves”