Analysis of Lily Allens music video for 'Smile'

 

 

Lily Allen's music video for Smile, is narrative in which it tells us a story about her and her ex boyfriend. Her lyrics are explaining her life when they were together, she explains how she felt broken and lost without him. We can also tell by the expressions on her face, and the switching of shots from her laying in bed with him, to laying in bed on her own. There are also many shots of her consuming junk food, this is seen as the typical way to deal with a break up. However in contrast to these lyrics the music itself is quite quirky and happy. This reflects on her mood and attitude towards the whole situation now and makes us realise that she's over it and just 'smiles'. Although the lyrics do link to the video, for example when she is singing the line 'at first when I see you cry, it makes me smile' we see a smirk appear on her face. Towards the end of the clip, she is seen happier and more powerful. In some way the roles have been switched as she is now the one in control and happy.  The visuals contrasts to the mood of the music as the video itself is quite gritty and the settings are quite grimy looking. For example the run down apartment and café. The characters themselves and what they're wearing are very street and slightly scally looking.
 Lily Allen presents herself as a strong character, rather than an object that is there purely for appearance. The clothes she is wearing are quite casual, this also indicates that this clip isn't performance, but purely narrative as she isn't wearing any over the top clothing.