Home

Recently I've been listening to a lot of music from a UK artist named Gabrielle Aplin.  One song that has really been replaying for me is her single "Home", a reflection on what a "home" is.  Her take is eloquently clear in her song, which strikes many resonating chords within me.

Something that may not be so clear is her music video for the song, which honestly was very beautifully filmed, very aestetically attractive.  However, unlike most music videos which usually depict a storyline in the song, it didn't seem at first to connect much to her song.  At first watch all I thought it was about was a girl wandering about beautiful scenery trying to find where her "home" was... which didn't really seem too fulfilling an interpretation.  I had to think for a while about it, it was just odd how I didn't get much out of the music video, that it didn't seem to convey as much heart as the song did. 

I knew it looked beautiful... but after many replays, something became apparent to me that was more than looks, I started to realize the beauty behind the looks, and once I did, I felt overwhelmed by the power of the music video when finally, to me, the song and the video finally synced.

The studio verson of the song, the music video version, was very climatic with a very powerful percussion end, and this is also where the music video ended as the song ended.  I can say now that the thought of a girl wandering about is true, but isn't the fullness of the music video. 

The final scene came together and affirms Miss Aplin's creativity.  As the darkness came to surround her, she held up her light.

"It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness." - Eleanor Roosevelt (or Chinese Proverb)

That is where her "home" was... it was that light in her life were she could go to when life became darkened, when the path was cloudy and vague and hard to get through.  The music synced beautifully, the beat of life, the loud, call-to-rise-and-life percussion embodied the livliness of finally seeing the light, the vigor of renewed hope.  Perhaps, even, the darkness had to surround her so that she could finally realize she needed the light to get through it, as if the darkness served a purpose, that the daylight itself had confused her, had her searching about in all the wrong place, when really, her "home", the home she was looking for, was her light.

For me, when things seem to get dark, when things start to seem cloudy and I don't know what to do, I turn to my light, stay close to it, hope, trust, and fight on.