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The 2013 music video of the song tells the story of a guy who is trying to talk to his ex? girlfriend by spamming her with text messages at 3 a.m. after he got drunk at the bar. The style of this video is mostly narrative as it follows the protagonist - Alex, who is played by the band’s lead singer Alex Turner. Even though the artist is a band, there is no sign of performance at all in this music video, the lead singer doesn’t even lip sync any of the lyrics, which I think is fairly unusual when it comes to music bands. This music video was directed by Nabil for the band’s third single from their fifth studio album ‘AM’.
The protagonist, Alex, is shown in the opening scene. At 3:30 in the morning, Alex is seen getting wasted in a bar and texting a girl named Stephanie. The hand-held close-up shot effectively captures Alex's feelings of drunkenness and enhances the tension from the opening moments of the video.
When he looks up to check the time, the clock turns into a smiley face, which explains that it might be time for him to go home. The POV shot in this setup helps the audience understand that this effect is seen from Alex’s POV and he is starting to see things different from what they are. A hand-held medium shot is used to follow him as he goes into the restroom.
The music from the bar now switches to a very quiet, almost ambiance sound to suit the surroundings better. As Alex looks into the mirror, his reflection comes out with weird shapes, suggesting that maybe he is losing consciousness. The editing effect in this setup portrays that perfectly without the need for superior acting skills or any dramatic events that are not needed yet. The costume used for Alex here suits the concept of the music video as well as the song’s genre - grungy, edgy and dark. It is also used to connote that Alex is in quite a shady mood, as he was going out for a drink alone at 3 a.m.
The next over-the-shoulder shot tells us that he goes back inside and keeps chugging more liquor down his throat, and immediately after that he feels dizzy and everything around him starts to look weird. The editing technique here is the delay effect, which helps demonstrate Alex’s dizzyness and discomfort caused by the liquor.
The previous clock now turns into a sad face, which contradicts to earlier, and the unstable hand-held camera technique highlights the current state that Alex is in. This shot is also a POV shot, denoting that it is meant for the audience to view the place through Alex’s drunken point of view.
This close-up shot captures Alex’s moody expressions as he decides to leave the place. The shallow depth of field visually tells how he feels lost and out of touch with his surrounding environment.
The next setup where he walks out of the bar is filmed by a long shot following him as he walks on the sideway. The continuous use of hand-held camera that follows Alex Turner as he walks through the deserted street, capturing his movements with a slight tremor adds to the unsettling mood and suggests Alex's internal turmoil. This camera technique also gives the video a raw and unpolished feel, which makes the audience feel like they are right there in the scene, experiencing the events along with the characters. The streets, while not explicitly unfamiliar, lack the warmth and vibrancy of a lived-in space. This disorientation reflects Alex's struggle to find his place in the world and connect with something real. The lack of people, cars, or any signs of activity underscores his isolation. The emptiness of the streets reflects the emptiness he feels within himself, yearning for genuine interaction. Alex is also seen constantly checking his phone and texting Stephanie with messages like “Where are you? I wanna see you!…”, hoping for her reply. The long and close-up shot really highlight Alex’s frustration and discomfort as he waits for Stephanie’s reply, creating a sense of unease and relatable for the audience.
Along the way, Alex keeps seeing more weird things, some of them are really sexual (i.e. he keeps seeing ‘Stephanie’ having sexual intercourse with random men on the streets). The visions could represent Alex's feelings of betrayal, not necessarily literal events. The "random men" could symbolize the fact that he feels his partner is emotionally unavailable, giving her affections to others (perhaps through superficial connections or fleeting encounters) while he is left feeling neglected and unfulfilled. Moreover, as the song references drug use, these visions could be hallucinations stemming from his altered state of mind. The drug-induced visions could be symbolic of his desire for connection and his frustration with the reality of his situation. In my opinion, the ambiguity allows for multiple interpretations, adding to the complex and emotionally resonant nature of the song and the music video. It's a way for the audience to engage with the main character’s emotional turmoil and perhaps even reflect on their own experiences with longing, betrayal, and the search for genuine connection.
The over-the-shoulder shots focus on the protagonist's back, often as he looks at his phone texting Stephanie. This visually reinforces his longing and the fact that he is unable to truly reach her. The medium close-up shot also tells the audience that Alex still haven’t received any replies from the girl and he is getting a bit worried.
The long shot of Alex crossing the street recklessly shows that he is ‘high’ and is losing his conciousness. It is easily observed that he is heading somewhere, suppose someone’s place. The next wide high angle shot confirms that he is heading to someone’s door, but all the lights are off, which means that he is probably going to wake someone up at such late hours.
The scene switches to a medium close-up shot as he knocks repeatedly on the door, fixing his clothes and hair and impatiently wait for someone to come. As he knocks for a few more times, the camera pans to the left to someone turning on their lights, who is soon to be revealed is an old woman. The woman looks very confused, denoting that she might not know Alex. However, Alex doesn’t notice the house’s owner is staring at him and keep waiting.
As the camera switches back to the high angle shot, it pans to the left to reveal the inside of an apartment across where Alex is. A girl walks over to the cabinet and opens her phone, revealing a lot of unread messages from ‘Alex band guy’, a.k.a the main character, denoting that this is the Stephanie that Alex has been texting with. She reads the last message ‘Alex band guy’ then turns off her phone with an unpleasant look, which signals that she might be annoyed by Alex’s actions. Without knowing that Alex is waiting for her outside the wrong house across the street, she walks away as the camera pans back to Alex, and the video ends. Will Alex finally get to meet his destined person or will he leave without knowing that he got to the wrong house while being drunk? I think that is up for the audience’s own interpretation.
Representation:
The woman's perspective is used throughout the film to highlight her interactions with a man who only gets in touch with her when he's drunk. This presents an alternative perspective on female agency and the complexity of a one-sided relationship, challenging the traditional male gaze in music videos. A change in power relations can be seen in the video, as Stephanie seems uninterested in the Alex’s approaches and distant. She is an observer and judge of the situation, not a damsel in distress. The music video also represents the changed reality that a drug user experiences, emphasizing how subjective and erratic their viewpoint is, using a distorted, dream-like aesthetic with hazy colors and blurry shots.
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