Sam Smith – I’m Not the Only One

By Richard Faerber

The opening shot from this music video is of the front door of a house painted white with a black door this binary opposite gives the representation of the mixture of good and evil with the darkness and light coming from the different colours, as well as this there is a disagreement between a man and woman inside that not only shows how a perfect looking house has issues and reinforcing the song name because they are arguing and then the next scenes are of the man with another girl.

The woman has a lot of close ups of her face especially in the opening scenes, a key close up is when she is waving off her husband and then as soon as he leaves the drive her smile and emotion drains from her face and is replaced with a strong hatred and fire that looks like she has no love for her husband.

On the other hand, the woman when she re-enters the house begins to cry, this is a complete opposite to what has been implied beforehand because she still loves him even though he is having an affair, the result of this is that it is showing that she is unstable and vulnerable further strengthened by her in the store buying alcohol and lighter fluid and drinking the alcohol before she had brought it. The sot focus that is used for this opening frame gives the audience the empathy with the woman’s feelings because she is crying and when you cry your vision becomes blurred. This focus sharpens quickly which shows her sorrow and upset is quickly replaced with hatred.

The introduction of the music is perfectly timed with the woman re-entering the house after waving her husband off with the opening line ‘you and me made a vow’ showing that she is trying to stop him having an affair as well as showing him that she is trying to remain strong and hold their marriage together whereas he wants to break it. The result of this is that she is becoming weak and vulnerable which is strengthened by the music backing track which is slow and fills the person watching with emotion making it easier to empathise with the woman rather than the man.

The first scene with the man alone is when he is walking through the dark corridor to the bar, this darkness is the representation of him because he is evil but there is also a hint of regret because when he sees the girl he puts on a fake smile, the result of this is that he knows what he is doing is wrong but is now too far in to get out of it and so is sticking with it. This is breaking the ideology that men are strong and powerful because he isn’t taking hold of his life and is letting what is happening around him run his life.

However, when he is talking with the woman and drinking he is smiling with the camera close up of his face, this is showing how much more he loves this woman compared to his wife because he is smiling and laughing rather than rushing to get out the house and away from his wife which he did at the start with the denial to have breakfast. The result of this is that each of his actions with the woman are slowly breaking his wife because of the quick cuts to and from the man and woman at home, there is a close up of the woman in her house on the floor crying and screaming while holding her heart as if it’s been ripped out, this is showing how broken she is as well as implying that she has lost him. The line ‘lying is tearing us up’ is a further reinforcement of the pain that the woman is going through, as well as this in this verse she is burning his clothing showing that she is powerful and the element of fire represents her anger and passion towards her husband and the lengths that she will go to in an attempt to show how much he is hurting her.

This scene is especially key because she is sat on the floor crying in a white dress surrounded by white and light coloured furniture which shows that she is pure and innocent in this whereas the man is sat in a dark bar surrounded by dark furniture showing him as evil and no emotion or care for other people who he knows he is hurting. Therefore, he is drinking heavily to forget all the heartbreak he is causing but rather than running away from the woman and going back to his wife he remains even though when they hug the close up shot shows that he doesn’t want to be there because all his emotion leaves his face, this is showing that both him and his wife are very similar with how they show their emotion, this further reinforces ‘you made me realise my deepest fear’ where the woman knows she married that right man as they are perfect for each other but she knows that they are over because he is cheating on her. In the bar when the man and his woman are going into the room on the picture at the end of the corridor there is the words ‘no war’ written on the picture which is reinforcing the idea that there is a war over the man for his heart that the woman knows she ‘isn’t the own one’.

There are short shots of Sam Smith Performing the song which not only breaks up the story also gives the narrative a personal touch because he is showing the emotion that is missing from the man almost showing that he has gone through the pain shown in the narrative.

When the man returns home the woman has changed and there are no signs of distress and pain shown on her face which the viewer would have expected, this is showing that she is holding all her pain and distress up which will soon reach a point where it will all come out. The lyrics of the repeated ‘I know’ shows that she is trying to tell him what she knows but can’t find the words but at the end she does with the completed sentence ‘I know im not the only one’ which is not only showing that she has built up the strength to confront him.

The woman that the man is having an affair with is wearing a green dress which is referencing her guilt but also her greed and jealousy that she feels towards the man as well as his wife because she wants the man and will go to any length to get him rather than confronting the woman in person and doing it behind her back. The man is wearing similar dark clothing which represents death and grief which is clearly referencing the marriage which he clearly thinks is dead and gone.Whereas the woman is wearing white showing purity and innocence which shows that she still wants the marriage to work and be fixed rather than just giving up. However, she soon realises that the marriage is gone, this is shown with the extreme close up of her hand with her pulling off her ring which is her giving up and ending the marriage whereas the man doesn’t do anything showing that he hopes that she doesn’t know and can continue with both women.

The editing in the music video helps to reinforce and support the pain and grief that the woman is feeling because the camera always cuts back to her either crying or in a point of distress helping the audience to empathise more with her especially because it is from her point of view with both the camera and filming to the music lyrics. The music doesn’t start until 30 seconds into the music video which helps to set the scene with the man and his wife so that the audience getting a better understanding of what is happening rather than just being thrown into it. This helps to secure the reference points where she is clearly the one that is holding onto something whereas the man is covering something up. When the man and the woman are kissing in the bar the camera cuts quickly back to the woman at her lowest point of drinking and buying alcohol which implies she knows exactly what he’s doing without having to be there.

The music is a backing for the narrative because the audience are more captivated by the narrative rather than the lyrics but a key part is the ‘you’ve been so unattainable’ lyric which is when the woman is pulling the man along shows how desperate she is to have him because he has been tied to his wife before but now isn’t making his ‘heart so attainable’ meaning that she is desperate to make the time worthwhile. However, the lyric ‘sadly I know why’ is only shown during the scenes where the man is kissing or hugging the woman solidifying the idea that the woman knows exactly what is happening without being in the room.