MV Analysis: Risk (Gracie Abrams)

 Risk 

- Gracie Abrams -

Release date: May 1, 2024

Duration: 3:22 (3 minutes and 22 seconds)

Writer and Co-writer: Gracie Abrams and Audrey Hobert (of The National)

Genre: Indie Pop

Style of Music Video: Concept and Narrative

The story (meaning): 

According to the Genius Verified interview of the writer herself with her best friend/co-writer, Audrey Hobert, the song is about when a person has a massive crush on someone, and they become aware and extremely embarrassed by how awkward or weird they look around that person. Gracie Abrams specifically said, "It's setting yourself up as... I know how ridiculous I look, immediately. Like, this can't be me, but it was." 

Nowadays, as mentioned in numerous articles regarding the change in romantic social behaviours ohumansan (specifically about Gen Z), younger people are more afraid to fall in love due to the fear of looking stupid or acting impulsively. In addition, they are afraid to develop feelings for someone because of the fear of heartbreak. However, the song takes the opposite approach, where Gracie is accepting that "Risk" dives headfirst into love. The song is the representation of a leap of faith that comes into intimacy. Overall, it is a mixture of vulnerability, excitement, temerity, and recklessness. 

How the message was delivered through cinematography (Musc Video):

The music video starts with a tracking movement at a low angle, hiding the figure, which is walking at a chill, laid-back pace, almost in a hurry, making the audience wonder who this could be and how they impact the story of the song or the narrative of the video. 

The low, dark lighting encodes for the nighttime, further strengthened by the diegetic sound of crickets, signaling the lateness of the day. The sound effect of footsteps on the concrete ground is emphasized to encode the emptiness of the streets, creating a stronger foundation for the time of day. At [0:07], the tracking stops as the mysterious exit the frame, along with that is the fading out of all diegetic, ambient sound. This signals the beginning of the soundtrack, allowing the viewers a moment to prepare themselves for what is to come. 

Suddenly, a rhythmic, positive melody coming from an acoustic guitar can be heard, the same time as another pair of legs appear on screen, encoding for another person who, for some reasons, is following the previous figure, almost in a creepy way - can be decoded through the quicker pacing of his or her footsteps matching the beat of the song, as if wanting to keep up with the one in front and not wanting to lost track of them. 

The typography shows “Gracie Abrams”, introducing the singer in the shade of bright yellow. In this specific scenario, yellow likely connotes a sense of happiness and optimism, reflecting the writer’s hopefulness and energetic mindset going into the “risky” love story. The name is written in all caps, encoding their intention of reminding the watchers of Gracie’s major influence on the production of the song. Following that, “Risk” appeared in cursive, conveying individuality and personal touch. This shows how the story was taken from a real-life situation of the writer.

A straight cut leads us to a close-up shot of Gracie Abrams looking ahead and lip-syncing to the lyrics. The way her eyes are fixed on a certain figure ahead while saying, “look at me now, say I wouldn’t do it, but I hunted you down”, answers the question that she is the “culprit” who is pursuing a person of her interest. 

“Know you had a girl, but it didn’t work out

Now you bought a house,e but you had to move out.”

The 2 lines above show that this girl knows great detail about her mysterious “crush”, encoding her strong sense of dedication to this person and how much she wants to know even more despite knowing that this isn’t how she usually is - presumably more reasonable and composed. This raises the idea of how, when in love,e we tend to forget to think rationally. 

“And I wake up, in the middle of the night” - the lyrics play out simultaneously with the image of Gracie getting up from her bed, showing the direct connection between filmography and music. The lighting is dim, with strong hues of yellow and blue interacting; the combination of the cold and warm tones helps to create a much more dimensional and lively environment, which also mirrors the conflict of the subject of the song: scared and excited at the same time. The room is clustered and messy, which once again displays her chaotic state of mind.

Between [0:49] and [0:51], an immediate juxtaposition is created by her change in costume. From an extremely casual, almost too sloppy fit of plain T-shirt, sweats,nts, and a loose jacket, to a more formal, elongated dress. At that same time, Gracie is seen pacing around nervously, indicating that she is anticipating something important. Fast pace, straight cuts are used at various angles to quote the confusing atmosphere: 

Long-medium shot, along with tracking, and ultimately ending in a medium shot.

Close-up shot: Here, Gracie is seen pouring herself a large glass of wine. Then, the scene cuts to her lying on a huge pile of dirty laundry, half the initial cup in hand, which encodes her killing time before meeting someone. 

Medium Close-up shot of Gracie putting on blush enthusiastically, which can be decoded as she wants to present herself more beautifully for the upcoming meetup. Through all these former details, it is very obvious to decode that she is going on a date with a “certain” someone. 

“Heard the risk is drowning, but I’m gonna take it.” 

Falling in love feels overwhelming, and even destructive - encoded through the metaphor of drowning, but this line shows she is willing to choose vulnerability despite that danger. 

[2:12] Gracie is shown at a medium shot contemplating whether she should open the door and truly commit to this risk, which she eventually goes along with. This once again encodes the complexity of such a decision while also displaying the irresistible temptation of the sweetness of love. Looking directly at the camera, she mouths “I’m gonna take it”, encoding her final moment of hesitation, standing on her choice and opening the door. 

As the music video progresses, the mentality of Gracie slowly corrupts. Chasing through nighttime streets, crashing a stranger’s party while throwing a tantrum about how eager she is to see him, while reflecting her growing obsession. This mirrors the immense infatuation that she had gained. 

Accompanying this are all of her absurd gestures: grabbing the birthday boy’s collar; stepping onto the cake after blowing out the candles; drinking the beverages without anyone’s approval. The cuts are now much faster-paced and shaky, encoding her gradually disturbed mindset. This is to encode that once determined, a person may let their real version loose, unafraid of looking stupid or ridiculous, but instead to be free and unapologetically themselves. Near the end, Gracie and her crush diverge from the shot. This sends a message that it has never been about the crush, but more about owning up to your own feelings and finding comfort in your impulsive, possibly “stupid-looking” self.  

Throughout the music video, another side of the story can be interpreted. Concurrently to Gracie's projection of vulnerability, a darker aspect coexists where Gracie is stalking the man, supporting the argument of her nurturing, sinister behaviour. This indicates the irrational, messy, almost scary side of attraction. This detail blurs the line between innocent infatuation and unhealthy obsession, causing someone to lose clarity. 

BRANDING

The album “The Secret of Us” - which includes the track “Risk” - surrounds the theme of authenticity, while embracing the joy of being dramatic and flawed. In other words, the concept seems to gravitate more towards being relatable than polished. "Risk" - the music video - ties harmoniously into this theme, with factors of comedy and unseriousness, tapping into Gen Z's fondness for genuineness. 

This detail helps bring the image of Gracie Abrams further away from the "untouchable celebrity" tag and closer to her fans and followers. In fact, on TikTok, it is a well-known joke in her fandom that Gracie Abrams is "chronically online" just like how "ordinary people" are - encoding the effectiveness of her marketing scheme of appealing to a more approachable audience. This ideology was further enhanced by the handheld camerawork and naturalistic settings that make the narrative more relatable and closer to the watcher's perspective, making it seem more of a slice-of-life rather than a staged performance. The video's simplicity and rawness are the magnet that draws attention.