Kings of Leon is off the “WALLS”
A teaser of what is to come for this band holds cloudy judgment
By Martha Quijano Staff Writer
After three years, the Southern rock band, Kings Of Leon, is back with a new and fresh album, titled “WALLS.” The band released two music videos for their singles, “Waste A Moment” and “WALLS” in September in preparation for their seventh album to be out on Oct. 14.
They’ve got a whole new look going for them, and their music videos are more visually pleasing than their previous ones. Aesthetically, I’m really digging it. The only difference between “WALLS” and “Waste A Moment” from their previous music videos is that their recent ones are much more confusing and more open to interpretation.
“Waste A Moment” was the first music video they released for the new album. The first chord immediately reminded me of songs from their 2010 album, “Come Around Sundown.” The song has a very summery beach vibe to it that almost makes you wish you were still on vacation.
The video starts off with a group of cheerleaders hanging out, and with one of them is staring blankly at two male police officers who then collapse at the same time. In the following scene, a man walks into a house and came face-to-face with lead singer, Caleb Followill. It appears they are having a conversation, mouthing the words to the song.
“Gonna throw you to the flame,” the man tells Caleb to which he replies, “Little ticking time bomb, time bomb.”
I got lost from there.
Flickering and beaming lights everywhere, the cheerleader appears yet again, standing like a statue in the middle of the doorway. Band members are blindfolded, playing their instruments. An octopus pin is set on fire. An eyeball is in an open palm.
That’s the kind of ride it was.
By the end of the video, it shows the exact same cheerleader sitting on top of a car and looking up to a beam of light streaming down on her. Someone in the comments suggested that she might have been an alien. Who knows?
The absurdity of the video distracted me from understanding or even listening to the actual song. If you have the time to waste a moment, this is a quick and fun music video to watch.
A week later, the music video for “WALLS” came out and was thankfully less overwhelming. But compared to “Waste A Moment,” “WALLS” is seriously underwhelming but the lyrics felt much more meaningful with the simple melody and dramatic climax.
In the “WALLS” music video, Caleb is sitting in the middle of what looks like a stage, playing his guitar. Three walls surround him and the fourth wall is open as the camera slowly zooms in. He looks up to the light, which I found to be a recurring theme so far between the two videos.
Halfway through, he literally breaks down the fourth wall by staring directly into the camera as if he was speaking to anyone who was watching him and sings the line, “when the walls come down…”
Perhaps my favorite part out of the whole song was when the scene changed from him being stuck in a room to being in the middle of the freeway, wind blowing and everything, screaming, “You tore out my heart. You threw it away.”
The song could be interpreted in different ways but ultimately still has the same meaning no matter what. The chorus that repeats the line “when the walls come down” is the unveiling of the truth, whatever that truth may be. This could be a love song or could be a song about a man’s self-realization.
I’m not fully convinced yet that this album will top all of their previous ones. I was half-expecting it to have a hard rock edge to it like they did with “Youth & Young Manhood” and “Because of the Times.” But I think I can hold off on the judgment of the album as a whole until I hear the album in its entirety.
