“Remedy” by Alesso:
When you hear the word alien what do you think of? Maybe it is some type of blue or red monster. Maybe it is a neon being that resides in your deepest nightmares. Or maybe it is simply just a familiar creature out of a Men In Black movie. No matter what you see in your head, I doubt you were picturing a small green child, only about the age of 7; however, for the Swedish DJ, Alesso, aliens do not always have to be large and scary. Sometimes they are just lost souls looking for a way to peacefully return home.
Only a few short days ago, August 31, Alesso released his new single titled “Remedy.” This video opens in a small diner where, from the eyes of a child, we witness a spaceship crashing down to Earth, breaking a record that seems to power the craft. The camera then shifts and the audience gets to see the world we know, from a new perspective. We watch as the alien child climbs out of his ship, and begins his journey to find a new record to power his ship. Following the Hollywood sign, he walks all the way to Los Angeles in search of help. After walking around the city for some time and receiving no assistance, the boy sits down and rests. At this point a human boy notices the alien and offers a friendly, yet curious, wave. This kind gesture quickly disappeared as the mother pulls her child away; however the alien does not let this shake him, and he continues on. He begins to pick up on common human behaviors such as: holding hands. Still pushing forward the alien draws a picture on a sheet of paper. The symbol that he draws seems to be the same symbol as that of his broken record, so one can infer that finding this symbol will lead him home. This “symbol search” leads the alien child all the way to a nightclub, where Alesso is the DJ. Upon entering the club the alien boy finds another alien, identical to him, who is searching for the same symbol. They both approach Alesso, and ask for the symbol. He gives them a record he had hidden under the table. And both kids take off, running back to the spaceship. Once they had fixed the ship, they return home together.
To me, the song lyrics all point to the same thing. A man alone searches, and finds the one he loves. And then this person becomes his remedy, to combat the aspects of life that leave him “dead.”
Yet I have a few hesitations when it comes to breaking down the video. I don’t know about you, but if there was an alien walking the streets....people would know about it. Every television network, news article, and radio station would be broadcasting about the possible extraterrestrial being. Yet this child, who very literally fell from the sky, is almost completely ignored. The first sign of this was in the very beginning of the video, only about 30 seconds in. The little girl who first points out the spacecraft is told to behave by her mother. The child was ignored. Then again later on when the young boy (who I mentioned earlier) waves at the alien, and is pulled away by his mother. Due to the fact that the mother's face is not shown at any point in time, one can not be sure that she pulled him away out of fear or disgust. In fact, I personally feel that she pulled her son away because she wanted him to keep up with her, and that she never even noticed the alien that her son was about to talk to. This is a constant theme throughout the entire video. Only other kids notice the alien. All the adults on the street simply walk past the fluorescent green kid without so much as a double take. In fact, even when the boy walked into the nightclub. Yes. Even all the adults in the nightclub did not realize that there was a seven year old stuck in the middle. No one saw him. Except, of course, for the other alien, and then their savior Alesso.
I believe that this whole video is about one's journey. A journey to find home, belonging, love within relationships, and a helping hand. Yet one can not ignore the undertone of ignorance throughout the piece. It seems that Alesso is screaming to the public that they need to be more observant about their surroundings. To possibly even to look from a child’s point of view every now and then.
A few weeks before the single dropped Alesso spoke with Billboard Dance and told the media that he “always strive(s) to create music that feels like a year ahead. And ‘Remedy’ sounds like 2019 already to me” (Your EDM, 2018). Now I don’t know about any of you out there, but this song, video aside, does not scream futuristic to me
Rate: 4/5