IS "I WISH YOU WERE D3AD" BY LACUNA COIL THE BEST METAL MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR? HERE’S THREE REASONS WHY

Cristina Scabbia in I wish you were d3ad

❤: Have I told you already how Lacuna Coil is my favourite Italian band? I have been listening to Sleepless Empire on repeat and watching all the videos on YouTube. I was devastated when I discovered that the “I Wish You Were D3ad” video was banned in some countries. I am not sure if it’s for the lyrics or the visuals but, I mean, isn’t that the whole point? Dealing with difficult themes by displaying them, in other words, having a real idea of how cruel the mind can be. Anyway, I’ll have to come up with a solution to continue watching it because it’s so good! I think it is extremely fresh and new. Here are three reasons why:

·       The way “d3ad” is spelt. This particular way of writing trigger words consists of substituting some letters with numbers or symbols. It confuses the “appearance”, the physical aspect of the word, but not its meaning. Other examples include the two alternative spellings “p0rn” and “corn”. Other techniques include made-up or unusual words such as “unalive”. Not everybody agrees that this censorship is for the best, especially in the metal genre where reference to violence is common and almost expected in a way. Think about it: words are physical objects in ink or pixels to which we are continuously exposed on the Internet. That means they can bump into your face at any moment without your consent. You are not opening up IT by Stephen King and complaining about the gruesome descriptions, you are probably just scrolling your phone and stumbling upon something you would have rather avoided. Leaving this question aside, alternative spellings actually have become cool. Since they were only recently popularised, they can be considered a generational symbol.

·       The Pinterest-worthy cake. Let’s talk about it, that cake is gorgeous. It’s definitely a designer cake. I wonder how long it took to decorate it. To many, the comparison will sound outrageous, but I actually think it resembles the cake from the famous Taylor Swift TikTok trend. You probably know what I’m talking about, it is an old trend already, but I don’t have TikTok, so I just get the debris from Instagram. It’s a heart-shaped cake, and you are supposed to stab it with a knife. Thanks to a special mechanism, the cake actually spits “blood” made with colourful corn syrup (or is it?). My Pinterest is full of recipes for heart-shaped cakes with funny writing on top. I can’t find any comments from the band about the cake, but I think it is a loose reference to that piece of Internet.

·       It’s about toxic relationships and emotional dependency, which is a crucial point. The video was released just in time for Valentine’s Day, and it got us ready to deal with such complex relational themes in a new, more conscious way. I am not saying toxic relationships were not around before, if you think about it, they are the main theme in great classics that Goths love such as The Phantom of the Opera or Dracula. However, only recently the critics have underlined this aspect in the books and have linked the experience of damned love to the gothic novel. And today, we finally have more of it, more talking and processing or simply letting out our rage with some music we can relate to. With psychology finally less stigmatized, we know that stages of sadness and anger are not only necessary but precious. The video has some interesting visual metaphors, such as the tomb for two, made of fragile glass just like relationships can be, or the sittings at the dinner table, suggesting the woman is both a peer and a servant in her love story.

 

I would say “I Wish You Were D3ad” has all it takes to become the music video of the year. It’s up with the trends, aware of its times and able to deal with a complex matter without being superficial.

The cake still wins, though!