In April, Irish band Fontaines D.C. released the lead single of what is now their most successful record, Romance. The hit song “Starburster” takes an unexpected route, and revisits a new Trip-Hop sound we had briefly seen in previous songs such as the title track of their third studio album, Skinty Fia, and various features. Although the band has not gone in-depth on the line-by-line meaning of the song, frontman Grian Chatten has stated in multiple interviews that it was a result of a severe panic attack he experienced on a train in London. This is expressed perfectly in the tune, where we can hear the grittiness and harshness of the lyrics, along with the sharp breaths between each line of the chorus, perfectly mimicking a desperate gasp for air.
This single was accompanied by an abstract four-and-a-half-minute music video, flawlessly enhancing the anxiety-driven track
Watch "Starburster" by Fontaines D.C. here:
At first glance, the music video can seem overly preposterous, as we follow a neon green tracksuit-wearing Chatten crawling under a roller door and turning into a series of different characters over a few minutes. However, upon further glance, the clip conveys much more than that. The video is almost a tongue-in-cheek of artists “selling out”, something the band has recently been labelled for doing. Like this, and most other Fontaines D.C. songs, we also touch on the theme of Ireland, and the disconnect of the culture once you are fully immersed in your fame.
We begin the music video with an average-looking Chatten getting ready in his room, an inhaler around his neck (symbolic of the song’s panicked meaning). Once he leaves his house, we see him accidentally kick his football under a roller door of what we later find out to be a film shoot. Then, as soon as he enters the other side, the music abruptly stops and plays on a loop. This simple cut in itself is genius in the context of the song, as it can be seen to represent the end of Chatten’s character's past life before this exposure to the shiny new world.
“Fontaines D.C. - Starburster (Official Video)”, YouTube
Once the song restarts, we see Chatten in the familiar environment of his bedroom, along with some rough gashes on his face, seemingly from the use of special effects makeup in the film set he had stepped onto. Rather than being upset, however, he takes pride in his injuries and admires them in the mirror. This itself hints at the darker repercussions of his venture.
Throughout the video, we see the character lose his humility, as his outfits and masks become more extravagant, and we gradually see a bigger distance between him and the rest of the band, until we finally see them for the last time, and focus on Chatten in his own company, occupying himself with sock puppets. This itself expresses the consequences of this venture to fame he is committing to, as we see him slowly lose his connections with his friends and family without notice.
The four-minute clip is littered with many other visual references, as we see Chatten with the number “999” branded onto his forehead at one point. Universally, this number is seen as a symbol for the end of a current situation, and a new door of possibilities opening- nearly exactly the theme of the video (positive or not!). However, this number could also be flipped upside down, and represent a much darker sign of the devil, teasing the idea of artists “selling their soul to the devil”.
We see many more religious allusions, such as the crown of thorns Chatten wears, referencing the one Christ wore during his crucifixion. As a symbol, this crown represents the mockery of kingship, along with the punishment of sin, something this video taps into often.
Eventually, we see the inside of the garage door, and the video quality instantly switches from what used to be a grainy camcorder-esque quality, to the obvious grand HD camera. In these scenes, Chatten still has trouble fitting in with his brightly coloured tracksuit, and we eventually see his clothing change to a much simpler, minimalistic style as he spends more time in this environment. Through this montage, we see all the times he has left the set as different characters, and crawled back, forgetting about his duties in the world behind him. Eventually, we see the door locked- signifying the last stage of Chatten’s journey. He can no longer come in and out as he pleases and has made a complete transformation from where we saw him at the beginning of the video. We first saw him in a grainy camera, kicking a ball and returning to his humble home, and now we find him standing in the middle of a pure white film set, surrounded by hundreds of high-quality cameras - all of this in less than five minutes.
When piecing each small detail together, we can gather an overarching meaning of the video, and in true Fontaines D.C. fashion, Ireland is a major part of it. It is something we see very often; artists get introduced to fame and gradually forget about the life and culture that shaped them. It’s something fans of the English band, Arctic Monkeys have been commenting on for a couple of years now since the group recently moved to LA and have seemingly forgotten their humble Sheffield roots. At the end of the video, the locked door can symbolise the final stage of disconnect from the artist’s hometown and culture of Ireland. Although might be taking a more serious approach to this topic, likely, they could also be poking fun at recent accusations of “selling out” by listeners, due to their high praise from critics, a vast shift in style, and a large gain of popularity in recent years.
Since its release in April, “Starburster” is on its way to becoming the band’s most well-known song, overtaking their 2022 single “I Love You” from their third studio album, Skinty Fia. With a whopping 3.2 million views on YouTube, “Starburster” is one of the most talked about videos and songs of the year and has since been nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.
Stream Romance by Fontaines D.C on Spotify here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/287QQ922OsJYh8aFNGdJG5?si=cXjJrLSySvKtMzwo91peWg
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