Emeli Sandé’s “Clown”: A Song About Selling Out to the Music Industry?

It was my favourite song until I checked the video!Emeli Sandé’s video “Clown” is simple, subtle and artistic but nevertheless conveys a very clear and disturbing message about the music industry and those that rule it. Is “Clown” about Emeli Sandé “selling her soul” to the elite? We’ll look at the meaning of the song and music video.

Emeli Sandé is an English-born Scottish singer whose album Our Version of Events became the best selling album of 2012 in the UK. With three number one singles and widespread critical acclaim, Sandé is set to win a slurry of awards in 2013 and possibly more recognition “across the pond”. Did her recent success come with a hefty price tag? Judging by the message conveyed in her single Clown, yes, yes it did.

It certainly doesn’t take much analytical effort to understand that Clown portrays the music industry as a monolithic, coercive and even dangerous entity, lead by powerful people who demand nothing less than total submission from their chosen artists. In exchange for success, a damning contract (akin to an oath) must be signed that not only leads to relinquishing creative control, but, on a higher level, relinquishing an artist’s very soul. Is this why Sandé became an important part of the London Olympics’ Ceremonies, where she sang in a disturbing segment entitled “Abide With Me”, which told the story of a young child giving away his soul to a malevolent entity? Maybe. Let’s look at the video.

Clowns Get No Respect

Clown is pretty much the opposite of most of the videos I describe on this site. There is no migraine-inducing fashion, no super-futuristic dance moves and no symbols being flashed every 3 seconds. Yet, in the end, the same dark reality is conveyed and the same elitist group is being acknowledged and referred to.

The video is shot in black and white, in the style of silent films of the 1920s. All of the action takes place in a single setting, a kind of meeting room where it seems important issues are being discussed. On one of the walls we read the words “Anywhere in the world and solar system”. These words often appear on music industry contracts as a way of defining the true reach of it in case of legal issues. Also these words give this meeting room an ethereal dimension, one that transcends time and place.

The decisions being made seem to have a weight that supercedes any regular political or national entity. There are men in military uniforms resembling those worn during the reign of Hitler or Mussolini, though the racial diversity of this panel indicates that we are not looking at a traditional fascist government, but at something of a “higher level”, hence the words “Anywhere in the world and solar system”. Put another way, the video appears to refer to a dictatorship evolving on a supra-national level, such as maybe …  the Illuminati and the NWO?

Emeli taken in by two soldiers

The video begins with a strange scene: Emeli enters this room escorted by two soldiers as if she were a prisoner, yet she is greeted with warm applause from around the room. Right from the start, the video describes the contradiction of being a star in this day and age: influential and revered by the masses, while still completely in submission to higher powers. The applause Emeli receives is almost sarcastic, as if saying “We are applauding you like your fans do — but we still own you”.

Emeli is then presented with something that represents the dilemma of anyone who wants to make it big in the music industry.

Emeli is given a pen in order to sign a contract.

Before any words are even exchanged between the men and Emeli, the singer is expected to sign a contract. As we see by her reaction, this is not an ordinary business contract, but a document that will heavily impact the rest of her life. Signing this document equals relinquishing some of her rights, freedoms, creative control and … her soul?

Emeli refuses and says “No”. Immediately, the men in the room show signs of impatience and become more forceful. One of the men steps up to her, tells her “Please, you must reconsider” and makes her sit down.

As a man steps up to Emeli, she gives a look saying “Why you touching me for?”

We then see other gestures indicating that Emeli’s physical integrity is being violated. While these actions are somewhat subtle in the video, they are a symbolic way of referring to the physical and psychological violence stars can be subjected if they do not fully comply to the elite’s will.

Emeli is given the paternal “look at me when I’m talking to you” move by a man in uniform.

She is also gets lectured and talked down as a menacing finger is being wagged at her.

Emeli is treated with the typical speech that is given to artists to convince them to sign a contract. She is told to take advantage of this rare opportunity to be rich and famous. We quickly get a sense that, if she refuses to sign with these people (the elite), she will never “make it” because they are basically the only path to celebrity, that there is apparently no way of making it big in the music industry but signing with this monolithic entity that is controlled by a closed group of individuals.

The men tell Emeli:

“You have great talent, and the brightest of futures. All we require is your consent”.

To which she replies:

“You mean my surrender.”

This implies that the contract is indeed one that forces Emeli to submit to the powers that be and to become a virtual puppet, or a clown. One man then replies:

“We mean your co-operation”

This means that they want Emeli to willfully accomplish what is expected of her, even if she realizes that it goes against what she believes in … which is the meaning of “selling out”.

When Emeli says

“I want freedom, to be myself”,

a man promptly replies:

“What use is freedom … if you live in the gutter”

flaunting the prospect of material gain, and loss, in order to get her to sign the contract.

As she continues to hesitate, the men get angrier and start yelling at her. At one point, a man says “We need a decision” and a vote gets taken, although Emeli does not get a vote. By show of hands, the men decide what to do with Emeli. With a single gesture, one man sums up her fate if she doesn’t sign the contract.

By running his hand across his throat, this man is saying that Emeli’s career is over. Also, since these men are in uniforms and that Emeli is a prisoner, she will probably be killed … Maybe in “strange circumstances”, not unlike many other uncompromising artists.

In short, if she does not accept the terms of the contract, these men will kill her. She is then reminded of the opportunity she is passing up:

“Success is impatient. You audience is waiting.”

When presented again with the pen and paper, Emeli grabs the pen and begins singing the chorus of the song, confirming that she accepts the terms of the contract.

“I’ll be your clown
Behind the glass
Go ‘head and laugh ’cause it’s funny
I would too if I saw me
I’ll be your clown
On your favorite channel
My life’s a circus-circus
rounding circles
I’m selling out tonight”

The song’s lyrics describe the sadness of an artist who has been reduced to the status of a clown, a puppet that is told what to do in order to obtain material gain. As depicted in the video, the song’s lyrics also convey the fact that she was forced into this contract, which is, when all is said and done, nothing more than glorified exploitation.

“I’d be less angry if it was my decision
And the money was just rolling in
If I had more than my ambition
I’ll have time to please
I’ll have time to thank you as soon as I win”

At the end of the video, Sandé signs the contract (although we don’t actually see her do it) and is taken away by the soldiers. It would seem therefore, that this is yet another story of free will, freedom and integrity being forcefully taken away through coercion and power. It is another story depicting the victory of evil against good, of darkness against light. It is another “victory speech” of the Illuminati industry, blatantly showing off how it controls the industry, to the point that it makes its “clowns” sing about their own sad state of puppetry. While Emeli Sandé is arguably more talented and mature than most pop stars, Clown does not convey a message that is very different from what we have seen on this site. The only difference is that this song is aimed for the adult contemporary market, rather than the tween market. Why Emeli, just why???