Anna Calvi - Desire, Music Video Analysis

To begin, the artist is in the middle of the shot, standing confidently. This suggests her passion and will to conquer her fears, or, as suggested by the song title, her desires. There is a difference from the beginning of the video, she was originally facing the door but she has turned around. This perhaps suggests she has turned to face an enemy as opposed to attempting to escape it.

There is then a close-up of Calvi, we can see backlighting shining over her shoulder. As we see this light the music intensifies and she sings 'the fire' repeatedly, this shows the enormity and power of her love/desire. This idea is reinforced as the camera then cuts between various objects in the room that are shaking as she sings.

We see a shaky camera shot that seems to be a point-of-view shot looking up the stairs from around a corner, this suggests a fear of a presence upstairs. This is perhaps what her desire is, to see or interact with whatever is upstairs. This is furthered by the colour choice of the carpet; red, connoting desire. But this also suggests danger or love, both possibly reasons why she wants to fight this desire.

At the top of the stairs there is a shot of the stairs with smoke rising from the bottom. This perhaps suggests that again there is a presence trying to lure her to whatever her temptation is that seems to have an aspect of danger about it. Also, as we see the smoke she is repeating 'desire', emphasising that these things are trying to lure her to the seemingly dangerous desire of hers.

As the video moves upstairs, we see a statue at the end of the corridor. Behind it we can see its shadow on the wall, perhaps suggesting a presence upstairs, maybe furthering the idea of danger.

After we see the statue, the camera then cuts to an extreme close up of Calvi and then back to a close up of the statue. This shows that whatever this statue represents has caught her attention and is part of the temptation that she is trying to fight.

Finally, within this section of the music video, and within the rest of it. there are many references to religion through both the lyrics and objects shown in the house. In her lyrics Calvi says ' It's the devil in me', in the house the objects seem to be more godly and more positive objects. These contrast with things such as the red carpet and the smoke. So, perhaps the song with the video is suggesting that although on the outside she may be a good person, perhaps not asking for anything more than is necessary, within her she feels different, she has a burning desire, suggested by the line 'the fire' for something that perhaps is unexpected or something she should not have.