Alicia Keys: If I Ain't Got You
This video is following the timeline of a relationship that
is negatively affected by the boyfriend’s involvement in selling drugs to
purchase the luxurious things in life for his girlfriend who simply has an admiration
for him and not the luxurious things in life. In the beginning of the video,
Alicia Keys is playing on a white piano by herself on a rooftop in New York. She
is playing on this piano alone to express the idea of people living for materialistic
things generally lack companionship. As the story of the video begins, a group
of guys are moving an older wooden piano into a new apartment. The wooden piano
differs from the upscale white piano Alicia is playing on the rooftop. Alicia
plays both piano’s but in two different appearances. While playing on the white
piano, her hair is done, she has on heels, and appears in a more formal outfit.
While playing the brown piano in the apartment, she has her hair wrapped up,
reebok sneakers on, and a dressed down outfit. However, she is in the presence
of her boyfriend while playing on the brown piano which relates to the idea of love
being enough over materialistic things. When Alicia is alone it seems as if she
is well off and has everything she could possibly need but the sense of
happiness her boyfriend provided for her. Her lyrics “And I’ve been there
before, That life’s a bore, So full of the superficial.” Is acknowledging the
fact that materialistic things are not necessarily as fulfilling as people
think. When Alicia is with her boyfriend
in the old apartment, she appears as if she is at the happiest point of her
life. The scene where she kisses him in the empty apartment signifies that all
she needs is her significant other to get the real experience of
happiness. As the video progresses,
Alicia and her boyfriend begin to experience difficulties in their relationship
as they get the finer things in life such as the Mercedes, money, cell phone,
fur coat, and silver chains. Her boyfriend has become more focused on getting
the finer things in life which means less focus on her. She is seen singing at the top of some stairs
in a park but as she makes her way down the stairs it marks the turning point
of their relationship. This is symbolism
for the reduction of the high she once felt in her relationship that then progressively
falls to a low. “Everything means nothing unless I ain’t got you” means she is
losing him to the materialistic things, therefore the things he is trying to
cherish her with mean absolutely nothing.
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