Gabrielle - Rise

April 13, 2017 Critic Jonni 0 Comments


Rise - Gabrielle |

It's a Thursday so it's revisit time, during my Birmingham Pride Special. I chose Gabrielle because I don't think she'll be on my blog again unless she makes another appearance at Pride in the future or she does make a killer comeback; especially since, she is working with MNEK, who definitely helped to launch Zara Larsson internationally. So I guess she has a chance. This song is her other number one hit, after "Dreams" but I'm not so keen on the music video. Watch Gabrielle perform "Rise" as a spectator at a boxing match during the whole of this music video.

Gabrielle, real name Louise Gabrielle Bobb, is mainly known for her debut song "Dreams", however, she has had various other hits, and was one of the leading British female artists in the 90s and early 00s. She is currently working on a new album, and so could possibly make a brilliant comeback to the music industry. Many 90s stars have done it in the past, so she could definitely do it too. This song notably samples Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", it's rare for someone to sample that song, but Bob Dylan liked the song so much, he apparently authorised it. The song was written by Gabrielle, Ollie Dagois, Fergy Unger-Hamilton, and Bob Dylan.

Directed by Kevin Godley, the music video doesn't have a lot going on. Gabrielle is a spectator at a boxing match, but she looks like she doesn't want to be there. The spotlight is on her but all she's doing is sitting there singing her song. There's no fire, no passion, it comes off all a little bland.

With no performance from her, the sole focus of the video is on the boxing match, and our central character is clearly losing and not doing well. The song is uplifting and about rising to challenges, and by the end, we can assume that he rose up and fought and won a round; this presumption comes from the fact that the crowd, around Gabrielle, all stand up cheering. However, she just sits there and finishes singing her song.

The music video as a whole is not very engaging, and as a viewer watching a spectator of a boxing match, it's clear we weren't going to get much from her. However, she could've still performed her song, showed that she meant what she was singing, but any sign of facial emotions are lost because she's wearing her sunglasses. It just doesn't work for me, however, our main character, the boxer, relates to the song perfectly, hence the rating isn't as low as it could've been.
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