I know the title of the song is very misleading, so don't feel bad if at first you thought this was a love song. (I did too) This music video and song is about a school shooting. You can tell because David Bowie uses his guitar as a weapon in some scenes and even use in an imaginary gun in another scene. The lyrics are alluding to a fictional teen named Valentine, who feels isolated in his school and starts developing strong feelings towards his peers. ("The teachers and the football star...") This is why the song is called "Valentine's Day". I think that this is a great music video just for the fact that it's not overdone. Knowing Bowie's work on some other music videos, ("Ashes to Ashes", "Fashion", "Jean Genie") this music video is simplistic and straight to the point when it comes to its message. I also really like how this was just raw emotion and never really went into the political side of things. The gritty rock sound also reminds me a bit of "Fashion", but it's still a great song on its own in my opinion.
2 Reviews
What a David Bowie love song looks like
Horst_In_Translation10 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This is a music video by David Bowie from 2 years ago. And even if this has a romantic background, there is something slightly odd about this film as about all other Bowie music videos. The visual side is fairly simple this time, especially for Bowie standards, no Hollywood actors and the artist basically sits on a chair, plays the guitar and sings the song. The chorus is a bit catchy, but as a whole I just think that this is not enough to really let me recommend it to anybody else except hardcore fans of David Bowie. Still not a bad watch by any means, especially at such a short runtime of only 3 minutes. Bowie certainly still has it way into his 60s.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews