Hostage: The Story of an Abusive Relationship

“Hostage” is a song by Billie Eilish, released in August 2017 with the music video arriving a year later, in October of 2018. The music video depicts Billie Eilish with presumably a boyfriend, clearly in some sort of abusive relationship with herself as the villain. She challenges the idea that women are never abusers by clearly portraying herself as one with this music video, and attempts to tell the story of an abusive relationship without making light of it, which I will be analyzing with semiotics.

Semiotics is the science of understand the meaning of X, with X being anything from a gesture to an entire novel (Danesi, 3). In the music video, Billie Eilish sings to her boyfriend in a soothing tone, and they appear as though they are dancing together at first. The relationship is clearly consensual and happy, as the dancing is a sort of push-and-pull, neither controlling the other, along with the lighting, which changes from a soft white to a comfortable, warm yellow (yellow having connotations of happiness and contentment). However, something begins to chance. She seems to languish in the power and control she has over him, telling him she’ll give him a ball and chain, and wants to hold him like a hostage.  As Billie says this, the lighting quickly changes to a harsh crimson, signifying danger, caution, and anger.

The relationship quickly deteriorates. Billie becomes more forceful, yanking the man around and pushing him from one side of the room to the other, going from affectionate and loving one moment to scornful and apathetic the next, clearly symbolizing the mood swings of real-life abusers and the uncertainty their victims face constantly in regards to how their spouse will react at any given moment. All items in the room the music video takes place in melt away, trapping the victim and leaving him with no way out. Any time the man attempts to retaliate against the abuse, the featureless white room he is in physically punishes him for it, showing that Eilish is in charge of what happens in it, like an abuser controls a relationship. Billie later traps him in a room with a one-way mirror with Billie on the other side, symbolizing the common isolation tactic used by abusers to get their victims to distance themselves from friends and family so they rely solely on the abuser.

Finally, the music video closes out on Billie Eilish trapping her partner in the room and leaving him in the dark. Even as she leaves him alone, the man reaches for her, showing that even after all the abuse, the victim still loves her. Billie Eilish does a wonderful job of showcasing an abusive relationship without making light of it, while also doing the difficult job of portraying an abuser without trying to justify abuse.