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Alexa DeHaven

Professor Sandy-Smith

English Composition II

5 November 2020

Elastic Heart

“Elastic Heart” is a song by Sia that has also been covered by Aaliyah Rose and they sing

the lyrics are all the same but each of the music videos give a very different meaning to the song.

The original by Sia is about toxic things in life while the cover by Aaliyah Rose is about peace in

the world and with each other. These two videos have different storylines, meanings, and

intended audiences.

In Sia’s music video for “Elastic Heart” she had two actors and dancers, Shia LaBeouf

and Maddie Ziegler. They are both wearing white while everything else in the room is white but

there is dirt that is getting everywhere. They were both trapped inside of a cage and they were

fighting back and forth. They would always get close to each other and then one would scare the

other one away again. The girl would often growl or bite or do something then the man would

run away. At the end of this video the girl escapes the cage, and she tries to help the man escape

but he can’t get out of it no matter how hard they both try. The bars on the cage are perfectly

large enough for him to fit through if he would just turn his body and then he would be able to

escape but he isn’t able to and he doesn’t know how.

In Aaliyah Rose’s video she is the main character. She is wearing white while other girls

are holding black ink, throwing it at her, and bullying her. She endures more bullying throughout

the video. It eventually leads her to break down and cry by herself while people play instruments
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in a dark room. Then she becomes stronger again and dresses up like a fairy with ballerinas,

flowers, children, and happy things all around her. After, she goes and sees the people who

bullied and one was crying and had the black ink still on her hands. Instead of being mad or

treating the girl how she was treated she helps her clean the black ink off of her hands. Then at

the end, they are all happy and together. They walk with a sign that says, “fighting for peace”

and the video ends.

Sia’s version is about wanting to escape something like addiction, a toxic relationship, or

possibly even one's own mind. The people in the video keep going back to each other and

staying inside of a cage even though they can get out of it anytime, they don’t know how too.

That is a good depiction of how it is with addiction and these other toxic things. The video could

be portrayed as them fighting with each other and trying to escape these things. It could also be

seen as him fighting with the girl who is just a part of his mind and not being able to help

himself.

Aaliyah Rose’s version is about bullying and wanting peace. She gets bullied in the video

and still stays strong because she has an ‘elastic heart’. Even when she has the chance to tear

down others like they did to her, she helps them and treats them with love instead. This video is

about fighting for peace, treating others how you would want to be treated, and everyone all

coming together.

Both videos use pathos to appeal to our emotions. Sia’s video appeals to our emotions

because of how they are dancing and the meaning would make the viewers sad especially at the

end when he can’t get out of the cage. Aaliyah’s video appeals to our emotions because it is

heartbreaking to watch her get bullied and breakdown, but it is great to watch them all come

together at the end. With Sia’s video I believe that she wanted to reach an audience who were
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going through similar situations like being trapped or having an addiction and she wanted them

to interpret this video that way. With Aaliyah’s I believe she wanted her audience to be younger

kids based on how there were only kids in the video and there were fairies, flowers, and

ballerinas. She wanted children to learn a message about bullying, treating each other with

respect, and how we should all come together.

These videos have very different meanings and very different audiences, but they do have

some similarities. “Oh, I've got thick skin and an elastic heart, But your blade, it might be too

sharp, I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard” They both have the same lyrics that are

interpreted in different ways. Despite that, each of the videos is showing that they can be strong,

get hurt, but continue to fight for peace. For example, how the actors in Sia’s continue to fight to

stop, and the actors in Aaliyah’s want to fight for peace and end bullying. Another similarity is

that they both have everything white but something like ink or dirt that gets them dirty. This

could be another way to show that no matter what happens like getting dirty, they will continue

to fight.

So, even though both versions of “Elastic Heart” have the same lyrics, each video has

different meanings, audiences, storylines, and everything else. All of these reasons show this and

prove that the original by Sia is about toxic things in life while the cover by Aaliyah Rose is

about peace in the world and with each other.

Works Cited

Sia “Elastic Heart”, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=KWZGAExj-

es&app=desktop

Aaliyah Rose “Elastic Heart”, 2015,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmckUR5GZpQ&list=PLa6e7R3ks3A0hTbF8voTcvnrxDP

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