Video Review – Chris Stapleton’s “Fire Away”
Video was meant to enhance the musical experience when it was first introduced, but upon its wide use in the 80’s with the advent of MTV, it mostly cheapened the medium, and created an opportunity for sub-par artists to lean on image instead of talent to sell their music to the masses. Music at it’s heart is supposed to be filled with mutable themes that can mean something different to each set of ears and be a theater of the mind, while video can many times establish concrete borders around a song’s meaning, cheapening the experience. Or other times a video can make the meaning of a song something completely different than originally thought, in a good or bad way.
Chris Stapleton unexpectedly dropped a video for his song “Fire Away” Monday morning (2-29), and it’s wetting tissues and disturbing workdays all across the country with its candid and gripping portrayal of suicide and mental illness in the see-saw world of a bipolar reality. We already had a good sense that Stapleton’s “Fire Away” was about heartbreak, but the heartbreak portrayed in the video directed by Tim Mattia takes it to an entirely new level. The manic, then depressive moods are evidenced with biting, ghostly accuracy in a well-crafted short where Stapleton plays a bartender early on, and then lets the professionals do the rest. It’s hard not to get pulled in as the drama unfolds from the very real recollections we most all have of when mental illness resulted in tragedy in our own lives.
Fearlessly the “Fire Away” video meets a very real issue head on—an issue that seems to have no governor on who it affects: rich and poor, men and women, and individuals from stable homes with ample love, concern, and attention surrounding them. It also delves into how even the purest love can be a flimsy firewall for the destabilizing, and sometimes catastrophic effects of mental illness, and re-imagines the trope of the first responder having to come to grips as personal and professional lives collide.
The concern about the “Fire Away” video is that in a world where even Cheerios commercials are trying to get you to cry, is this constant barrage of emotional images and portrayals too much for the consumer to handle, over-saturating your daily media intake like sex used to do to the point of becoming opportunist? And is the similar oversaturation of cause-driven placement a little too emotionally rich to where it’s veering towards mawkishness or becoming commonplace like so many Oscar speeches that turn an entertainment medium into political theater? Is a country music video the best context to broach these matters?
What few can quibble with is the results, which is the immediate stock taking of one’s own life in the aftermath of the loss of another. This is what the video of “Fire Away” sets out to accomplish, and succeeds.
February 29, 2016 @ 11:52 am
I’m studying to become a psychologist. I’m particularly interested in finding better methods to diagnose and treat mental illness. I’m actually bipolar myself, so I know mental illness from an outside and inside perspective. Since I don’t… see things… the way other people do, it’s hard for me relate to other people, but I’m managing. My goal is to help other people manage too.
February 29, 2016 @ 11:55 am
Great piece. You missed the ‘n’ in mental illness in the second paragraph.
February 29, 2016 @ 12:01 pm
Been through all that shit, that’s what my life is like, at first you try to fix everything, then you realize this plane is gonna crash and decide whether to ride it down or bail. I’ll go down with the plane, with a smile. Maybe im a masochist.Pretty cool video, Chris surprised me.
February 29, 2016 @ 12:02 pm
Have to agree. Stapleton did a he’ll of a job coming up with this idea for the video and to keep people engaged in a serious issue while adding another layer to this song that I didn’t see coming
February 29, 2016 @ 12:03 pm
Bipolar and suicide are issues that need attention no question about that. This just felt a little cheesey. Maybe it’s just me. Good intentions, I just don’t know.
February 29, 2016 @ 12:50 pm
I can see where someone would have that perspective, and that’s why I made sure to voice those reservations in the review. I personally think the power of the video overrides these concerns, but at the same time I can completely understand why someone would feel this way. It’s a worthy criticism.
March 10, 2016 @ 7:01 pm
Are you Trigger from Nashville? Likes Buebird?
March 10, 2016 @ 7:08 pm
Don’t know. Probably not.
March 2, 2016 @ 10:44 pm
It may be a little cheesy, but overall I think they did an honest and authentic portrayal of situations like that.. I’ve lived it myself and its scarily accurate in some ways, especially the wife shutting gown the little get together. That scene cut way too close to the bone for me.
February 29, 2016 @ 12:05 pm
Good lord, that is a powerful video. I rarely enjoy videos because I feel that they take away from my personal view of the song & its meaning, but this one is worth multiple views.
February 29, 2016 @ 1:00 pm
I never got around to buying this one, but best cut on the album that I have heard.
February 29, 2016 @ 1:14 pm
Very good throwback to the old days where Reba, Garth, and Martina made similar videos to this one. I know some people aren’t good with this, but I think this one’s a winner.
February 29, 2016 @ 1:19 pm
A timely comment if ever I’ve seen one. I’m sure you’re referring to the majority of the ceremony, which tried to assuage accusations of a lack of diversity by letting Chris Rock make a bunch of tasteless jokes about ethnicity and stereotypes, in addition to the obviously conscious decision to make pretty much every presenter a minority member. Not to mention the Academy representative’s speech about diversity and closing the ceremony with a rap song. They sure drove the point home, didn’t they? Not that I necessarily have a problem with any of this, it just smacked of over-calculation.
The one part that really got me was when Leonardo DiCaprio turning his acceptance speech into a soapbox moment for global warming. It reminded me of when Marlon Brando sent a native American friend to deny an Oscar on his behalf and give a speech. Again, I believe in climate change, and Leo was mostly hinting at how difficult The Revenant was to make, but seriously? He had to verge into political territory? This moment popped into my mind as I was reading.
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In other news, I love this song. It’s a slow burner and not really my favorite cut from the album, but Chris sells it with his soulful delivery. Not sure if I can bear to watch the video as it’s kinda personal, and I have enough anxiety as it is. I have no qualms about the song nor Stapleton himself, though (obviously).
February 29, 2016 @ 2:17 pm
I’m not exactly someone who watches music videos very much, usually for the same reason Trig stated, but this was probably hands-down the best video I’ve seen in a long time. I’m one who likes it when a video addresses serious topics and brings awareness, and this was masterfully done. Well done Mr. Stapleton, well done
February 29, 2016 @ 2:53 pm
As someone with depression problems, but not bipolar depression (I have friends that are bipolar), this is probably the best depiction of the disorder on film that I’ve seen. Manic one minute, depressed the other.
February 29, 2016 @ 5:06 pm
I’ve been wondering why he’s avoided this song in all his late night talk show performances. Guess he’s just been saving the best for last.
February 29, 2016 @ 5:27 pm
I finally picked up the ‘Traveller’ CD this past weekend; I thought this was a nice song, but I never imagined it would lend itself to such a powerful clip. Bravo!
February 29, 2016 @ 5:58 pm
Is that Ben Foster in the video?
February 29, 2016 @ 8:02 pm
It is.
February 29, 2016 @ 8:04 pm
It is.
February 29, 2016 @ 6:10 pm
This song is one the better ones on the Album. More southern rock than country. At first I thought the video featured scenes from some upcoming movie before reading this story. Have to watch it again.
February 29, 2016 @ 6:44 pm
I can’t remember the last video that I actually bothered to watch, much less hit me emotionally. Great job by everyone involved with this video and I think it’s cool that Stapleton and/or his record label is willing to tie the song to an issue like depression and mental illness, rather than just putting out some generic Country video where Stapleton sings to the camera and some guy drinks or cries over a lost love.
I know some people give Stapleton crap due to all the Country music “savior” hyperbole being thrown around on the Internet and in some circles of the mainstream music media, but at the end of the day lets just appreciate the fact that Stapleton cut a great album, can sing like hell and is willing and able to portray himself as a serious artists in an age where we have 30, 40, even 50 year old men trying to cling to their youth while a bunch of 18-24 year old girls dance in bikinis around them.
February 29, 2016 @ 8:29 pm
This is my favorite song on the album but this is an extra layer to the story I hadn’t even considered. Does this mean this is his next single? I hope so
February 29, 2016 @ 9:23 pm
It just started getting radio time where I’m at today
March 1, 2016 @ 12:08 pm
If your bi polar…this video nails it. This is so me and my husband except for the end. It really hit home.This video really portrays how a relationship with someone bipolar is. We are best Freinds! Everyone loves him and he loves me . We have a normal happy life,I’m a nurse he farms. But he has to deal with my downs. But he loves me right through them. We’ve been married 12 years. Anyways….awesome song and video 🙂
March 1, 2016 @ 5:03 pm
Ben Foster rules. Just throwing that out there. One of the most underrated actors of our time.
And this is my favorite Stapleton song. When I first spun Traveller, I replayed this one a few times before moving to the next song.
March 2, 2016 @ 10:52 pm
Keep in mind that my favorite country videos growing up were stuff like PotM’s “Feed Jake”, Kathy Mattea, Suzy Bogguss, and my all time fav which is ” I don’t call him daddy” by Doug Supernaw so I’m accustomed to sappy/cheesy shit. This ones a winner.
March 3, 2016 @ 2:24 pm
Love it
March 4, 2016 @ 4:25 pm
I’m glad you brought up Stapleton. I have a bone to pick with him. This has nothing to do with the article, though. I want to talk about his stealing from other artists. First, there is the title of his album, “Traveller.” Okay that was the name of Jerry Douglas’s 2012 album. How do I know this? Jerry is playing at Merlefest this year and I wanted to look up some info about him since I have never seen him live. Wtf? There is his album title. Stolen by Chris.
Is it an isolated incident? Maybe. Except that recently I have become obsessed with Cody Johnson, and I looked up his first single on the Texas charts. Okay it’s a song called “NOBODY TO BLAME” from 2009. Completely appalled, I looked up the lyrics. There is a line – “nobody to blame but me”. Did you think you would get away with this, Chris? Completely horrible. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you were stoned while you were flat out taking from other artists with apparently no conscience. I retract what I said. Grammy undeserved. Not a fan whatsoever. I’m not a fan of artists that steal and plagiarize the work of other artists.
March 6, 2016 @ 8:08 am
If you held this standard universally then almost all artists would be guilty. Just because a song name or album name is the same doesn’t mean someone stole it. They had their own reasoning behind what the album title meant and what the song meant. There’s so many songs out there with the exact same title. So your argument doesn’t get anywhere with me.
March 7, 2016 @ 10:51 pm
I looked and there aren’t other albums named “Traveller”, only Jerry’s from 2012. And you’re seriously going to defend him when he flat out plagiarized a line from Cody’s song? I question if you are an artist yourself who steals from other artists. Just because it’s rampant in Nollywood/Cashville doesn’t make it cool.
March 8, 2016 @ 1:35 am
You missed the point of my comment. So since a couple words in a song are the same? Doesn’t mean he heard that song and copied it. Chris is one of the best songwriters out there and I wouldn’t take him for a plagiarizing content stealing fool. You’re just throwing out senseless accusations.
March 8, 2016 @ 7:41 am
I found some other albums called “Traveller” doing a search on allmusic.com (e.g., Anoushka Shankar, Christy Moore, Lois Walden). Some more named “The Traveller.”
“Nobody to blame but me” is a common enough phrase. Cody Johnson (or anyone else) doesn’t have ownership of it.
March 8, 2016 @ 10:36 am
I highly doubt that Chris is listening to Anoushka Shankar. It’s possible, but I doubt it. On the other hand, I’m sure he HAS listened to the amazing Jerry Douglas’s record as he is the f*cking musician’s musician. Also with singers like Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Mumford and Sons. He ripped off that title, there isn’t a doubt in my mind. Also you’ve got to be kidding me. He plagiarized that song title and line straight out. If I put the line “like a rolling stone” in a song no one would call me on it? Wtf. I don’t want to debate this anymore with people who clearly a) have no integrity and b) are probably artists themselves who justify their own stealing.
March 8, 2016 @ 1:48 pm
Chris Stapleton is a gift to modern country music. I don’t know if anyone agrees with me, but that is my opinion. His music speaks to me and some of his songs (such as this one) are very touching.
April 25, 2016 @ 1:33 am
This video is exceptional, very well depicts the true reality of what Bi Polar, mania and depression are like for a real life marriage, the fact that is has Ben Foster portrayed as being on officer/first responder hits home to me, except the roles are switched, my husband suffers from the horrible disease and me being the first responder in the family, its hard to explain to people what the disease can be like or how it effects a person, but the ups and downs are the hardships that are put on the marriage, the love can be there and no matter what you do for your spouse sometimes the inevitable happens, theres been countless times ive come home to my husband trying to end his life, to be normal, to take away the pain and all you can do, like it shows in the video, is be there the best you can. Props on the video and a perfect display for what the song really means. Never have I had a video hit me so hard and bring up so many memories or emotions. I also love the fact that Chris can put into words, of what it feels like to live a life like that. Fire Away. simple enough, but to the point. You’re love might be my damnation, ill cry to my grave…most truest words of the whole song right there, because in reality thats what ends up happening
May 13, 2017 @ 9:17 pm
Even thought this had not been a single, the video is very emotional and for Chris first video, it’s so amazing