The Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger

Artist: The Police

Song: Wrapped Around Your Finger

Album: Synchronicity

Date of Release: 1983 (UK), '84 (US)

Label: A&M

Genre: Pop Rock, New Wave

The video begins with a shot of a single candle, but then pans up to reveal a whole field of them. We the see Sting doing a crazy Sting-like dance in the centre of them.

Next, we see Stewart Copeland on his kit and Andy Summers on guitar. It's interesting how Sting is doing a dance rather than playing bass. This 'New Wave' genre was new and exciting, and the video is slightly unconventional in the sense that Sting isn't playing his instrument. This video is again probably closest to Goodwin's heavy rock/metal from band setup perspective. There is a lot of live performance as Goodwin suggests. The first shots we see of Copeland and Summers are of them playing. This shows that for the genre and band playing is important. 

The visuals and lyrics do not really match up. The weakest link is in Stings dance/run, which is slightly suggestive of breaking free. The song is about relationship manipulation and how relationships can turn and become a power game. The candles are over the top (as there are thousands) and perhaps suggest romance which is slightly contradictory to the lyrics.

The music and visuals work well together. The song is slightly spacey and the visuals are too. However there isn't any strong links between the music and visuals. Shots are often cut in time to the music.

The Label doesn't seem to have had too much of an influence. There are many shots of Copeland and Summers, although the prevalence lies with Sting. His dance seems pretty genuine and as singer he naturally comes to the front of the band.

There is no reference to the notion of looking, as no screens feature in the video. This is perhaps to draw away from technology and pop culture and focus on the music. There are also no females in the film, again because attention is focused on the music and Sting.