In Years & Years’ hit song “King,” the main character in the music video (the lead singer) is portrayed as being taken over by unknown people wearing only all white articles of clothing. The lyrics in the song never mention the word “drug;” however, it can be inferred through other lyrical phrases like “All that I've compromised to feel another high” and “Being on the line” are referring to the use of drugs and how these drugs affect the singer. Through the many artistic elements used in this music video, for example the choice of colors used in the video, the camera angles, and the use of people acting as a metaphor to drug use, the viewer can understand what the message the video is trying to portray- the dreadful emotions a drug addict feels. It also shows just how much easy it is for drugs to literally control anyone. 

The first way this music video acts as a metaphor for drug use and its effects is by the colors used in the video and how these colors can portray the stages of a drug addiction. The colors mainly used in this music video are very dull and depressing colors like grey, white, and black. Even the atmosphere around where the singer goes is drab and devoid of color. This is a good example of what it might look like to people who are addicted to drugs or depressed because it is as if nothing is exciting or nothing matters to them anymore except for the thing that gets them high. The colors are one of the first effects noticed by the viewer, and it is easy to feel the dreary vibe. This dreary and depressed vibe, like being stuck in a thick fog and not knowing when the sun will shine again, continues throughout the music video as the viewer is taken through what seems like stages of a drug addiction. The beginning of the music video shows the lead singer slowly being taken over by these people dressed in white, and they even put on his shirt for him, and this makes it seem like they are being helpful and not harming the singer, much like many people who take drugs tend to think in the beginning stages that the drug will have no significant impact on them after continued use. As the video progresses, it begins to get violent where it shows the people pushing and shoving him across the room and creating a circle around him, and this shows how the drugs have now begun to control every bit of him and he doesn’t have control over anything. This is relatable to real life drug users because the drugs begin to take control of the users, and they won’t notice until it is too late. The very end of the video shows him finally being able to push the people/drugs off, but the video ends immediately afterwards and that makes the viewer question what happens to him. Perhaps that could be the phase afterwards when the drug addict seeks help from rehab because usually when people go to rehab it tends to be kept quiet, and since the video ends in a black screen, it signifies the drug addict cannot feel any emotions nor can they seem to find a reason to be able to smile because their only source of happiness before came from the high from the drugs because of the release of dopamine, but now the addict’s body has to readjust because the drugs literally ruined his body and his life. Until the body can make its own dopamine again, the addict will feel depressed, low, and not be able to see color in the world around them.

The addict may not be able to see color around them, but typically non-drug users can, and the different camera angles can be used to exemplify this. These different camera angles also highlight when an outsider looks at him and they don’t see the people in white. This puts it into perspective how when a person takes a drug, the drug alters their mind and controls what they can and cannot see, and this shows that these people in white are all in the lead singer’s mind. With the camera shots of the singer moving around alone and then also showing the camera shot where the people dressed in white are pulling on him, it supports the idea of how this song is about drugs controlling the singer, even though these people acting as the drug aren’t actually really there physically, but they are most definitely in the drug taker’s mind emotionally. Painful symptoms of drug addiction, like withdrawal, can greatly affect someone painfully both mentally and physically, which can withdraw the person away from the world and cause them to destroy their real life relationships. 

As one can see, perhaps the most important artistic aspect of this music video is the portrayal of the humans dressed in all white being used as a symbol for drugs. In this video they are all dressed in white to make them all seem one and the same to one another, while the singer is wearing a different colored shirt, except even though there is some white in it, it is also grey to show the difference between him and the drugs. The splash of white in his shirt show that drugs are a part of him now, unlike how at the beginning of the video he wasn’t even wearing a shirt until the drugs put it on for him. Throughout the video the people dressed in white pull the singer around and control him until at the very end when he pushes them away, and they fall to the ground helpless perhaps signifying that the lead singer has once again regained control over his mind and body. His expression on his face in the very last scene portrays the confusion he now faces because the drugs controlled him up until this point. 

Throughout the music video for the hit song “King” by the band Years & Years, the use of drab and dull colors, different camera angles, and people as a metaphor for drug use is a clever way to portray the serious matter of how drugs can affect anyone’s life. The video shows how it may be harder than one would think to get rid of the drug’s effects once they get into one’s mind. Even though people on the outside cannot see these drugs, the drug taker always will because the drugs begin to overcome and take control of their life. This music video is entertaining, but the deep, true meaning is that addiction is very serious and can completely ruin anyone’s life.
