The pop-rock band from Germany, Tokio Hotel, has the song Spring nicht (translated from German as “Don’t Jump”) on their second studio album “Room 483”. Its English version has a similar title – Don’t Jump. The official single “Don’t Jump” was recorded in 2008 and was included in the band’s first all-English-language album. With the record “Scream” the emo-rock of the “magnificent German four” began to conquer the world: England, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Israel, America. In 2011 the band performed in Moscow at the “Muz TV” award.
The storyline of the music video
Both versions of the song throughout the video show fragments of Tokio Hotel’s performance in a multi-storey parking lot. The difference between the English-language video and the German one is the absence of footage of the band’s singer Bill Kaulitz jumping off the building. The thing is that the original composition Spring nicht made a lot of noise because of the suicide shots shown in the video. One of the German news shows even made a special report, devoted to the demonstration of images of suicides in music videos. The story caused a wide public response. Therefore, the scene of a man jumping from the roof of a “high-rise” was removed from the clip for the English-speaking audience.
Bill himself, who is the co-author of the song, explained that he had excellent mental health, steady psyche and never had suicidal thoughts. The meaning of his video – to encourage teenagers who are thinking about voluntary departure from life, to seek other, less radical and more effective ways of solving their problems. The members of Tokio Hotel consider the topic of teenage suicide important and relevant and that’s why they offer the following plot.
A man walks through a cold city at night, past people robbing a homeless man who has fallen asleep and robbing a store. It’s the band’s lead singer, Bill Kaulitz, not noticing anything around him, dressed in his usual long leather coat. In the following shots, his other self, in his usual suit, without his characteristic makeup and with tears in his eyes, is standing on the edge of a high-rise. No one downstairs cares about the “suicidal”. The protagonist notices the fateful figure on the roof and runs up the stairwells. At the end of the story, it becomes clear that one character has jumped into the abyss of the city, while the other has safely returned from the roof. The one who wandered down the street disappeared somewhere. Because of this, it is unclear to the audience whether a suicide was actually committed.
It should be noted that until now, the Spring nicht / Don’t Jump music video is the only one in which the band’s lead singer, with his mesmerizing voice, can be seen without the characteristic makeup. There are only a few similar shots in fragments of the archive recordings for Lass Uns Laufen and An deiner Seite.
Don’t Jump meaning song
Don’t Jump is constructed as an appeal to a young man ready to voluntarily part with his life, his second self. The inner voice urges not to do the irreparable: that world below doesn’t exist, you won’t be caught there, you won’t be cheated there, you won’t be appreciated there, you won’t be helped there. The abyss swallows up every tear of a teenager lost in despair and pain and longing to be rid of his mental torment. But the soul cries out that this is no way to start over, this is the end: don’t do it, don’t jump!
The inner self says you can’t let the good memories go, and asks you not to leave it to its fate. The soul assures me that it too is weak and defenseless: I don’t know how long I can hold you, give me a chance to save myself, just take my hand. The last phrase leaves the ending of the story of the suicide attempt open: “But if nothing can hold you down, I’ll jump instead of you.”
Tokio Hotel’s work deals with the acute social problems of today’s youth. Suicidal moods – in the song Don’t Jump. Theme of orphanhood – track Forgotten Children. Drugs addiction – Feel It All, On the Edge. The aesthetics of the show and the image of the artists are also youth ones. The design of many of the works is associated with the Kaulitz brothers’ fascination with European cyberpunk and one of their favorite movies, Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. The lead singer of the group says that the main thing in their lyrics is to touch the everyday life of teenagers, to reflect the world of their feelings, to raise the subjects that worry young immature souls.
The fact that the emo-rock performers succeed in this is evidenced by the strong support of the listeners all over the world. Fans of Tokyo Hotel regularly win in various categories, such as “Biggest Fan Audience” and “Best Fans. “The Magnificent German Four” is recognized as having the most extensive and active fan base.
If we talk about the dreams of the band members themselves, they are expressed in the name “Tokyo Hotel”. The capital of the Land of the Rising Sun is the city that each of them wanted to visit as a child. The hotel – because the artist’s life is associated with travel and touring activities. We must say that Tokio Hotel succeeded. At the end of 2010, they visited Tokyo. The musicians, who started their way from performing in small clubs, got the status of international pop stars in just 10 years.
