Synopsis
In a stark concrete wasteland, Lykke Li wanders through a fractured parking lot dressed in black and pale makeup, moving as if struck by invisible bullets. Around her, dirt-bike riders, twerking dancers, weightlifters, and other figures create a surreal parade of grief and disorder. Her increasingly violent, convulsive dance turns the song's breakup imagery into a physical performance, ending with her collapsing against the concrete as the surrounding world continues in strange, dreamlike motion.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video premiered on July 15, 2014, as the second single from Lykke Li's album *I Never Learn*.
- It was filmed in Paris, using a large concrete parking structure divided by a dramatic chasm. The location had reportedly been difficult to secure for filming.
- Lykke Li said she improvised much of the movement rather than performing a rigidly choreographed routine. She danced without the song playing on set, using the character's memories and emotional pain as her guide.
- The choreography was created by Ryan Heffington, whose work emphasizes expressive, emotionally charged movement rather than conventional pop-video precision.
- Li described "Gunshot" as a song about the point in a relationship when mistakes have made reconciliation impossible. She said the lyrics emerged after meditation, arriving as unexpectedly violent images.
- The song's heavy percussion combines live drums played by Lars Skoglund and Greg Kurstin with a drum machine. Li said the production went through several versions before the simpler, harder-hitting rhythm was chosen.
- The video's surreal mixture of mourning, dance, motorcycles, and physical comedy reflects Li's view that darkness needs some humor to remain bearable.
- "Gunshot" was also used in a Peugeot 108 advertising campaign released around the same period, bringing the track to an audience beyond the album's promotional videos.