Nick Jonas Takes Breakup Angst to the Next Level With New Video ‘Chainsaw’
Nick Jonas proved today that Taylor Swift has nothing on him in the breakup angst game (if that is, indeed, a game) with the debut of his video for “Chainsaw,” from the forthcoming album “Last Year Was Complicated.” Swift might have campily lit an ex’s clothes on fire and taken a golf club to a Shelby Cobra in “Blank Space,” but that was all in good fun. The mood in “Chainsaw” is dark, brooding and totally unstable, with lyrics to match.
Throughout, he threatens to burn his own house down: “Maybe I’ll just take a chainsaw to the sofa/Where I held your body close for so long,” he sings. Then he menacingly holds some dishes, adding, “I’m gonna break the fucking china/Cause it’s just one more reminder you’re gone.” And break he does, smashing it against the floor and a totally lovely Southwest-inspired woven rug.
But he doesn’t stop there; he goes for the gold. “I’ll burn everything that binds us/Take a lighter to the mattress you left,” he croons, watching his house go up in flames. This might all be chalked up to a fun celebrity fantasy, only Jonas has gone on record to say that this album is mostly about the breakup he weathered last year with former Miss USA Olivia Culpo after two years of dating. “With this one I made a real point to tell stories as honestly as I could,” he told Out in a piece published a few days ago. “It became very clear what it was going to be about, after the breakup. I just dove in headfirst and wrote about all of it. I think it was the most meaningful relationship I’ve ever been in, and it was the longest.”
Though it’s definitely over the top, there’s something about this video that makes one feel a little heart-stab—it just feels a little too real, even with its hard-to-take-seriously melodrama. We’ve all been there, buddy. Breakups suck. But maybe go a little easy on the burning-down-your-own-house vibes next time.
