The song lyrics suggest a struggling relationship where the female singer, Selena Gomez, is suffering and hoping things get better with her boyfriend. There is doubt about their future together and reasons why she should end it, but she cannot escape her love for him. The music video uses various locations like a bar, dressing room, and park to tell the story. It employs a black and white effect to convey Selena's hopeless feelings. Flashbacks from memories are distinguished through a noisy, pixelated style. Different shot types like close-ups and long shots help involve the audience in the narrative.

1. Rubi Ali

2. The song lyrics of ‘The Heart Wants What It Wants’ suggests the idea of a struggling
relationship in which the female voice being Selena Gomez herself, is suffering. ‘’Hand
over heart, I'm praying, That I'm gonna make it out alive’’ explains how the female is
hoping things get sorted between her and her boyfriend. ‘’The future that we hold is so
unclear’’ reflects the doubt in the females mind about their relationship and where it is
going towards. ‘’ There's a million reasons why I should give you up’’ proposes that her
boyfriend may have cheated or done wrong things to affect their relationship in the past,
however she still kept him because she wants him. ‘’ Baby, baby no I can't escape’’
explains the extent to which the female is upset by the situation and she feels like she
cannot give him up because of the love she got. The lyric ‘’ No happy endings’’ suggests
that the idea of a ‘modern fairy tale’ isn’t all perfect and happy, it includes hard times and
mostly ends badly.

3. There are around five different locations in this music video of a bar, a dressing room, a basement,
inside a car and an open park area. The location of the bar suggests that the couple or perhaps only
the male is quite outgoing and likes to have fun however the Selena doesn’t look comfortable which
suggests she does not like the bar. The dressing room scene shows audience that Selena has a career
of singing perhaps as she has her own dressing room from which she comes out and is faced with her
security guards. This helps audience have more narrative and understanding of how Selena has to act
happy and perfect. The basement connotes the feeling of being trapped or being alone as it is an
unusual place and suggests Selena wants to hide and be alone in a place.
The couple are shown inside a car having romantic and happy moments when the song goes back to
flashbacks. This location is effective as it can relate to couples and remind them of similar moments.
The end of the music video is shot in an open park area, the first outdoor location the entire video
which connotes freedom for Selena .

4. The mise-en-scene of the dressing room scene helps identify the location as without the
make-up and beauty products and fashion items, the audience may not have recognised
the proposed setting.
The bar scene where the couple are having romantic moments has effective mise-en-
scene with the alcoholic products in the background.

5. In terms of editing, there is simple but effective editing, for example there is minimal
transitions used and the whole video consists of many cuts which allows the video to be
interesting to watch. One of the main editing of the video is the black and white effect
that has been applied on the whole music video. This effect resembles the feelings of
Selena in the music video which is hopeless, dark, colourless and empty. The effect really
helps audience feel the emotions deeply and puts them in a suitable mood to watch and
understand the song.
The flashback clips are recognised as they differ to the remaining of the video. They
appear to be more noisy, pixelated and has a old film type effect to connote it is memories
from the past.

6. There is a mixture of several different shot types throughout the music video. For example, there are
close-up shots used mostly to present the actors facial expressions, to show parts of their body such
as the shoulder, also to show accessories worn by the singer. These close up shots helps audience to
connect closer with the singer.
There are many mid-shots used to show the costuming, facial expression and background efficiently
such as when the couple and their group of friends are together in the bar lounge and also when the
singer is sitting in her dressing room.
Zoom ins are used which draws audience closer to Selena directly which makes the song enjoyable.
Over the shoulder shots are applied to show different anglings of the scene so audience feel more
involved and aware of the atmosphere and happenings within the scene.
A long shot and panning shot is used in the end of the music video when Selena comes out and walks
across the open park, establishing the location effectively.