Hello!
Welcome to a special music video review by myself (Rose) and my girl Amber from BSB Fangirls. If I’m being honest, even though we run different websites, the two of us think a lot alike. It’s funny but also a little crazy. So Amber had this thought when we heard that the music video was coming out – why not do a review together? Obviously I loved the idea because it’s nice to work with someone who analyzes the music videos, vocals and lyrics at a level that I do. Not to mention it’s been a long time since I’ve collaborated on an actual blog with someone. I’m excited! Mainly because we have a lot to say, because to be blunt? There’s a lot to pick apart on this music video. Seriously. We were on the phone for an hour going back and forth about it. Within the past year however, there’s definitely been a theme of Nick trying to speak through his art. It’s fitting.
So let’s dive in.
Amber: First of all, this video is adorable. #CartoonCarter is everyone’s newest favorite character. Yet, the lyrics of the song and the story of the video itself are not exactly “happy”, but the animation (and that cute Nick with his curtain hair blowing in the wind) are way too cute. The song, however, is a break up anthem with a melancholy and slightly angry tone. The video has an animated Nick wandering through the streets of Las Vegas in an attempt to get away from the villains of the story and secure his heart, which is in pieces hidden around the city. The paradox of a sad, angry song and dark, scary story alongside this character in a bright and fun video is not lost on the viewer.
Rose: I think the best thing is the stark contrast here, the subject matter isn’t happy and it’s definitely layered. You have this subject matter where he’s in essentially a battle but the animation style is bright colors, it’s happy and bouncy and cute. In a way it almost reflects Nick himself. People always see him as a “boybander” with “fluffy pop songs” but there’s a depth not just to him but his music. It mirrors it.
Amber: This is so true! I love the way Nick is using so many metaphors and representations of himself, his story, and his life throughout the video and song. The depth that Nick has to himself just as a human, paired with the persona he has always put on is illustrated beautifully by the video. That surface view of “fluffy” and “perky”, but with so many layers added is definitely the true Nick.
Ok, back to the video. The video opens letting the viewer know that the first scene takes place “somewhere in the 2000s” and we see 5 people on a stage with a huge crowd. No doubt this is intended to represent the Backstreet Boys in the height of their fame. Cartoon Nick is then shown sitting alone in a room with his flip phone open. He receives a message, seemingly from a blonde woman, asking him to hang out, but he quickly replies that he has to let this person go because he has found someone else. The response he gets is understanding, but still propels him into a time travel, only to show up face down in front of the famous Las Vegas sign.
Rose: Within the past year. Nick has been using a lot of Easter Eggs. This isn’t normally his style. He’s not Taylor Swift (but we love him just as much or more… – Amber) . But I do like that he’s trying to convey more and more messages within everything he’s creating. With each song, he’s reminding fans to listen to the lyrics, to pay attention. On tour, there’s not a single song that’s there on that setlist by mistake. The fact this starts in the year 2000 but later transports him into modern day Las Vegas? That is intentional. That’s purposeful.
Amber: This brief opening sets up the “history” of the story. Nick had a very public and somewhat tumultuous young adulthood (AKA 90’s and early 2000’s). Fame and all that came along with it certainly took its toll on him and he rebelled in many ways. Nick has been very open about his past life and mistakes he’s made, but also purposeful about self-improvement. The intentional start of this video, showing Nick as a younger adult before propelling him into a future where he is fighting for his life appears to be symbolic of Nick trying to find a way to better himself and his life. This video speaks to that journey and how far he has come in his life; one that he seems to want to share with his fanbase as he learns more about himself and his growth and to inspire and help others to reach that same success in themselves. In the video, he is acknowledging that he had a very different life in the early 2000’s, and now he is working hard to right any wrongs in his past as well as fight for his character, the strong and resilient man he has become. He does this while modeling for others that we can all go on a parallel journey of self-improvement.
Rose: I think the two of us watched this music video half a dozen times (Try 15! – Amber) trying to look at the meanings without going too deep, without overanalyzing it. I don’t think we did that here. When Nick first lands in Las Vegas, he looks confused and tries to sort out what’s happening. He’s walking before stopping short because he almost goes over the edge. Because Las Vegas? It’s split into multiple floating islands.
Amber: It’s clear that he is shocked and surprised to be looking over a ledge. He is unsure of where to go before realizing that his heart is floating above another island. Only his heart is shattered into 4 pieces. One of the four pieces remains intact, present inside the floating frame of a heart, likely representing the stability he has in his personal life, probably from wife, Lauren, who he has long credited for being his rock. His heart is broken; he needs to mend it, but he is fortunate in that he does have somewhere he can pull strength from in his life. Cartoon Carter sets off to find the remaining pieces and put his heart back together.
Rose: I’ll never get sick of the nickname Cartoon Carter and if we ever get a plushie of him someday, not only will I buy it but that will absolutely be his name. But here’s the thing, the amount of pieces of the heart is pretty important here. We have the main piece that never got lost, but there’s three other pieces – Nick has three kids. While watching it, I literally blurted it out. “Wait, it’s his kids!” Which, bless Amber because I know I am random and loud.
Amber: Yes, Rose is random, but insightful! Nick is very vocal that his children are his life. His family as a whole are his entire being. He has said that if everything else ended, his career, his success, he would still be ok as long as he had his family. The fight to bring his heart back together becomes pretty clear once we realize this was likely a representation of his family and how he works so hard to give them everything he himself did not have growing up and in the limelight.
And also agreed-that #CartoonCarter Plushie is a necessity.
Through the rest of the video, we watch Nick endure monster after monster trying to derail his attempts at saving himself and his heart (AKA, his family); seemingly looking to destroy Nick completely. One can assume these monsters represent the adversity and obstacles that Nick has faced throughout his life and the constant fight he is willing to engage in to ensure the safety, health, and happiness of his family and loved ones. This is shown in the video through his time fighting the monsters in the streets of modern day Las Vegas while trying to gather and protect his heart.
Rose: There’s not a lot I need to add here besides the fact that there’s absolutely a significance to the battles and the monsters. Each one is chasing after his heart. All of them are trying to go after something that he sees as incredibly important and something worth protecting. He’ll do whatever it takes to find those pieces and get them back to somewhere safe. I think that’s there for his fans to watch and interpret in a very specific kind of way.
Amber: And I love that this is open to interpretation. It makes it more relatable because it allows each of the viewers to allow these monsters to be those within our own lives that we continue to fight.
Rose: Everything about this video is there to tell a very specific story. The description is probably the most important here, where it says it’s about perseverance, overcoming adversity, and resilience. Nick will tell you himself about how lost he felt and how much he struggled in the early 2000s, he wrote an entire book about it. He’s been incredibly open and even recently at a soundcheck he said he draws his strength from BSB, his children, and the fans. He wants to rise above every mistake he’s made in the past and he wants to be sure he helps others do the same.
Amber: For someone who has been a fan of Nick since the 90’s, (although admittedly, not a huge “Nick girl” until much, much later in life), it has been inspirational to see what Nick has done for himself and his family. He has truly prioritized bettering himself so that he and his family can enjoy a happy and healthy life, despite the many grueling and difficult situations he’s experienced. The video shows this clearly through the content.
Rose: I’m just glad you became a Nick girl and saw the light.
Amber: After finding the first broken piece of his heart floating above a street light, Nick climbs to the top to get it, carefully moving along the light to reach the glowing quarter. Once he reaches it, he realizes there is a neon purple, spiky-headed villain chasing after him. We see the monster chasing him through the streets of Las Vegas as he jumps from car top to car top, desperately holding on to what little he has of his heart. When he reaches the larger heart, he inserts the piece into it and magically, this sends the villain away, never to be seen again.
Rose: The amount of times I’d watch and cheer when Nick beat one of those little pokemon monsters can’t be overstated here. He fought hard! Leaping off buildings, jumping from car to car. You can’t keep a good Cartoon Carter down. You can’t keep Nick down.
Amber: Through the rest of the video, this pattern repeats itself. Nick is on guard, simultaneously searching for the missing pieces of his heart, while also trying to protect himself from the creatures that are coming for him. In total, he faces and ultimately defeats 4, with a possible transformer-like robot as a fifth. It’s hard to be sure that this is a new monster and not a continuation of a previous one that he had not yet fully defeated. His character faced so much pain, danger, and hardship, yet somehow managed to persist and push through each obstacle to eventually come up victorious. He finds that last piece of his heart, he makes his way to the collective heart to finish putting the puzzle together. Nick is modeling that perseverance and showing that despite anything that comes your way, you CAN keep fighting and you CAN find peace. That alone embodies the Nick that I have come to know and love (and where the “Nick girl” in me showed up).
There is very little doubt that this story is symbolic of all that Nick has endured through the years. He has had times of great highs, happiness, and security. He has also had times of lows with conflict with family, as well as business and personal challenges he has had to face. This is mirrored in the video, as we see Nick able to defeat one monster just as another is coming for him. For example, after defeating that first creature, he has just a few moments to relax, before he is again on the lookout, trying to find the rest of his heart when the next monster sneaks up on him and again takes him off guard. Later in the video, after defeating the large transformer, a previous monster comes barreling in and knocks him off his feet once again. Thankfully, he finds himself paragliding towards the heart. No doubt, a security net that he has found comfort in time and time again when he himself has felt down and out. As he is reaching the heart, the villains take aim once more, narrowly missing him, before he is able to complete the puzzle and secure his heart.
Rose: This reflects very vividly in his real life too. I don’t think I need to say more to that beyond the fact that with every hurdle he’s faced and is facing, he’s faced it dead on. He didn’t shy away, he’s not shying away now. He stands his ground and fights to protect what’s his, just like he is in the video. Also, on a more random note, I love that the transformer has the Nick curtain hair. It’s little touches like that where despite all the serious notes of the video, he’s clearly allowing himself and the artist behind the animation to have fun with the concept.
I have to say it, it very much appears that with these music videos Nick is absolutely checking things off of his bucket list. With Made For Us he was living in a video game, and with Never Break My Heart he’s a cartoon character with a video game-esque theme. All the metaphors and the messages aside for a moment, Nick is really and truly showing us who he is, sorry about the pun. With every single, he’s telling his story and with every video he’s doing the same. With Superman he told us that he’s going to fight and stand up for his family. Made For Us while being a dedication to the fans, it’s also a message of hope and that we’re going to get through this together. Now, with Never Break My Heart it’s his rallying cry that he’s not going to take it anymore.
Amber: And we see that in him. He has so much determination to live his authentic self and find peace and happiness in who he is and in his family and loved ones. In the end of the video, Cartoon Carter is able to find that security when he inserts the final missing piece of his heart into the frame. This is seemingly an optimistic outlook on what’s to come. One that likely represents both his hope for himself and for his family. Like we said, it is no accident that his heart had been broken into 4 pieces. And it is no accident that these monsters kept coming one after the other, but he kept shutting them down. He never stopped fighting for what he knew in his heart was best for him and his family.
Rose: This video has been racking up the views faster than the others and I think a large part of that is not because it’s appealing on so many levels. And I think that’s part of why we’re so proud of him with this. I don’t think either of us have ever seen Nick so truthful within his music as a solo artist, not in his songs and definitely not with his music videos. Music can say so much and it can be so therapeutic and that seems to be the purpose here. There’s a light at the end of the title and life is worth fighting for. You should never give up. A beautiful message for an empowering song.
In the end it shows him closing the phone, closing the door on his struggles. With one little flip of the phone he was able to shut the past behind him no matter how many times it tried to bite back. Because that’s all you can do, you battle those demons when they come, and you keep moving forward. I told this to Nick in person at 90’s Con and I meant it – there’s no better example of going through the fire and coming out on the other side of the fire than him. This video is just another example.
Amber: And it reminds us that Nick is resilient as hell! And that he is also true to himself, to the goofy, entertaining, and incredibly kind-hearted person we know. It’s because of this that his fanbase is so strong. The #NCARmy will always ride alongside him and keep fighting with him.
Ok, so listen, Rose and I could write a full dissertation on the Easter eggs and themes in this video, but we’ve probably lost you already so…with that, we close out.
Rose: Hope you enjoyed the ride!
If you haven’t seen the music video yet, what the hell are you waiting for?
Check it out and check Nick out on his #WhoIAmTour anywhere you can. We promise, you won’t regret it.
Forever Rebel 