403Plex - “Toxic Love”
In his music video for “Toxic Love,” 403Plex deals with serious themes using trippy visuals and contagious energy. The track is catchy and upbeat even as its lyrics grapple with the trials and tribulations of a toxic relationship: “I cannot deal with your toxic love. / And you should already know / You’re hurting my heart / So baby here we go again / How can I deal with the end?” Written in the second person, the lyrics hit home as 403Plex addresses the camera directly, sustaining eye contact as if engaged in a conversation. His backdrop is lit up electric purple, and he stands before walls of graffiti. Some of the camera shots depict a woman, either alone or lingering in the background of his shots. The couple appears trapped in a box together, yet the physical distance between them mirrors the emotional distance encapsulated in the song. In this way, the set of the music video perfectly aligns with its message, providing a visual representation of the push-and-pull dynamic of the relationship at the song’s core. At one point in the video, the camera cuts back and forth between the two of them in profile, while the next shot shows them circling each other like caged animals. The scene captures the drama and potential for heartbreak, as well as their mutual inability to extract themselves from each other.
Interspersed in the video are shots of car headlights zooming down highways, shining into the night. The images of moving cars invoke the idea of escape, just as 403Plex sings about his helplessness in escaping this “toxic love.” Both heartfelt and heartbreaking, this track and its accompanying video perfectly depict a relationship that’s at once passionate and inescapable.