Kadie Elder - First Time He Kissed a Boy (2014)
Review:
First Time He Kissed A Boy by Danish band Kadie Elder is an absolutely brilliant electro-pop song, with a stunning music video to go with it.
Starting with the music video, the muted pastel colours are so aesthetically pleasing, and the video is beautifully shot. It’s very clean and sharp with a simple, effective style. It’s refreshing to see a music video representing gay youth and sexuality.
The video consists of a boy listening to music on a park bench at the side-lines of some tennis courts, while three tennis players – two boys and a girl – play. The tennis players notice the boy on the bench and go over to bother and mock him.
The boy on the bench runs away and hides behind a nearby shed, and then takes a picture of his love interest (one of the boy tennis players) from his wallet and burns it. The tennis boy from the picture then finds him and seems apologetic in his body language. The two touch legs and then kiss until they are caught by the other tennis boy and the tennis girl. The kissing boys initially seem frightened at being exposed but in a moment of solidarity with each other, kiss again, despite the others being there. It’s a lovely ending about overcoming fear and being together, no matter what other people think.
The song itself is very catchy and quite ethereal, with a tune that will stay in your head. It’s about having that first kiss, having previously only known repression and hiding of your identity. Your whole world widens in this moment and just like the music, everything becomes much more positive. It can be lonely being a gay youth but having that first connection with someone can be so empowering.
Favourite Lyrics:
First time he kissed a boy
He had never never loved
walks on a curvy road
Feel so cold
Keeping back
the ghost inside
Locked him in a pack
all his life
all his life
Tone: Upbeat
Score: 9/10
Other observations:
The tennis boy love interest, Lasse Steen Jensen, is in short films We Are Okay Now | Vi er okay nu (2017) and Cognitio (2018).