Katie Holp

Professor Johnson

English 1201

16 February 2020

Nothing is Ever Impossible.

“Tell them what I hoped would be Impossible,” sung by two different artists with

situations on completely different ends of the spectrum. Shontelle, the original artist portrays an

emotion of heartbreak after difficulties with her boyfriend that made her pack her stuff and leave.

While James Arthur displays an emotion of perseverance after being pronounced the winner of X

Factor in 2012. James never gave up anywhere in the process of following his dreams and it all

paid off in the end.

Originally written in 2010, Shontelle uses a breakup with a boyfriend as her main

inspiration for the song. The video begins by showing Shontelle walking into what looks like a

hotel room. Then the video begins to go through what appear to be flashbacks, which show

important time periods between her and her boyfriend from the past and are very important to

show the emotions and feelings the video is trying to portray to the viewer. If these scenes were

not included in the video, the viewer would not understand or be able to see the emotional

journey being portrayed by the video. The audience would just see her singing in a hotel room.

Through the flashbacks, we learn how Shontelle and her boyfriend's relationship began, when

they were writing and listening to music together being so happy, and how and why their

relationship ended by scenes of them fighting.

This video gives a great representation of what many first think of just listening to, love.

For example, the second line of the song where it says, “I remember years ago, someone told me
I should take caution when it comes to love.” The video through the storyline is trying to

convince the viewer that love is going to be hard and sometimes it won’t work out because full

effort isn’t given from each person. And even though love may be lost, it will be okay because

the things you thought getting through were going to be impossible, you still did. Throughout

her video, Shontelle shows the pain she went through at the end of the relationship. She uses this

pain as a realization that the relationship is not good for her and is only bringing her down, so

she in the end, she fixes it and leaves him to focus and better herself.

Throughout the video many emotions are displayed making the main appeal pathos. The

first emotion being happiness when the relationship between Sontelle and her boyfriend begins,

then it turns to anger when the two begin to fight, and finally it turns to sadness when the

relationship is finally over. In the video, the main source you will find the display of these

emotions are in the flashbacks and Shontelle shows her sadness while in the hotel room, linking

to the beginning of the video.

I believe anyone could relate to this video not only those going through difficulties in a

relationship. But for those specifically in a relationship, this video could be used as a warning to

tell everyone of any age that relationships are going to be hard, but just know that you will get

through them and even learn something from them. This song could be used as an inspiration

that love doesn’t always work out, and sometimes it seems impossible, but sometimes the best

thing to do is forget about it, learn what you can from the relationship and move on.

James Arthur’s cover of the song, Impossible displays a completely different emotion,

perseverance. James’ video begins with him performing the beginning of the song in front of a

large audience after being pronounced the winner of the X Factor in 2012. As the video

continues, he also shows flashbacks, but his are all positive scenes showing his journey as a
famous singer/songwriter. For example, there are small clips showing him meeting fans or

talking to the main judge who helped him through this long journey, Nicole Scherzinger. These

flashbacks provide a very important factor to his story behind the video because they show his

musical journey from the beginning to the end.

This video provides a different situation to think of when listening to the song. Instead of

it being about the difficulties of relationships, it shows you must push through the obstacles and

hard times to reach your dreams. The things James thought would be impossible, he finally

conquered. Throughout the video, he showed the greatest times of his career but also the hardest

adding another element to the video.

There are also many emotions shown throughout this video a majority being happiness

because of the obstacles he conquered, making the main appeal pathos. In the beginning, James

was so young and nervous to first audition, but that soon is taken over by excitement when he

has fans begin to recognize him as an artist and when he gets to perform in front of huge

audiences. And finally, there are also times of sadness and seriousness when he is talking with

Nicole about the difficulties and problems along the journey.

For James Arthur’s video, the audience could also be anyone because from this

perspective this song turns into inspiration to get through the obstacles to reach your goals. But

more specifically, I think this song could connect to people who are going through hard times

and just want to give up. His video is an example of perseverance, as it describes James’ story of

following his musical dreams.

Whichever video the viewer sees of Impossible, both show the audience that no matter

what, they can get through whatever comes their way, either by making a different choice or
working hard to chase their dreams. Both artists want the viewers to see that no matter what they

face, they can accomplish the impossible

 Works Cited:

James Arthur. “Impossible.” Youtube.com, December 14, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Mhj15W23IjA

Shontelle. “Impossible.” Youtube.com, 1 Apr. 2010,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWdrO4BoCu8.