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Elliana Halim

William Snell

ENG 1202

27 September 2020

A Comparison Between Music Videos for “Sweet Tooth” by Cavetown

A sweet tooth is a craving or fondness for sweet food, according to the Webster-Merriam

dictionary. This translates well into Cavetown’s song of the same name, which is about his love

for his partner and his thoughts during their relationship. In February of 2020, Cavetown came

out with his first video for this song and the second came out in the very next month. Despite the

differences in characters and story-telling methods used between the two videos, both versions of

Cavetown’s “Sweet Tooth” show how his relationship affected him, positively and negatively.

To begin with, the older video features several bouquets of flowers being gradually

covered in sweet ice cream toppings; this is representative of the singer’s overwhelming love for

his partner completely covering him. The flowers represent the singer while the sweet things

represent both his partner and his feelings for him. There is nothing else in the video besides

these two things, which mirrors how the lyrics only talk about the singer and his partner, leaving

a sense of separation between them and the rest of the world. Additionally, in the line “caught

myself blaming planets like you do, I know every line and curve of your tattoos,” the singer

shows how he is influenced by the things that his partner does and knows every little detail and

intricacy of his character. This is another way in which he is covered in his partner, just like the

flowers: a lot of space in his head is filled with his partner’s influence and knowledge about him.
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It is also interesting to think about how the flowers are in a vase rather than the ground. Once a

flower is picked it cannot grow anymore and just stays stagnant until it dies. The flowers in the

video do not grow and instead change on the surface via the toppings. This could be a moot

point, but it is something to think about.

As for the second video, it uses a more traditional narrative style, which follows a main

character as they try to reach their goal. In this video, the main character is the singer dressed as

the tooth fairy as he goes into a family’s house and attempts to collect their child’s tooth without

getting caught. This video utilizes the aesthetic of a video game with bright colors and a child’s

character, the tooth fairy, to make the video feel even more imaginative and childish, which

parallels the line “feel like a kid I double tap my chest with my fist, I like you, say it back.” This

highlights how love can make a person childish. Throughout the video the singer dances around

as he sings, has exaggerated facial expressions, and his surroundings are covered in toys; this

also adds to the child-like tone. The usage of sweet imagery in the lyrics, as well as the title

itself, can also be connected back to this, as sweets and having a sweet tooth is often associated

with childhood.

Unfortunately, the endings do not leave much hope for the relationship the reader is told

to roos for. Throughout the first video, the flowers fall lower and lower as they get more and

more covered, and then at the very end, the video is put in reverse until the flowers are back to

what they were at the beginning of the video. Similarly, in the second video, at the very end, the

main character fails at his goal and ends up dead. The lyrics also have a rather dubious and

open-ended conclusion. In the last two musical phrases, Cavetown begins to talk about how his

“dreaming space is filled with scribbles, tore the page,” and how “beneath the skin is cardiac.”

These lyrics are about internal issues both mental, emotional, and also probably physical. He
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asks his partner to “repair the stitches in my veins” and be his “safety pin.” The listener never

finds out if he gets a response though, because after that is one more echoing refrain of “I like

you, say it back,” before the music fades away.

Both videos have the same purpose, which is to portray the singer's relationship from his

perspective and to show portions of what being in a relationship is like, to be relatable to the

listener. The flower video might not seem to fit that on the surface, but the concept of being

completely covered and overwhelmed by your partner in a relationship, in a positive or negative

way, is one that is familiar to almost anyone that has been in a relationship before. As for the

tooth fairy video, again, this purpose isn’t extremely obvious, but sneaking around a family,

either yours or your partner’s, to get to your partner is another thing that is often seen in a young

relationship. The lyrics by themselves, unlike the videos, are quite clearly painting a picture of a

relatable, young relationship: the child-likeness of love, begging for your feelings to be returned,

and the what it’s like being completely overwhelmed by the feeling of being in a happy

relationship for the first time. All of this culminates in an understandable representation of what

it is like to be in a relationship, especially for a young adult audience. They all also use the

emotional appeal of pathos to get their point across; rather than use facts to explain feelings, they

make you feel the emotions needed to understand what they are trying to say.

Thus while the two videos may have completely different story lines and concepts, they

both show the same base story of a young relationship and what it is like to be in one like it. Both

videos are visually interesting as well, which is definitely not a downside.

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Works Cited

“Sweet Tooth.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster,

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sweet tooth. 26 Sept. 2020

Cavetown. “Cavetown - Sweet Tooth.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 14 Feb

2020. Web. 26 Sept. 2020.

Cavetown. “Cavetown - Sweet Tooth [Official Music Video].” Online video clip.

YouTube. YouTube, 11 Mar. 2020. Web. 26 Sept. 2020.