“Already Home” by A Great Big World

A Great Big World is the duo of Ian Axel and Chad King, who began writing together while attending NYU’s Steinhardt Music Program, and have since become a force in the American Indie music scene. The duo is best known for their singles “This Is the New Year”, which was performed by the cast of the hit TV show Glee, and their international hit “Say Something”. The song “Already Home” is a lesser known track off the same album as “Say Something”. It was released on April 21, 2014 as the third track on A Great Big World’s debut album, Is There Anybody Out There?

The song starts off with some light piano playing from Ian Axel that is very reminiscent of the band’s hit “Say Something”. However this song differs in that it has a full backing band and vocals from Chad King as well as Axel. The dynamic between their two voices helps the song refrain from feeling monotonous. The change between them on the verses and chorus add a lot to what otherwise may be a boring song. The addition of drums and guitar also help separate the song from “Say Something”. The lyrics recount the story of two people in love and how they are separated by geography, living across the country from each other. The song goes on to say how that even though they’re so far apart, they are extremely close because they have a special kind of love only they know. It’s a sentiment shared by anyone going through a long distance relationship as you share a special bond with that person that the vast majority of us couldn’t imagine.

The music video takes this concept and illustrates it perfectly by having a couple (played by Darren Criss and Jessica Szohr) act out the video on the opposite ends of the country: Los Angeles and New York City. The screen is divided by a white line that separates the two locals, and they have the same date on each side of the divide. It perfectly illustrates how the couple is together but still so far apart. These shots of the couple are intercut with shots of A Great Big World performing the song in what appears to be an abandoned warehouse. It in these scenes that we see that Chad King is wearing a pair of black chucks. This music video perfectly conveys the emotions laid out by the song, and follows the vision of the songwriters like all great music videos do.