"Animals" by Maroon 5

            “Animals” by Maroon 5 appeared on my online radio and I realized it was suitable for the class agenda. In the music video, a woman enters a slaughterhouse, where a butcher becomes infatuated with the female customer. He begins to stalk and take photographs of her in the streets and in her home, even going as far to watch her in pouring rain. In another scene, he follows her into a nightclub, where he tries to initiate a conversation with her. She rejects his invitation, because she wants to spend time with her friends. He then fantasizes having sex with her and sings along to the song for the rest of the video covered in blood or socking dead meat in a meat locker.

            The lyrics of the song are quite striking through its use of animal imagery and metaphors. In its chorus, Adam Levine sings, “Baby I’m preying on you tonight / Hunt you down, eat you alive / Just like animals, animals, like animals-mals.” Levine employs the imagery of animals hunting their prey and uses it to allude to his “animalistic” sexual appetite for this woman. He continues: “Maybe you think you can hide / I can smell your scent for miles / Just like animals, animals, like animal-mals.” He uses animals’ abilities to smell in far-reaching places to refer to the fact that his desire for his lover is untamable and she can’t escape him. In Verse 2, he even states, “But don’t deny the animal / That comes alive when I’m inside you.” The speaker becomes a “wild animal” when he has sexual intercourse with this woman.

            In sum, the lyrics of the song, as well as the music video, portray the animal as fierce and untamed. It specifically represents the animal as wild, much like a wolf. Moreover, the man is compared to a wild animal, whereas a woman is considered a lesser being/prey.
            Any other thoughts on this video/song?