| "The Kill" | ||||||||||||||
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| Single by 30 Seconds to Mars | ||||||||||||||
| from the album A Beautiful Lie | ||||||||||||||
| Released | January 24, 2006 | |||||||||||||
| Format | Compact Disc | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | 2004 | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Post-hardcore, alternative rock | |||||||||||||
| Length | 3:51 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Immortal, Virgin | |||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Jared Leto | |||||||||||||
| Producer | Josh Abraham, 30 Seconds to Mars | |||||||||||||
| 30 Seconds to Mars singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"The Kill" (written along with the subtitle "Bury Me" in parenthesis on its single release, and with "Rebirth" on the remix's single released in the UK) is a song by 30 Seconds to Mars, the song was released as the second single from their second album, A Beautiful Lie. On May 2, 2010, the song was performed featuring Chino Moreno from Deftones.
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Jared Leto described the meaning of the song as, "It's really about a relationship with yourself. It's about confronting your fear and confronting the truth about who you are." He has also said it is about "confrontation as a crossroads" — coming face-to-face with who you really are.[1] In September 2007, "The Kill" was re-released again in the UK. It is currently available as a Compact Disc with a A Beautiful Lie poster and two stickers, and a special limited edition 7" vinyl version. The song is played in 6/8 time.
The video is an homage to the Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining based on the Stephen King novel. Several scenes are based on the film, such as when Shannon Leto enters Room 6277 and encounters the woman in the bathroom. Another when Matt Wachter is served drinks at the bar by doppelgänger apparition. Also both films culminate in an elegant ballroom.
As for the cinematography, Jared Leto has perhaps adopted the split screen visual from working with Darren Aronofsky in Requiem for a Dream.
The haunted room number is changed from 237 to 6277 in the video because it spells out "Mars" on a telephone keypad. The number also makes an appearance in the video for "From Yesterday".
The music video was selected as the second best video of 2006, falling short only to "Savin' Me" by Nickelback. And it was voted the 2nd greatest of the 21st century on Scuzz TV.It was also selected as the greatest rock video ever in the Kerrang Rock 100 on 27th June 2009.[2]
At 2:07, the papers that Jared Leto has been typing are briefly made visible and the words on them appear to read, over and over, "This is who I really am." This is another allusion to The Shining, in which Jack Torrance types up pages and pages of the same line, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", over and over in the same sense.
Also, it is shown at 2:58, a negative of what appears to be a woman's corpse standing in a hall way, displayed on the screen very briefly. This image also reappears by flashing rapidly from 3:19 to 3:59. However, on YouTube, the official version of the video doesn't show the corpse as a negative, but rather in its raw form, with blood. This may be to emphasize the song title because she looks as though she was only killed recently.
When the press release info for "The Kill" video was released, Jared stated that the video was directed by an albino Danish man named Bartholomew Cubbins. This was intended as a joke as Cubbins is the main character of the Dr. Seuss book The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, however airings of the video on music channels still list Cubbins as the director. The hotel scenes in the video were filmed at The Carlu in Toronto, Ontario.[3]
The music video features the band exploring a hotel which they are care-taking. At the start, Jared Leto states that they have the hotel all to themselves for three days; although, later on, after the first chorus, it comes on the screen saying "One Week Later", before showing the pages saying "This is who I really am". In the extended version of the video the other band members complain that they have been at the hotel longer than expected and have canceled shows because of Jared's peculiar behavior, explaining the discrepancy.
A letter from the hotel owner tells the band to "Enjoy your stay and please stay out of Room 6277.", the band does not heed the warning and opens Room 6277. Following the opening of the door, each band member begins to experience the effects of the room. Each member experiences the effects differently, but one thing remains constant for each individual — they encounter a version of themselves dressed in a 20's style tuxedo with tails. Several other apparitions then take up residence in the hotel, dispelling the promise Jared made in the beginning of the video that the band will have the hotel all to themselves and that "there's not gonna be a single fucking soul". The video reaches its climax when Tomo is seen in bed with a bear, and immediately the band dressed in tuxedos are shown performing the song in the hotel's ballroom in front of a crowd of twins dressed like the roaring 1920's dancing with themselves. The theme of duplicity resonates throughout the video.
| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 20 |
| European Hot 100 Singles | 10 |
| UK Singles Chart | 64 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 65 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 14 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 3 |
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
| Finnish Download Chart[7] | 2 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 22 |
| UK Singles Chart (re-release) | 28 |
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AOL Radio | United States | "Top Alternative Songs of the Decade - 2000s"[8] | 2009 | 1 |
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