![Darren Waller]()
With a decision still to come on his football future, New York Giants tight end
Darren Waller is already branching out as a musician. Nagging injuries may cut his career on the gridiron short, but Waller seems determined to use songs as an outlet to keep his story going outside the lines.
Waller and Las Vegas Aces WNBA star Kelsey Plum
recently filed for divorce, and his latest song/music video, "Who Knew (Her Perspective)" deals with the fallout from their brief, one-year marriage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GytDjB8u6bM
Muddying the intent of the song is the parenthetical "Her Perspective" in the song title. Does that mean Waller's lyrics come from Plum's point of view? The content of the lyrics doesn't suggest as much, and makes Waller's delivery a little confusing. Plus, there's an actress in this video who's essentially doubling for Plum.
That has to be a weird acting gig. Imagine the job posting (not how things work, but still): "Hey, I just divorced my famous wife, wanna play somebody who looks like her in a music video?" IDK. I guess Dylan O'Brien didn't care when he was unambiguously portraying Jake Gyllenhaal in Taylor Swift's "All Too Well" short film.
It's the arts. It's for the work. But yeah, I'm not trying to be, like, condescending toward the music Waller released. Good for him for putting himself out there. Dude has poured his heart out about how addiction-addled he was and how it almost derailed his football career. No one is forcing him to produce music videos with stellar production value, or to reveal more about his personal life, yet here he is, doing just that.
OK now with all that said, if it's from "her perspective", then what's the deal with Waller getting stabbed in the back at the end of the video? That doesn't really jibe with the statement Plum released about her marriage ending.
https://twitter.com/Kelseyplum10/status/1782808658847600977
Maybe the whole point of this song is to create a sense of disorientation and confusion. Those aren't uncommon feelings to have post-heartbreak. Whatever the case, it seems like Waller and Plum both feel like they took some damage and made sacrifices that weren't appreciated by the other person. Plum has said she'll share her side of things, and I'm sure this won't be the last song Waller records to address the divorce.
Other than the lack of clarity about perspective, the song is pretty straightforward. Waller is trying to piece together what went wrong, why the relationship had to end so abruptly, and is dealing with the harsh reality of a breakup he never could've fathomed would happen, especially so soon.
