Does anyone else feel that Hanson often times have difficulty finding their niche in the grand scheme of things? Like they’re constantly searching for a place where they belong, where they are accepted for themselves? I think the key is in the "Weird" video. Believe it or shoot this down, it is only an opinion and you don’t have to agree. Here’s what the "Weird" video means to us…

"Isn’t it weird…isn’t it strange? Even though we’re just two strangers on this runaway train. We’re both trying to find, a place in the sun. We’ve lived in the shadows, but doesn’t everyone?"

The opening shot of the subway symbolizes the idea of moving and lack of permanence. Isaac, Taylor, and Zac are on a journey to find where they fit in the most, which is why they travel to numerous different locations and try on different personas, all located within the subway cars and station.

The businessmen all reading the same newspaper with Hanson on the back cover portrays the idea that most people know about Hanson, since they are plastered everywhere within their visual sphere, yet they don’t care. Hanson the band exists, but since they don’t fit into the norm with the businessmen, they are not acknowledged.

"So you don’t stand out…"

The "bum" look that Hanson is trying out for the subway station scene is one of the first personas that they try out. They are trying to be noticed by the society of "station life" that consists of mostly normal people, but the people in there hardly even notice that they exist. They dress in that attire in order to look different, much like bums begging for money on the street, who fit the stereotypical mold in order to make people feel sorry for them. However, the people in the station are too busy going along with their lives to realize that Hanson are trying to generate attention and looking for a place to belong. There is also a notable space around Hanson, showcasing the fact that no one wants to get closer to them and find out more about why they are doing what they’re doing. It proves that no matter what you do to try to change, you will always be the same person…and in this case, you’ll always be different and people may not understand you.

"But you don’t fit in…"

Hanson wanders throughout separate train cars, searching for a place where they’ll fit in. However, each place they try only ends in Isaac, Taylor, and Zac being more and more ostracized.

They stumble into the punk car where they are obviously not welcome. Each member of Hanson has to dodge a punk person just to get through the car and it shows that the "alternative people" in this area don’t accept them due to their outer appearances being different. The irony is that these people are trying in vain to be different, but when they encounter others who are different from them, they commit the same type of behavior.

When Hanson are in the punk car, they gaze into the mirror and turn into their punk counterparts. This is a gesture stating that Hanson are trying to be something they’re most definitely not. I believe it also may be that Hanson are on the verge of succumbing to pressure to become something to fit into the "norm." When they realize that they look silly trying to adopt a personality that it so obviously not theirs, they have to laugh at themselves.

Hanson then step into a room full of twins where they once again don’t fit in but can’t seem to find the attention to stand out in a good way. All the twins stare at them, judging them because they don’t have a twin. There is more irony because there are Hanson posters all over the walls, yet no one recognizes them. Hanson are trying to be themselves, yet no one recognizes them because they are not the personas reflected in the posters.

The scene in the subway car with the businessmen reading the newspapers reflects the same theory that there are visuals of Hanson the "famous band" all over, yet when Hanson the "real people" are around, no one recognizes the inner personalities. Taylor even takes the newspaper out of the hands of one of the men, yet he doesn’t so much flinch or stop reading. Unless they continue their media appearance, Hanson are free to roam unnoticed among the masses.

"You’re jumping out, but you’re dry…"

Swimming in the water in the subway car is a direct reference to conformity. Water takes the shape of any container it is put into; it is extremely moldable. The water accepts you completely, yet it is only wetting your outside. When they jump out and are dry, it is explaining that absolute conformity hasn’t affected them in any way because it never got time to seep through and look at the inner person. This is the weeding out process on Hanson’s journey to find themselves. You have to swim through the crowd, but everyone is sticking to them and fully accepting what’s on the surface. This is obviously not the place where they belong either.

"When you live in a cookie-cutter world…"

Cookie-cutters cut shapes into dough and give them edges. They allow a stop in the flow of the dough and create a form out of what was once just an endless mass of batter. This is the same effect of the subway. The shape of a subway is linear. It runs straight, then it stops, just as you move toward a destination, moving in a line, then you stop to get off. Hanson travel the length of the subway car, looking for their haven, only to discover the car full of water and then the car ends. This is in contrast to the round white room. It has a continuous flow, one that never ends and has no edges. This is why this room is Hanson’s haven. It is the location where they are free to be themselves and don’t have to please anyone. Their clothes are typical of their normal attire, their instruments are the proper ones, and all the rules of the world are defied. The room spins…gravity is defied when Taylor jumps out of a sideways chair. Rules and norms do not apply because there is no one to say that they have to. Hanson control the room, therefore, they are not limited to social standards.

All in all, this is our favorite Hanson video. It conveys the most emotion and symbolism of any of their videos, and it’s more serious than most of the others. This analysis may seem too far-fetched, but this is what we believe this video contains…and what it has meant to us.