"No Air" is the second single from American Pop/R&B artist, Jordin Sparks, off of her eponymous debut album. It is a duet with R&B artist Chris Brown. The song was officially released in the U.S. on F
"No Air" is the second single from American Pop/R&B artist, Jordin Sparks, off of her eponymous debut album. It is a duet with R&B artist Chris Brown. The song was officially released in the U.S. on February 11, 2008, although it had already been receiving significant airplay and digital sales long before its release. The song was produced by duo The Underdogs.
The music video for "No Air" was filmed Wednesday January 23, 2008 in New York City, with photos from the shoot leaking to the internet the next day. A leak of the video was uploaded to YouTube on February 20, 2008, nearly a week before the video was officially released to Yahoo! Music on February 25, 2008.
The video begins with Sparks playing the piano in her home. Suddenly, she stops playing and makes a call on her cell phone, which directs her to an answering machine. The camera cuts to the phone she is presumably calling, which has been left on a counter in a steamy room. Jordin leaves a message, asking someone (Chris Brown) to call her when he can. Her silhouetted profile is then seen on the left in a different scene, against a blank gray background, as the song begins. Sparks is then shown going to her window and looking out, drawing a heart in the fog on the cold glass as she sings the song. Brown is next shown, wiping off a foggy mirror in his bathroom as he begins singing his first verse. Brown's profile is also seen entering on the right in the the gray background scene, and the two's silhouetted profiles face each other. The video cuts to Brown, who is shown putting on his jacket and leaving his home as he walks through New York City. Sparks is next seen at nighttime by the water with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. She gets into her car and begins driving through the city. Meanwhile, we see Brown still in the daytime, arriving at Sparks' home. In a climactic sequence Brown confronts Sparks by her piano and the two passionately sing the final chorus to each other. Brown then leaves, and the video ends with their two silhouettes against the gray background, pulling away from each other. Whether or not they were ever really in the same place at the same time, or were simply imagining the other's presence, is left to the discretion of the viewer.
There are individual face shots of Brown and Sparks intercut throughout the video as well. We also see shots of Brown singing alone in a studio room with drums, guitars, and a piano, which he plays at the end, mirroring Sparks' first appearance onscreen. One notable motif throughout the video is the wind that often blows against Brown and Sparks when they are shown outside or in the silhouetted scenes, driving home the message of the chorus: despite the presence of "air" all around, neither finds it possible to "breathe" without the other.