Young Marco’s video for “Gone Long Gone” hauntingly unpacks the story of a guy trying to convince the young woman he loves to escape her family’s violence. The surprise ending will throw a grenade at your heart. The video for “Gone Long Gone,” gorgeously directed by Tangie B. Moore, is impactful for the same reason that Eve’s “Love Is Blind” endures as a strong anti-intimate violence anthem. The song’s narrator is being lovingly blunt about the manipulations of the abuser, a person likely in need of long-term clinical help, while warning her that leaving the abuse is, without question, a matter of personal survival.

The 18-year-old Atlanta-born singer, a recently crowned BET Music Matters artist, was inspired to write the song (along with established songwriter Eric “Cire” Crawford) from his own experience with a family member’s ordeal.

“I reminisced on witnessing a not-so-stable relationship within my family and wrote about their love,” Marco says. “I saw the male take advantage of her love over and over, to the point that she eventually started abusing herself, physically and mentally. It was not good. Eventually she got out [of the relationship], and the known saying came to mind: You won’t miss anything good until it’s gone.”

The hook’s double meaning lays out the two choices at hand: “gone” can either mean exiting the relationship on one’s own terms, or facing a totally unstable, possibly far worse outcome.

“Gone Long Gone” hits a powerful cautionary note for survivors who might be feeling too emotionally paralyzed to escape intimate relationship violence. The visual drives home a simple point: “putting your hands” on someone you love, out of uncontrolled anger or triggered by substance abuse, or a combination of the two, is the dead opposite of love. It’s a violation of personal safety that often leaves scars on a person’s well being long after the body’s bruises have healed.

For anyone who might be in the process of learning about the complexities of intimate violence, summoning forth courage and carefully planning an exit strategy to safely move on, Young Marco’s song is a very concerned friend that’s got your back.—Sun Singleton

Follow Young Marco’s movements on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and at his fan website.     

Sun Singleton is a Northern Virginia-born singer/journalist based in New York City. Follow her on Twitter @sunsing.

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