As described on the course calendar:
Craft a 175-200 word entry on 21st-century listening example (2000-present) and submit it as a “comment” on this post.
Please include a link to the music file (perhaps via YouTube or Spotify). [NOTE: If your music is an mp3, you may feel free to send it to me — this is an exception to the no-email policy for assignments!]
”Formation” is the first single from Beyoncé’s latest album ”Lemonade” (2016), which was ”a pop culture phenomenon”, the world’s best selling album in 2016 and a very personal look into who Beyoncé is. Besides being personal in terms of love and relationships (with her husbands infidility and her rocky relationship with her father) she’s also singing about identity and politics from a very personal place – and that’s what ”Formation” is about. Lyrics like ”My daddy Alabama, momma Lousiana” and ”I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils” highlight her background and her identity as a person of color. With ”Lemonade” being a visual album, the music video is an important part of the song and makes references to police brutality and Hurricane Katrina, for example. Beyoncé’s lyrics often celebrate female empowerment too; ”okay ladies, now let’s get in formation”, she commands with a trap beat on the background. The song is not just about being black or a woman, her identity is an intersection of both. Black women are still an overlooked group while white women and black men are often the faces of feminism and racism, but Beyoncé brings everyone’s attention and conversation around these issues – ”Formation” ended up being the most Google-searched song of 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDZJPJV__bQ
The song I chose to first examine from the 21st century is off of Paramore’s latest album “After Laughter”, which was released May 12, 2017. This album is actually named after the moment that someone’s smile leaves their face. Hayley Williams, the frontwoman of the band, remarks that this particular moment intrigues her. It’s the moment where a smile is lost and fades into a solemn expression — into nothingness. “Pools” is the song I decided to examine in more detail. The song begins with a cacophony of what-sounds-like bells. The instrumentation takes full-swing when the guitar is introduced, which sets up a perfect accompaniment for Hayley Williams’ harsh first two lines:
“As if the first cut wasn’t deep enough
I dove in again ’cause I’m not into giving up”
The song, in general, may be interpreted as an exposure of a toxic and painful relationship. Although Paramore never verbalized the true meaning behind the song, it’s clear that there are some painful inter-personal feelings being told to listeners.
“You are the wave I could never tame
If I survive I’ll dive back in”
This line is repeated in the chorus of the piece and it indicates that the relationship struggle that Hayley is crooning about is something that draws her in. However, she is fully aware of the fact that this relationship is damaging and she is being crippled by being a part of it. The entire album speaks to the ugly truths and patterns seen in unhealthy relationships and I believe that this particular song captures the clear insanity of remaining part of a toxic relationship quite well.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQeGbO5-nmM&list=PLUVm9z4bEpjjbkURPrZ13pk2lNv_csIWD
The song I chose is “Same Love” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Ft. Mary Lambert. This song came out in 2013, which at first may have caused some controversy due to it addressing the global issues of discrimination against gays, homophobia, and inequality. As the song became more and more popular, many people began standing behind the song, and using it as a way to show that they were not afraid to stand up for what they believe in. The lyrics of this song came about when Macklemore decided that he wanted to stop his fellow musicians from using words such as “faggot” or slang such as “that’s gay” just a lyric in there song. “It’s human rights for everybody, there is no difference! Live on and be yourself!” this line stands out to me the most because, I believe that love is love and you shouldn’t “love” someone because of their skin color, or race etc. All in all this song is saying that you shouldn’t let stereotypes decide who you are or who you love & that society needs to stop using the term “gay” so absent mindedly.
The song I chose was Waiting on The World to Change by John Mayer. This song was released in 2006 and was featured on Mayer’s third studio album, Continuum. In this song, Mayer speaks out against the government. He sings “Now we see everything that’s going wrong with the world and those who lead it.” These lines specifically calling out political leaders which is something relevant today especially with our current president. He even discusses government’s influence on the media with the lyrics “Because when they own the information, oh they can bend it all they want”. Another pattern we see our media today. Even Mayer offers a reason for this continued pattern of corruption and that’s because we sit back and wait on the world to change. He calls out his own generation for their lack of advocacy. However, acknowledges the stigma behind millennials trying to change the world. He sings “they say we stand for nothing and there’s no way we ever could.” These lyrics relate to millennials as they are made to feel naïve and powerless. However, if we sit back and wait on change it will never come.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBIxScJ5rlY
I chose the song Alright by Kendrick Lamar which was released in 2015 and featured on Lamar’s third album, To Pimp a Butterfly. I chose this song because it has a lot of relevance to ongoing issues in society today. During the time it was released, the Black Lives Matter movement was becoming more outspoken due to the increase in police brutality mainly targeting young African American males. This is referenced in the song with the lyrics ” and we hate po-po, wanna kill us in the street fo sho”. Many lives were lost due to senseless shootings of fathers, brothers, sons, and friends by police officers. The song begins with the lyrics “alls my life I has to fight” which is a quote from the Color Purple referring to the continuing fight for civil rights. The song serves as a powerful message of hope reminding people to continue to overcome and the anthem at any protest. At the end of the day Lamar reminds us that “we gon be alright” no matter what because times have been darker than this. I feel like this message is something important to convey today and even for years to come to speak out against police brutality and ongoing racial tensions especially with the current political climate.
The song i chose is called “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar. Reflecting on the recent and past events involving police brutality in the united states, Kendrick Lamars’s song has become an anthem to the black power movement and other oppressed communities, relaying the message that we as a people are going to get through these traumatic and injustice times. Kendrick raps “And we hate po po, wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho.” These lyrics are are symbolic to the tragic police attacks seen by Kendrick in his home town of Compton California. They are hold a symbolic meaning as it relates to the continuous law enforcement shootings of young African american men and women such as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Sandra Bland. These lyrics can also be applied to the tragedies of the Civil Rights’ Movement in which people who stood up for their right were often times punished severely by law enforcement because of their skin color and what they fought for. Kendrick’s song relays hope in spite of what is going on in the world around us. He is saying although there is injustice and although we often times want to give up on life because of what is happening, we as a people, are going to be alright.
Link: FAQI7CHJU9k
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAQI7CHJU9k
The song i chose is called 2015’s “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar. Reflecting on the recent and past events involving police brutality in the united states, Kendrick Lamars’s song has become an anthem to the black power movement and other oppressed communities, relaying the message that we as a people are going to get through these traumatic and injustice times. Kendrick raps “And we hate po po, wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho.” These lyrics are are symbolic to the tragic police attacks seen by Kendrick in his home town of Compton California. They are hold a symbolic meaning as it relates to the continuous law enforcement shootings of young African american men and women such as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Sandra Bland. These lyrics can also be applied to the tragedies of the Civil Rights’ Movement in which people who stood up for their right were often times punished severely by law enforcement because of their skin color and what they fought for. Kendrick’s song relays hope in spite of what is going on in the world around us. He is saying although there is injustice and although we often times want to give up on life because of what is happening, we as a people, are going to be alright.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAQI7CHJU9k
The song I chose is “Where is the Love?” by The Black Eyed Peas released in 2004. I chose it because I think that it speaks to a lot of the racial, religious and political tension that has been building up for the last decade and even beyond that. I think the whole song is very important but it would take to long for me to analyze each word. Specifically, there’s a part that goes, “Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism, But we still got terrorists here livin’, In the USA, the big CIA, The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK.” This was one of the parts that I found interesting because it shows that not much has changed from 2004 to now or even from the civil rights movement. If you listen closely to the lyrics and think about what they mean, you start to realize that some problems that we thought were solved were only swept under the rug or started to manifest in completely different ways. The message of the song was and is still relevant and will most likely continue to be relevant for a long time.
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc
Lorde’s sophomore album, Melodrama, is rich in unique subject matter that is addressed in a nuanced and artful way, much like her hit debut album, Pure Heroine. While there are a variety of factors that distinguish Melodrama from its predecessor, the most obvious of these is the central focus on the singer’s personal life and relationships. The album is commonly cited as being a loose concept album, anchored by a specific house party and the events triggered by said house party. Hard Feelings/Loveless plays a critical role in the narrative of the album, as it expresses not only the end of Lorde’s relationship (arguably the major turning point of the story), but also the plight of belonging to the “loveless” generation. The Hard Feelings portion of the track is representative of the heartbreak and bitterness that comes from the end of many romantic relationships. Loveless, however, paints a very different picture, as it is representative of the kind of performative coldness and emotionlessness that Lorde’s generation, the millennial generation, is often prone to adopting as a method of self-defense. In other words, Hard Feelings says “I’m sad and distraught about my break up”, meanwhile Loveless says “Get yourself together, you don’t care and you never did, because caring is a sign of weakness.” This is just one of many delightfully specific ideas on the album that makes it so addictive, a trait executed masterfully by Lorde in all of her work.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRNSan20Wpw
For my song, I opted for a newly released hit called “New Rules” by Dua Lipa. It came out with her self-titled album in 2017 and I believe that it’s a song we all can relate to. The lyrics convey conflicting emotions and a feeling that I personally know all too well, which is one reason why I like the song as much as I do. Dua sings “Three: don’t be his friend, you know you’re gonna wake up in his bed in the morning”, referring to her new rules about how to get over a bad relationship. “New Rules” is a song that everyone can relate to because it puts into words the internal conflict that happens when you still have feelings for someone but you know they’re not good for you. “My love, he makes me feel like nobody else, nobody else. But my love, he doesn’t love me…”, this quote from the song is a perfect example of that conflict and because it’s spelled out so well for listeners to hear they can easily resonate with the song, which is why it’s popular in the first place.
The song I chose is a song called “Change”. It came out March 29, 2017. This song is actually a very special collaboration which one reason why I chose it as my favorite song. The is by two rappers, one named Wale and the other named Kim Namjoon. Kim Namjoon is actually apart of a K-pop group BTS. The story is that Wale saw Kim Namjoon’s music and really was interested in doing a collab he contacted him and ended up flying all the way to South Korea to collab with him. They started working on a song right away and thought let’s include the present and even spoke on such deep thoughts. For example they said things like “Can the dark never be the light and can wrong never be right.” It really made me think which is why I have such an attachment to this song. 148 They even included things like Interracial relationships, common stereotyped female jobs like being a maid and etc. They also talked about how they wish to view the world as changing in a positive way trying to influence everyone to go about life in a positive way.
https://youtu.be/Lx1SvEL2HBI
Here is a sample of a 21st century entry:
“Fatima,” K’Naan; 2009.
Forced to flee a devastating war in his home country of Somalia, K’Naan immigrated as a boy to the U.S., arriving in New York with nothing. He learned English mainly through listening to hip-hop and, eventually, discovered his own talent for pairing compelling beats, memorable hooks, and smart, poignant rhymes. His music recounts his own immigrant experience (which ended with his living in Canada due to difficulties in the U.S.), challenges other hip-hop artists to write music that speaks to something real, and invites listeners to deliberate the extent of human suffering and stupidity the world over. And, yet, he communicates a sense of humor, love, and hope, even as he recounts the terrors and tragedies of his own life, including the merciless, pointless slaughter of a girl he loved as a child back in Somalia.
Link: https://youtu.be/MQdfLwNYQaw