I'm Clifford Stumme, and I use literary analysis and research to explain the deeper meanings of pop songs. Feel free to leave a comment or to email me at clifford@popsongprofessor.com with questions or ideas!
All tagged explain
I'm going to give you a peek behind the curtain. This may be the only song explanation you've ever read or ever will read by me, but I want to take a moment to be transparent. I'm sitting on my couch in my living room at 1 in the morning furiously typing out this song meaning explanation. It's two cold in here, and I'm exhausted.
I've been waiting for The Weeknd to release new singles from his upcoming Starboy album! He's an excellent musician, and I think when I first started explaining songs, he impressed me because he was proof that a pop artist could write about deeper things while still being incredibly "poppy." The Weeknd proves it in songs like "Can't Feel My Face," "The Hills," and "Starboy."
Wesley Schultz (the lead singer) opens up with, "When you left this town, with your windows down / And the wilderness inside." He hasn't completed a full thought, but we can already see that Angela is leaving behind something difficult, and that all is not well with her. It's as if though she's leaving the windows down to embrace new found freedom and to be closer to the nature around her. She's trying to let go and let all of her anger flow out of the open windows. But the true wilderness isn't the forest flying past her. It's inside of her. Her own thoughts and feelings are mysteries to her.
It's time for a throwback song explanation--we're going old school today. There are few songs of the last forty years that have had the impact on listeners that "Dust in the Wind" has had. For one thing, it's deeper than most songs. Anyone who throws it up next to any Justin Bieber song (or almost any current Top 40 song besides "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots) is going to understand immediately that "Dust in the Wind" is a song about something (even though it's oddly about nothing).It has meaning.
My explanations aren't usually this quick, but I wanted to make sure that I did explain all of the songs from Panic! at the Disco's Death of a Bachelor album. Thus, without much fanfare or introduction, I present my line-by-line explication of "Impossible Year."
It's time to begin explaining the last three songs from Death of a Bachelor by Panic! at the Disco. The album's been taking some interesting turns and been maintaining a steady theme of looking back at happier, wilder days while keeping up a steady appreciation for how good the future can be with a little effort and determination to be the best. "House of Memories" continues this theme using intense, choral-esque music (a sound Urie calls "operatic and evil stuff" in the Twitter video below) backing Brendon Urie's waving, strong voice. He's the man caught in a storm, but among all of the wind and waves, he and his voice are standing strong, ready for whatever comes next.
As you probably know if you're looking this up, Panic! at the Disco just came out with its next album, Death of a Bachelor--an album that tracks the progression and changes in the life of Brendon Urie, the only remaining original band member. And if you've been following along here on the blog, things have certainly gotten weird for him as we've seen in "Hallelujah," "Emperor's New Clothes," "Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time," "Death of a Bachelor," and "LA Devotee."
Panic! at the Disco's new album Death of a Bachelor (similarly named to one of the songs on the album that I've explained) just came out on Friday, and the album's pretty rocking. I'm excited to see where it premieres on the Billboard charts after it's been out for a week, but based on what Panic! at the Disco fans have been saying, I'd have to guess that it's going to be quite popular.
SONG MEANING: "Everglow" by Coldplay is about the feeling of warmth or happiness that comes with the sadness you feel when you think about a relationship, situation, or friendship that has now ended.
SONG MEANING: "Emperor's New Clothes" by Panic! at the Disco is about winning and taking power or the "crown." It could be about Brendon Urie, the lead singer, coming back after difficult experiences with his band or relationships. Want to find out how? Keep reading! Brendon Urie's the only remaining original member (and only core member for that matter) of Panic! at the Disco, and he seems to be doing just fine. His band's Twitter page announced yesterday that they're releasing Death of a Bachelor on January 15 and to celebrate, they released the semi-Halloween-themed music video to "Emperor's New Clothes." Currently the song isn't available elsewhere--even on Spotify--but pre-orders for the album have put Death of a Bachelor easily in the top 5 ordered albums for sometime.
Owl City's coming out with a new album-Mobile Orchestra-on July 10th, and the first song (the only one released so far) is "Verge" which features Aloe Blacc, the memorable voice in Avicii's "Wake Me Up." There's a lyric video out (just below), and a Vevo behind-the-scenes video has already dropped in anticipation of a full-on music video that will use graduation imagery to support the song's main idea of being "[o]ut on the verge of the rest of our lives."
Only two songs left on Twenty One Pilots' Blurryface, and this one's "Not Today." The song is clever and quick and engaging. Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun are forecasting the end of their album with a climactic fight against Tyler's alter-ego Blurryface, the darker part of him. The song is a powerful tell-off to a tendency that tries to compel him to recede into himself and to stay dark.
Twenty One Pilots released its album Blurryface a little early. They told everyone they planned to let it out on the 19th, but the Skeleton Clique woke up to Blurryfacefor sale this morning. The album had already been leaked last week, so some fans had it, but now everyone's purchasing and listening to it like mad. And for good reason. Blurryface is a strong album with an underlying theme threading its way through the entire thing, connecting song to song, developing conflicts and resolutions. One of the notable resolution songs is "Hometown."
Apparently, now it's time for Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun of Twenty-One Pilots to take on the entire music industry. In "Lane Boy," the two attempt to explain a musical style that seems to change with every Blurryface single that they release. The songs are intense and interesting, and this one, musically especially, is supercharged, a good match for the aggressive lyrics. The song describes the band's break from the direction of the music industry as well as a commitment to an entrepreneurship that doesn't focus on money.
It's wonderful when a singer says exactly what you've been thinking, and I experienced that twice while listening to "We Don't Believe What's on T.V." Tyler Joseph has a real talent for being "in tune" with other members of his generation, and Twenty One Pilots' tenth song on Blurryface is a fun, ukulele driven example of that.
It may be suggestive of what this song is about that I almost titled it "What does 'Doubt' by Blurryface mean?" "Doubt" by Twenty One Pilots seems as though it actually could have written by Tyler Joseph's alter-ego Blurryface as it recounts several of his fears and begs God to not "forget about me." The song is slow and methodical and iconic of the fears and anxieties that Tyler is dealing with in this album.
Since even Tyler Joseph doesn't know exactly what "The Judge" is about, explaining it may be more difficult than usual. He sings, "I don't know if this song / Is a surrender or a revel / I don't know if this one / Is about me or the devil." While that seems like something he should have sorted out by now, with a little help from the rest of the song, listeners will be able to forge their own way through what is actually a very beautiful seventh song on Twenty One Pilots' new album Blurryface.
Blurryface was leaked on May 11th when Tyler Joseph's alter ego, Blurryface, tweeted, "drip drip drip"; Twitter-intensity ensued with thousands of tweets coming from thousands of Twenty One Pilots followers asking thousands of questions. Where'd it leak? Who leaked it? How can I get a copy? Personally, I spent hours looking, but could only find spam and personal information farms. The album had been leaked through Ghost Tunes, but when I visited, it was locked up tight-only the singles were for sale.
The fifth Twenty One Pilots single, "Ride," is out, and it's full of thoughts on death, life, and living. It's somewhat cryptic, and the music is reminiscent of "Isle of Flightless Birds" but (as with any song on Blurryface) certainly different enough to defy styles and trends. "Ride" is the third track on the album and just one more way that Twenty One Pilots, as promised in "Lane Boy," is going to keep doing their own thing.
