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 starboy
"Starboy" by The Weeknd is a super popular song right now, and I want to help you to understand the deeper meaning of it. There's a lot to talk about here, but I think one of the most important themes is The Weeknd's dubious relationship with fame and success. Is he really happy he has so much money? Even though he's bragging about it here?
"True Colors" is one of my favorite tracks from The Weeknd's album Starboy because it's one of the few that highlights and focuses on a true emotional maturity on the part of The Weeknd. The song is about a lover who has a dark past that The Weeknd feels he needs to hear about from her rather than from someone else. He asks her to explain and does so in an understanding, kind, and empathetic way.
And we continue marching through Starboy by The Weeknd. It's my goal to explain the whole thing, and we'll see if that happens, but we're going to try. In the meantime, "Six Feet Under" is one of the more interesting songs on the Starboy album if you consider that it's one of the only songs that it isn't about him at all. Most of the other songs on the album, The Weeknd uses first person pronouns like "I" or "me." But in "Six Feet Under," he keeps purely to describing a character or person he has in mind.
This last weekend, I spent more than 30 hours creating and editing videos explaining songs from The Weeknd's album Starboy. This week, I'm going to be explaining all of those songs again but here on the blog. I hope you're ready for some good description of The Weeknd's amazing album and are ready to go deeper behind the lyrics.
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."
