"Out of the Woods"

 

This young singer/songwriter is known for writing lyrics that sound as if they came out of her journal about past relationships. This makes her songs so real and relatable to everyone because they too have experienced some of the same things.  She has evolved, through the years, from country to now a pop artist but the message of her songs haven’t really changed.  Taylor Swift is among one of the most popular names in Entertainment today. Taylor Swift is one of my favorite artists of today.  The song, “Out of the Woods”, is on her most recent album 1989.

Taylor Swift, in an interview, explains the overall song’s meaning by saying, “"This song is about the fragility and kind of breakable nature of some relationships. This was a relationship where I was kind of living day to day, wondering where it was going, if it was going to go anywhere, if it was going to end the next day. It was a relationship where you kind of never feel like you're standing on solid ground." (www.entertainmentwise.com)

This meaning behind this song is portrayed through imagery in the lyrics. The chorus, repeatedly, says, “Are we out of the woods yet?” “Are we in the clear yet?” She’s saying, in reference to her relationship, are we out of danger? This is referring to a shaky and shallow relationship because there was no foundation established. The relationship could have ended the next day. The relationship could have lasted the next day. She didn’t know. To her, this kind of relationship brought on many mixed emotions. It brought on bad feelings. It brought on good feelings.

This song has a more questioning and anxious tone to it.  This song takes you on a bit of a music roller coaster ride.   The repeated question she sings in the chorus I think represents the anxiousness she felt while in the relationship. She was frantic because she had to keep asking herself if they were okay. She couldn’t get herself to believe everything was fine, no matter how hard she wanted to.

I think this message resonates with people in society because it’s something everyone experiences.  You can, under certain situations, feel anxious and frantic but also excited and happy. Feelings, instead of logic, start to control the situation.  It becomes easy to ignore the bad things screaming at you until it comes to a screeching halt. Coming from a Christian perspective, our focus should be on pleasing God. When we give God ourselves, He’ll lead us in the right path for our lives.

 

"Team"

Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor known as Lorde, is among one of American’s most popular and influential singers today. Her music has an indie pop and electronic sound to it. She is a singer/songwriter originally from New Zealand.  Many of Lorde’s songs portray a message of being unique. Also, her songs are about life being different than how media usually portrays it to be. Her music paints a very picturesque image about royalty. She has a way, in her songs, that portray simple meanings through unique imagery. The song “Team” by Lorde conveys a message that is relevant for society today.

"We live in cities you'll never see on screen
Not very pretty but we sure know how to run free
Livin' in ruins of the palace within my dreams
And you know we're on each other's team"

She is talking about living in the lower part of society. It’s society that people don’t see on screen because it’s not very pretty. Everyone apart of this society is still happy because they have each other and they have their dreams that help them to keep going. In her dreams, she lives in a palace. In reality, she lives in the ruins.

“Call all the ladies out, they're in their finery
A hundred jewels on throats
A hundred jewels between teeth
Now bring my boys in, their skin in craters like the moon
The moon we love like a brother, while he glows through the room
Dancin' around the lies we tell
Dancin' around big eyes as well
Even the comatose, they don't dance and tell”

I believe, through this verse, she is portraying the beauty in the simple things in life instead of the glamour life that isn’t reality.  She is calling out the people who live for the material things in life because that leads to a messed up view of happiness. Life, to her, is more meaningful building relationships and being satisfied. The music video shows her with a bunch of friends. They are teenagers having fun and wanting to break free from all the “finer” things in life.  

The world is full of imperfections. This song is about embracing your imperfections by being satisfied with them. Instead of trying to hide them, show them to the world because, after all, there is no one perfect.

I think the meaning of this song is good for society today because it helps people, especially younger children/teenagers, to accept who they are. The media, through TV and magazines, portrays life and beauty in an unrealistic way. Beauty, to the media, is looking a certain way and wearing a certain type of clothing. This shallow view is fake  because most people can’t be this way. It’s sad, though, because so many people are striving for perfection and when they can’t achieve it, feel empty.  This is not a positive message we should be sending to young people today. We need to embrace the natural beauty and embrace our real self.

True beauty comes from within. Coming from a Christian perspective, God wants our focus to be on helping others and making our life count for something more meaningful than what we wear.

Matthew 6:25-34

 

 

"Ghost"

 

 

“I keep going to the river to pray.” The widely popular song Ghost by the British singer/songwriter is unique in that it doesn’t sound like your typical pop song. Ella’s voice through this song has a soulful tone to it. The style of this song is on point.  I believe there are different ways, through the lyrics, to interrupt the meaning of this song.

This song, through the lyrics and the sound, has dark overtones to it. The song is portraying your past with someone haunting you because the thought of them is in your mind, and won’t let go. There is nothing, no matter how hard you try, that can make the thought of them disappear.

The ghost is a symbol of the person who once had you and now only has your mind. The lyrics say, “I’m sleeping all these demons away. But your ghost, the ghost of you, it keeps me awake.”

I believe it’s hard for her to let the memories with this person vanish because she truly was in love. She sings, “Oh you never told me true love was gonna hurt. True pain, it’s own desert.” She’s now left alone with only the ghost of him to face.

It’s almost like she’s not willing to let the memory of him fade because her feelings towards their relationship are still very real. She sings, “Each time that I think you go, I turn around and you’re creeping in, And I let you another skin, Cause I love living in the sin.”  She fell in love with the wrong person and because she didn’t listen to wise advice, she learns the hard way.  

The story in this music video is so unique in how it portrays the message of someone’s ghost haunting you.  The music video opens with a young frantic guy in the woods at night that is running away. He doesn’t know what step to take next.  His girlfriend just died and there are police after him. However, I don’t believe he killed her. There are flashbacks of them together and they are happy. The young guy, near the end, is confronted with an older man in a hotel room that I believe represents him. I don’t think he ever gets over her. Therefore, the ghost of her never stops haunting him, even to his old age.

The song ghost written by Ella Henderson and Ryan Tedder (lead singer for One Republic) is a song with lyrics that people can relate to. Listeners can relate the “ghost” in the song to someone, something or anything relatable to their life situations.

 

 

 

Tell the World

The Christian rapper, Lacrae, has got to be one of my all time favorite Christian artists. It was my freshman year of college where my roommate, a huge fan, introduced me to Lacrae. I instantly fell in love with his music. Lacrae’s honesty in his raps was really refreshing to find in a Christian music artist. His lyrics are so real and talk about many situations we, even as Christians, face.

           Lacrae’s song, “Tell the World,” is a song that emphasizes how big God is and how insignificant we are. This song, “Tell the World,” is embedded with biblical truth from the very first note to the last.
“Now, I’mma tell the world, tell ‘emI’mma tell it everywhere I go”

         The  first verse to Lacrae’s song emphasizes his overwhelming love he has for God and the world in that he wants to tell the world the good news. He is a new creature in Christ, and because of that, He is ready to tell the whole world about God.

“I know one thing’s true: I don't even really deserve to know you
But, I-I’m a witness that you did this, and I'm brand new”

         This next part of Lacrae’s song gets to the heart of the gospel. Once a slave to himself, but now he is free because God took him out of his sin and cleaned him up. Yes, we are undeserving, but because Christ died for all our sins so that we could be set free. When God comes into our life, he makes us brand new. Lacrae emphasizes that thought through this verse.

 “I can't offer you nothin’, but your care & kindness keeps comin’
  And your love is so unconditional, I get butterflies in my stomach
  I got the old me in the rearview, now the new me got a clear view”

         The last part of Lacrae’s rap talks about God’s, although undeserving, unconditional love towards us. God’s love is so deep and there is nothing that can take that away. Again, Lacrae emphasizes he is going to tell the world and nobody can stop him.

         The music video starts off with Lacrae and a featuring music artist outside near a railroad track and throughout the song continues to go back to that scene.

It then shows him as well as a few other people getting on an airplane and taking off. This happens around the time Lacrae raps, “You set me free.” I think how that is done in the music video is pretty clever.

           "Tell the World” is the main line in this song that gets sung. When this is being sung, the music video shows a lot of different people in the world. The music video also shows different encounters with people Lacrae has had at his concerts. I think that is trying to portray Lacrae interacting with the world. The music video ends showing Lacrae on stage and the thousands of people at his concert.

The song “Tell the World” by one of most famous Christian rappers, Lacrae, is an encouraging song that inspires you to, with confidence, tell the world about Christ. You have something to say. So, tell the world.