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 pop
I think "Sober" may be one of the more artsy tracks on Melodrama so far. The song isn't very similar to Pure Heroine musically, but it is interesting and seems to be following the stripped back vocals, chorused background vocals, and simple beat formula that many of the other songs are following. I do like the sound of it even if I couldn't have predicted it after Pure Heroine, and I'd love to know what you think about it too!
I don't know about you, but I've been excited for Katy Perry's new album for quite a while. I'm not a superfan of many female pop stars (or male pop stars for that matter). I prefer homegrown, sincere lyrics that the artists write themselves and that they truly mean. But something grabbed my attention about this new Witness album. I think it was on Twitter, but Katy Perry claimed that this songwriting era of hers was going to be more politically and socially minded. "Chained to the Rhythm" clearly followed that blueprint, but "Swish Swish" (a swagger track) and "Bon Appetit" (a shallow pop sex track) both seemed to contradict her new motivation.
Lorde's new album Melodrama comes out in one week, and "Perfect Places" seems to be the song most like Pure Heroine that I've heard so far. The music is synthy and deep, but it differs from Pure Heroine by sounding lighter and less dark. There's just something below the surface of the music--maybe something in her voice--that speaks of being happier. Or maybe it's how she sings the line "I'm nineteen, and I'm on fire." Whatever that quality is, "Perfect Places" might be my favorite song from Melodrama so far. It's Lorde, but it's older, happier Lorde, and I like who she's becoming.
Coldplay and The Chainsmokers are probably one of the more unlikely collaborations we'll see this year in music, but "Something Just Like This" may be one of the best collabs we'll see. Musically, it's entrancing. It's everything we love about The Chainsmokers' thoughtful and body-moving approach to EDM music with everything we love about the dry, smooth power of Chris Martin's voice. It's really the best of both worlds, and while the group is an unlooked for collaboration, personally, I'll be looking for more songs from these two groups.
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.
And it's finally time for my last explanation of a Panic! at the Disco song from Death of a Bachelor. It's been a while in coming, but it's finally time to wrap up this album. Ironically, we'll be wrapping it up with the album's first song: "Victorious."
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."
The Lumineers' last album came out in 2012, and we all probably still listen to "Ho Hey"--I know I do. The band became famous very quickly and is known all over the world; Entertainment Weekly even calls The Lumineers "America’s answer to Mumford and Sons."
Panic! at the Disco is really winning me over with the music on Death of a Bachelor. These songs are groovy and fun. Have you been able to appreciate how well put together the music is here? It's part Fallout Boy, part 1950's, part 1990's, and it's awesome. "The Good, the Bad, and the Dirty" is mostly Fallout Boy, and it's pretty intense.
I've been pleasantly surprised with Panic! at the Disco's songs that weren't the lead singles. There were plenty of good singles--sure--but I wasn't thrilled by the lyrics. Now, I'm kind of freakin' out over how good the album sounds. Death of a Bachelor sounds legit, and I'm loving it. There's a lot of throwback sound on here, and I've really been enjoying that. But I've also been enjoying the energy put into the singing; Brendon Urie's been doing a great job of making that energy powerful.
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.
Welcome back to my explanation of "Untitled 2 (Blue Faces)" by Kendrick Lamar. If you haven't read Part 1 yet, you really should--it lays the foundation for what Lamar's song is about. If you haven't seen the video yet, here it is...
When I started cliffordstumme.com, I think the first recommendation I got for a song to explain was anything from To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. Unfortunately, it'd already been out for a while, so I wasn't sure that it would be a good idea. So, I've been waiting a while to be able to explain one of his songs, and finally I have an opportunity to do so!
Time to freak out, fanboys and fangirls. T-swizzle's not done with 1989 yet. She just released an actual music video for "Out of the Woods," and I like it. You might like it too. I used to think the song was kind of boring--too poppy and WAY to repetitive--but this music video might have converted me. At the very least, it's an easy song to sing along with, and the music video gives more context for what the song itself means.
Chris Brown's out with his new album Royalty, and one of the songs on that album--my favorite so far--is "Little More (Royalty)." The song's smooth and strong and an enjoyable listen. I'll be honest though: I have rarely ever listened to Chris Brown, and what I have heard of him has been largely negative. Not that being explicit is always bad, but the fact that so many of his songs on this album are explicit concerns me. I've listened to a few others besides "Little More (Royalty)," and there doesn't seem to be a lot of variety on Royalty. His song "Back to Sleep," in a paraphrase of his words, is about "sexing" his girlfriend back to sleep after he comes home from playing a concert.
"Hymn for the Weekend" has got to be one of my favorite songs from A Head Full of Dreams by Coldplay. The song is slow, yet strong, and it features Beyonce's beautiful voice. The song's about as pop music-ish as Coldplay can get I think, and Chris Martin the lead singer, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, backs me up on that.
"Birds" is a soaring song about hope and overcoming circumstances; the melody and other aspects of the music mirror that same upbeat, positive perspective. It's a fun song and definitely worth the listen.
Adele's 25 continues to break records this week--she already sold over 3 million albums in her first week, and no one knows when it will end. The album is beautiful and heart-rending. People have enjoyed it immensely, and the songs continue to show new depths of emotion and thought on Adele's part. I think it's interesting that one of the most popular albums of our time is often so sad. Adele doesn't stay on the superficially "happy" partying level that a lot of pop music does, and people are reacting to it positively (even if it means they're crying).
The meaning of "A Head Full of Dreams" explained in detail by a scholar of literature
Coldplay's new album A Head Full of Dreams is awesome--not only the lyrics, but the music as well. Everything about this groovy disco-experimental album is uplifting as well as dance worthy. Billboard.com refers to Chris Martin explaining that he wants fans to "shuffle [their] feet" to the songs on this album, and as Wife-April and I were listening to it, we realized that even our prime dance style (west coast swing) would work really well with a lot of these songs. (We were pretty excited.)
