All in song lyrics blog post
In an interview with NPR, Adele explains that the real River Lea is mostly disgusting: "My experience of it was, whenever I was in our version of the projects, the river ran through it — so it ran through all my aunties' houses, stuff like that . . . But the idea of the song is that, especially since I've become a parent, let alone writing this record, I'm dealing with myself for the first time. And I have a lot of bad habits. And rather than admitting that I have bad traits in my actual character, I blame it on where I'm from."
SONG MEANING: Adele's "Remedy" is a heartfelt ballad about her three-year-old song, Angelo, but the song's promise to "be your remedy" also applies to her other loved ones. The song is a tender promise to be there for those she cares about.
SONG MEANING: In “Send My Love (to Your New Lover),” Adele brushes her hands of a relationship with a man who said he would marry her but can't commit.
Adele’s 25 is out as of last Friday, and it’s awesome. Her voice is so powerful, and the world agrees. According to Billboard.com, iTunes sold almost a million records on the first day alone. I looked up the stats, and Taylor Swift only ever sold as many as 1,047,000 in the first week of a release.
SONG MEANING: “I Miss You” by Adele is about intimacy—sexual, emotional, and otherwise—in a relationship. Adele has doubts about the relationship, and the man may too, but the intimacy they feel when things are going well convinces Adele to keep trying even if she’s still afraid for the relationship when she’s not with him.
SONG MEANING: "Water under the Bridge" is about someone breaking up with Adele. She doesn't want the relationship to be "Water under the Bridge" and wants him to admit that it is and was real. Adele is slowly teasing and releasing songs from 25 until she releases the entire album tomorrow, and yesterday she teased a 30 second clip of her singing one song--"Water under the Bridge"--in New York's Radio City Music Hall. The lyrics also went up all around the Internet, so I'm ready to explain them. The music and her voice will, I'm sure, add new levels and depths of meaning when we have them, but for now, here's what the lyrics mean.
SONG MEANING: "When We Were Young" by Adele is about meeting up with friends from the past and discussing how things have been. Adele meets one friend in particular and makes amends with him. But the song is really about making amends with the past, represented by that friend.
SONG MEANING: "Life Is Worth Living" by Justin Bieber is a message of hope for those who need it. The soft pop ballad is sung to a contemporary dance in the music video, and it's certainly interesting if not unique. Justin Bieber just put out Purpose on Friday the 13th. His new album has been a couple of years in the making, and it's certainly fun to listen to. Not only do we know it makes good dance music, but Bieber knows it too. In his video for one track "Life Is Worth Living," Bieber has contemporary dancers demonstrating the relationship between someone who desperately needs help and someone willing to give it.
SONG MEANING: "Adventure of a Lifetime" by Coldplay is a fun, groovy dance song about feeling "alive again" because of a woman. The song is disco inspired and meant to not only be about good feelings but also to give them. Coldplay is coming out with a new album on December 4th, and it will be called A Head Full of Dreams. The fifth track on the album (and the lead single) is "Adventure of a Lifetime." After Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin was left by actress Gwyneth Paltrow, the band's next album Ghost Stories was quiet, suppressed, and even depressing. "Adventure of a Lifetime" is a reassuring return to a message of hope and fun, even if the song wasn't directly written by Martin.
SONG MEANING: "Sorry" by Justin Bieber is about personal regret for something wrong. It's not just about apologizing to a woman either--the woman may be a metaphor for the world. Want to find out how I know this? Keep reading!
Justin Bieber is coming out with a new album, and it's called Purpose. "Sorry" is the new single off the album--the second one released so far. It's co-written by Bieber, Julia Michaels, and Justin Tranter, and it's produced by Skrillex and BLOOD.
SONG MEANING: "Focus" by Ariana Grande is about acceptance and focusing on someone on a deeper level--finding out who they really are beyond the way they look or their preferences. Keep reading to find out more and to hear Ariana explain it herself.
Ariana Grande's new album Moonlight is set to come out in 2016 though a more specific time isn't set yet. In preparation, Ariana has released her first single from that upcoming album: "Focus." The music is sassy and energetic, which is perfect because the message is also sassy and energetic. The music video isn't quite appropriate for all ages, so I've found a concert video for you. Listen to it and then continue reading!
SONG MEANING: "Army" is about Ellie Goulding's best friend of ten years. It's a song to that friend, letting her know how much she means to Goulding. But my theory is that it's also to her fans. Keep reading to see why and to see Ellie Goulding's Instagram account post about this song.
Ellie Goulding's putting out a new album, and I couldn't be more excited. I love her music, and I'm a fan of the way she crowd-sourced "Lights" and other songs, allowing anyone to freely remix them. Her grass-roots tactics and awesome fresh pop sound have served her well, and now she's released "Army" on her route to releasing her album Delirium, which is coming out in four days!
SONG MEANING: "Hello" by Adele is a post-breakup song about going back over the past and seeking closure. Want to find out more? Keep reading!
Four years after her last album, Adele is finally back! She's releasing singles from her upcoming album 25, the follow up to 21 which she released last. About the distance and the changes in material between albums, she (according to Wikipedia) said, "My last record was a break-up record, and if I had to label this one, I would call it a make-up record. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did. 25 is about getting to know who I've become without realising. And I'm sorry it took so long but, you know, life happened."
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.
SONG MEANING: "Cecilia and the Satellite" by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness is about Andrew McMahon's then soon-to-be born daughter. Want to find out how? Keep reading.
When I heard it on the radio, I thought "Cecilia and the Satellite" was about McMahon's wife or girlfriend, but I eventually got around to researching it and found that it's actually about his daughter. When McMahon started writing the song in late 2013, his wife was still pregnant with Cecilia, who, born in February 2014, is now about 1.5 years old.
SONG MEANING: "Pure Grinding" is an intense song about trying to survive without a lot of money. Keep reading to find out more!
"Pure Grinding" probably has the most confusing title on Avicii's Stories album (other than maybe "Sunset Jesus"), and it's well worth figuring out. The music video (which came out on September 3, 2015) is also intensely deep and brings up a lot of good questions we need to ask ourselves. "Pure Grinding" features Earl St. Clair about whom I couldn't find much except for an underliked Twitter page. The song is gritty; has some soul; and, (despite my lack of musical knowledge--I'm more of a lyrics and literature guy) I'd say, has a deep, grungy bluesy feel to it. There's an emphasis on repetition that really speaks to the song's topic.
SONG MEANING: "Waiting for Love" is about love overcoming everything else, and it may not be the kind of love you think at first.
"Waiting for Love" by Avicii has been out for a while now; it was released on May 22, 2015, and it's still going strong, with over 184,000,000 plays on Spotify. And I'm sure we'll be seeing where this song and other hits from the album rank on the Billboard Hot 100 next week. For my part, I think "Waiting for Love" is likely the most solid track on the album--probably a reason it seems to have been used as the lead single. It's exciting and energetic and has just enough of a smattering of deep ideas and thoughts to make listeners ask some deeper questions.
SONG MEANING: "Somewhere in Stockholm" is Avicii's ode to his hometown; no matter where he goes or what he does, he still thinks about Stockholm and misses it. Continue reading to find out more.
Now that "Stories" is out, I can't stop freaking out. I showed the album to my college students before class today and reminded them all that they NEED to listen to it. Avicii has created something very special here, and it's well worth the listen. The whole album is, I think, an ode to stories, and many of the stories are very personal: "Somewhere in Stockholm" is very autobiographical, and I think it's even Avicii doing the singing in it. You're going to love this song about returning home.
SONG MEANING: "Sunset Jesus" by Avicii is about a young man's thoughts on a rise to fame, as he hopes to one day be the person on the billboard. "Sunset Jesus" references a man dressed as Jesus on Sunset Blvd in California; he's a symbol to Avicii of frustrated dreams and possibilities.
SONG MEANING: Jojo's song "When Love Hurts" is a celebration of a couple's dedication to love even when things are difficult and neither member of the relationship feels like progress is being made. Keep reading to learn more!
What's a "tringle"? It's what you call three singles released together. Pop artist JoJo (or Joanna Noelle Blagden Levesque--I know her as the older daughter from RV) released her tringle III (actually pronounced "tringle") on August 20th. "When Love Hurts" is the lead single from that EP, meant to draw listeners into the rest of the album. There's also a music video that includes amazing contemporary dance but may not be appropriate for all audiences.
SONG MEANING: "Magnets" is about a relationship that's weakening. Lorde, as the lead singer and narrator, doesn't want it to end and urges her lover to fight on. Keep reading to find out more! "Magnets" was dropped on Friday, September 25th. The song is hypnotic and dreamy with plenty of synth and an almost African/Caribbean dance floor beat. The song's going to make good dancing for a lot of parties this fall, and the constant refrain of "[l]et's embrace the point of no return" will only contribute to the two-stepping madness.
