Day: December 14, 2021

Some Champagne Poetry

On By Caleb R.In Poetry1 Comment

After a two year hiatus, Drake released his highly anticipated, “Certified Lover Boy.” The intro to this album is the song, Champagne Poetry. In this intro, Drake cuts the song into two parts. In Part 1, Drake speaks about how he has done so much to get to where he is now and others in the rap game still think they are above him or better than him. In Part 2, Drake stops talking about his accolades or his money, and just expresses what it’s like to be at the top. With all the pressure weighing on him, his family, the city he lives in. But its all more of a reason to keep going for him.

I’m tryna just relay what I can see through my own eyes

And nothin’ tell the truth like the eyes will

This quote from Drakes song truly sums up the first part of the song. I can feel the exhaustion in the way he wrote this. Drake wants the listener to feel like they are sitting together having a conversation. This isn’t the strongest example of simile or imagery, but I feel this is an important quote in the song.

I even got the cleanin’ staff plotting extortion on me

My parents’ divorce is on me

My therapist’s voice is making the choices for me

And I always censor myself ’cause no matter what, they reporting on me

The pressure is weighin’ on me

In Part 2 of the song, Drake starts to have this therapy session with himself. His use of diction makes the reader/listener feel sympathy for him. He describes and gives examples about how the pressure of things in his life is getting too much for him. Even though he is a man of high stature, he still feels certain ways like we all do.

My chef got the recipe for disaster baking slowly

My heart feel vacant and lonely, but still

I’m makin’ the most of this shit and more

Every single move is like rolling dice on the board

The simile used in this quote sums up how Drake is living life. He doesn’t know what the dice will say but he’s hoping he’ll get lucky. Through all the pressure boiling and the world falling apart, Drake still finds a way to be content and live life like “rolling dice on the board.”

Musixmatch

Fireworks

On By Elizabeth SIn Music Poetry, PoetryLeave a comment

Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit’s song “Fireworks” is just one example of poetry on their amazing album Ruins. While the singing and instrumentals were what originally drew me to the song, it has great lyrics and is a wonderful example of music poetry.

Like many songs on the album, which was created after a broken engagement, the song is about a breakup. “Fireworks” uses lyrics and music to bring the listener into the speaker’s mind and world.I took a trip out to the frozen lake

And it felt so far away

But I could feel it washing over me

There’s no escaping the harsh light of day

The poem repeats motifs of water/lakes and light. I would describe the musical aspects of the song as flowy and bright, making these motifs more effective and present in the poem. I’m not sure what these motifs represent or are trying to convey, but the song effectively transports the listener into the speaker’s situation with powerful imagery.

Why do I do this to myself every time?

I know the way it ends

Before it’s even begun

I am the only one

At the finish line

One of the most powerful lines in the poem is “Why do I do this to myself?” This is repeated many times throughout the poem and puts the listener in the speaker’s mind. The chorus (lyrics below) is repeated three times during the song. The repetition demonstrates the speaker’s regret and how their mind is stuck, repeating the same questions over and over.

I would highly recommend giving First Aid Kit a listen. Every song features comforting and bright harmonies, but the band also takes a lot of risks ensuring that every song sounds different. Every First Aid Kit song is a powerful piece of music poetry.

Poetry in Frank Ocean’s Pink+White

On By ELEANOR RIn Poetry1 Comment

As conveyed in the title “Pink+White”, Frank Ocean explains his passion for a person and his perspective on the world through his memories. He interlaces the ups and downs that come with feelings of love and attachment by comparing them to either light or darkness with seemingly no in between. 

The first set of lyrics in the song serves to describe a strange pink and white landscape then contrast it with a more realistic black and yellow landscape in order to highlight the randomness and lack of control we have in the world. 

“That’s the way everyday goes

Every time we’ve no control

If the sky is pink and white

If the ground is black and yellow

It’s the same way you showed me”

The following verses make an undeniable statement about the importance of love and trust during disastrous times. Ocean uses a metaphor about the atmosphere and north and south geography to describe his attachment to someone he loves. The description of feeling “south” contradicts the cold loneliness of the north and provides a sense of comfort. The comparison to the Earth and its atmosphere describe how Ocean felt powerless in such a vast world and was unable to grasp the events taking place in his own life. 

“If you could fly then you’d feel south

Up north’s getting cold soon

The way it is, we’re on land

So I’m someone to hold true

Keep you cool in this good life

Won’t let you down when it’s all ruined”

Ocean uses vivid imagery throughout the song to tell specific memories from his earlier life. The peaceful music and fond portrayal of the memory give the listener a sense of peace yet the subtle ominous intermissions scattered throughout, such as the mention of a hurricane, send a different message. The guitar strums softly in the background while the lyrics recall children playing. 

“In the wake of a hurricane

Dark skin of a summer shade

Nosedive in the flood lines

Tall tower of milk crates

It’s the same way you showed me

Cannonball off the porch side

Older kids trying off the roof”

On the surface the song seems to be recalling fond memories from his past until the end of the piece. Ocean uses repetition of the line “the same way you showed me”. The repetition of this line, written in the past tense suggests that he had been talking about the happy memories and affection of someone he lost throughout the song. After repeating this line multiple times in seemingly random spots in the song he sings 

“That’s the same way you showed me, showed me

You showed me love

Glory from above

Regard my dear

It’s all downhill from here”

This shift in tone continues until the end of the poem where he reminisces about cigarettes and tragedy and how he has nostalgia for his past despite the fact that it was a more difficult time in many aspects. As the song progresses from fond memories to more dark moments of his past it becomes apparent that Ocean’s purpose in these lyrics was to describe how relationships tend  to go wrong after the “glory”. This however does not mean that the two were never good, in fact using the term “glory” suggests that at one point things were going very well between them. Instead he is pointing his experiences in how after a relationship reaches a peak it begins to fail shortly thereafter each and every time leaving him feeling out of control.