Topic Pick: “What Are Words?” by Peter and Evynne Hollens and The Piano Guys
I am choosing this song as my first pick because I find that although I don’t strongly resonate with it, I find its lyrics bring about a truth and reflection that we rearly consider in the words that we say to the people we love. The main chorus of the song, “what are words when you don’t mean them when you say them,” essentially defines the whole song. The song is about how love should be unconditional, and that when we say we love someone, we stay by them regardless of what happens, staying with them forever. I believe the advantage of choosing this song is that it can relate to just about anyone because it doesn’t have to relate to just romantic love, but anything we love, a sport, craft, or family member; the same meaning of love applies to anything, loving it through the highs and lows. The disadvantage is that the song lyrics are minimal if it is relating to anything besides a love relationship.
“Rise Up” by Andra Day
“Rise Up” has become a major inspiration song in the past year and I believe it brings about very strong emotions. The song goes through singing about rising up, how when we fall in life, we must get back up stronger than before and keep going. As the song has been used for a vast number of events to encourage positive attitutes such as perseverance, persistance, and courage, it has also impacted many struggling through a difficult time, giving hope. These influencial moments prove that the song is a powerful one that is relatable to many listeners.
“O” by Coldplay
This song by Coldplay uses the imagery of birds to represent rising above troubles that we may face throughout our journey and to just keep flying on. The birds in the song can represent anything from opportunities, relationships, or physical objects, that come and go, but someday you may fly along with it. The advantage and disadvantage of this song is that the tune is very slow and seemingly a solemn tone, but the song is actually a song of hope so it is a different approach that may go either way. Also, there doesn’t seem to be a clear direction of what the artist was writing about in the song lyrics, therefore it is open for self interpretation.
Do we use a new lens to analyze the text with each paragraph, and how may we connect the different lenses?
Is there an ideal order of the usage of the lenses to analyze the song?