Because I am such a nerd, the only radio station I really listen to is NPR (pushes duct taped glasses up nose and wheezes).
However, I did hear a snippet of "Paper Planes" by MIA on 96.9 at work the other day, and I was kind of taken aback. I secretly really like this song (which is weird because hip hop really isn't my genre), in that way where you know you like something but really nail down why.
After I first heard the song a while ago, I Googled the lyrics and the artist (whose real name is actually Mathangi Arulpragasam, which is basically the coolest name ever) and discovered that the song was really a poetically stated view of the war from a Middle Easterner's perspective.
Then I wondered why I didn't just listen more closely to the words MIA was singing, instead of just hearing the tunes. Did I really have to Google the lyrics?
I think music is no longer cherished and reveled in as it should be. Songs are supposed to be understood, not just heard.
If lyric websites weren't so easily accessible, I and a lot of other teens probably wouldn't understand half of what we listen to, and that kind of sucks. Learning what an artist is trying to say is the whole point of music, isn't it? Shouldn't our duty as listeners be to hear artists' messages and mull said messages over in our minds?
Whatever happened to the poetry of music?
Just pondering.
AHHHHHH, I love that song, too! Hahaha.
I first heard it while crusing through Elizabethtown with a friend before going on a trip to Europe, so every time it comes on, I think of her. Not to mention it's MAD catchy and I love doing the movements to the chorus, haha.
I didn't realize that's what it was about, though. That kind of gives it a whole new meaning. And I know what you mean. A lot of the songs on the radio have really thin meanings, I think. Like Taylor Swift. Sure, she seems down-to-earth enough, but her lyrics? Any teen could write them.
But it's cool when a song like "Paper Planes" has a deeper meaning AND can be catchy at the same time.
Catchy song.
Still don't quite get the lyrics and the middle eastern point of view connection.
Level vibes,
Jonathan