For this analysis, I chose the song “Royals” by Ella Marija Lani Velich-O’Connor, better known for her stage name, Lorde. “Royals” is an electropop song recorded in 2012 at the Golden Age Recording Studio in Morningside, Aukland. The song was released on June 3rd, 2013 as a part of The Love Club EP. The track was also featured on her 2013 album, Pure Heroine. The song was recorded by Lorde herself, along with the help of her producer, Joel Little. I chose this song because I’ve always loved the simplicity of the song and how Lorde’s voice is the main attraction. This song was written as a way for Lorde to describe her feelings about other celebrities and their overly lavish lifestyles while also giving the listener a taste of how normal her life is in comparison. The song “Royals” is in the key of D-Mixolydian. It has an andante tempo of 85 beats per minute and is instrumented by finger snaps over lines of bass. The song is in a rondo form with two verses, a pre-chorus, chorus, and a bridge. At the end of the chorus, there is a polyphonic section where Lorde repeats the phrase “I’ll rule” several times in a round, going up …show more content…
An average suburban neighborhood is shown at the beginning, and once again at end of the video, to create the setting. The video shows two teenage boys living an average, middle-class life and enjoying it. The boys seem to like boxing and box with each other during the video, similarly to the famous boxers on TV. Emphasis is put on their faces and smiles during the video to show that they enjoy their non-lavish lifestyle. The two boys, along with some others, enjoy each other’s company on a bus towards the end of the video. This signifies that they don’t need fancy cars or fancy belonging to have friends and a happy life. The music video was made to look very low budget, with few camera angles and fancy props, in order to fit the theme of Lorde’s
inflicted” (King 77). This quote indicates the symbolic meaning that Lorde portrays because it displays how the past experiences can improve an individual’s life. Additionally, in “Man’s Child” by Audre Lorde, she focuses
Audre Lorde: “For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence.”
Audre Lorde was a writer, poet, mother, feminist, civil rights advocate, and more. According to the Poetry Foundation, Lorde dedicated a large part of her life and creative talents to confront the issues of sexisum, homophobia, racism, and more. She was concerned with modern society’s excessive need to sort individuals into different groups of people. She believed in power and change within the world. Her poems and writings can relate not only to those who are in search for change, but crave love, fulfillment, and revolution. Throughout her poem, “Movement Song”, Audre Lorde captures the raw emotions one possesses while slowly letting go of a loved individual whie using poetic devices including complex methaphors, repition,
In presenting herself as a child on the verge of adulthood, Lorde indicated to the reader that the things she learned at this time would be pivotal and important for the rest of her life. For example, at the beginning of her essay, Lorde wrote that her trip to Washington D.C. was “on the edge of the summer when I was supposed to stop being a child” (221). In this way, Lorde’s trip to the nation’s capital and her experiences of discrimination there provided an intellectual
The song "U.N.I.T.Y." by Queen Latifah, released in 1994, is a hip-hop song with a theme about the harassment, domestic violence and sexist slurs against women, black woman to be specific. Should “U.N.I.T.Y” be considered literature, specifically is it a poem? I think that every song, no matter what the genre is free verse poetry. However, this artist and song are important in the hip-hop as literature genre movement because of both the artist’s credibility and the message that she is delivering.
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something” (NP). This is a quote from U.S. Representative John Lewis’ commencement speech that he gave at Washington University in Saint Louis. Lewis was a civil rights leader who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The essay, The Fourth of July, by Audre Lorde is about her trip to Washington D.C., and the racism she experienced. As an 8th-grade graduation present, Audre’s parents took Audre and her sister to Washington D.C. In pre-civil rights America, racism was a powerful force experienced by minorities, limiting their opportunities to advance economically and integrate equally into America’s predominantly white society.
“They killed my son in cold blood,” lamented Eloise Armstead. Her husband, Add Armstead, was traveling to work with a companion on Saturday evening in the early 1970s. Thomas Shea and Walter Scott, responding to a call about a cabby that was robbed earlier that day, used this opportunity to rid the world of the wicked and gain a victory for the righteous. Walking along New York Blvd. in South Jamaica, Queens, Shea and his partner pulled alongside the two. Armstead says, as he recalls the incident, “We were walking, not saying anything to each other, and this car pulls up, and this white fella opens the door with a gun.” To him and his companion it looked like they were going to be robbed, so they ran. As the gunshots
Audre Lorde talks in her essay how women, especially black women in our society are get treated lesser based on their age, race, class and sexual preferences. She talks how white females take the over hand because their voices are more dominant while other women from other culture are getting ignored and have nothing to say, they simply ignore the differences. She also states that the If you not mainstream you worth less than anyone else. But it’s not only white vs black, in the black community, black females are treated powerless and have the lowest salaries. She made her own experiences in being classified and judged, Lorde herself is a black female lesbian who had difficulties in life of what she is. Based on magazines, TV or social media
Robin Thicke’s music video to his song “Blurred Lines” avidly contributes to the patriarchy, while portraying sexism, gender standards, and beauty standards. His music video can be analyzed from a feminist theory approach, as it’s evident that his song and video contribute to a patriarchal society and its inherently sexist and sexualized ideologies. The ideology behind the song and music video is purely sexual and about male dominance. The lyrics to the song and actions in the video exhibit extreme over sexualization and objectification of the women. Analyzing this piece of popular culture through a feminist approach opens up a provoking conversation about how popular culture functions in a patriarchal culture. Analyzing pop culture though a feminist theory can allow for a larger variety and more in-depth analysis about the social aspects and political agenda within popular culture.
In my opinion, Kendrick Lamar, an award-winning rapper and songwriter, has one of the best abilities to describe his distressed and abused lifestyle in Compton, California. He is not your original cliché artist who does not speak about anything meaningful. Kendrick, also known as K. Dot, is one of the most well known and most respected rappers in this era. Not only does he speak about his gloomy past, but he also speaks about his fortunate future. His ability to give detailed representations of his struggles and his story telling allows me to, metaphorically, enter the mind of Kendrick Lamar.
1. Lorde: Explain the following quote and Lorde’s resolution to this fragmented perspective: “As a Black lesbian feminist comfortable with the many different ingredients of my identity, and a woman committed to racial and sexual freedom from oppression, I find I am constantly
Blurred Lines is a popular summer song that is constantly played on the radio. A song like “Blurred Lines” should not be played on public radio. A big problem with “Blurred Lines” is that it attempts to normalize disrespectful behavior towards women. Robin Thicke teamed up with rapper T.I. and singer-producer Pharrell to deliver arguably this summer’s most popular song. The song “Blurred Lines” has placed number one on the billboard hot 100 and has sold over one million copies. Critical reception of the track is mostly positive. Yet with the success comes a not so positive response. When first listening to the song a person might find themselves nodding your head to a catchy tune, but perhaps once a person listens closely to the lyrics some people may not want this song on their iPods.
Music comes in various styles that work to evoke emotions and deliver messages to listeners. Whether it be jazz, rock, or soul, music serves to fill the gaps in ourselves and show us how we are all the same. As an artist that merged from the early 2000s, Rihanna has diversified herself in ways that we cannot brand her by any one particular genre. Like may artist, she works to create music that can reach her listeners and allow them to connect with her on another level. Despite her start, she has grown to the point where her songs go beyond the “pop” label society has branded it. A prime example would be one of her recent works, “Love on the Brain,” released on her recent album Anti in 2017. Rihanna’s “Love on the Brain” is a classic love ballad that uses qualities, often associated with soul and rock, to reminisce a song typical of the 1960s, telling a story emphasized by the lyrics to go beyond the realm of a standard pop record.
Within the album, “teeth” are used as a motif. Analyzing the tracks closely, it becomes apparent that O’Connor uses teeth and references to types of teeth as a way to represent class and social circles. In the hit “Royals”, gold teeth are mentioned in the chorus. This reference alludes to grillz- most commonly seen on rappers, and increasingly on female pop stars- and begins the list of superficial things that Lorde claims pervade every song.
As the power of a song resides completely in its lyrics, it is no longer surprising that music can be healing, inspiring, or even motivating. After introducing this insight to my life, it became very rare for me to listen to any Imagine Dragons’ song without it leaving an impact on my life and my perspectives. Imagine Dragons is a rock band whose music tends to address both personal and social issues. It’s Time, one of their biggest hits and most influential songs, was written by the band’s lead singer Dan Reynolds during a difficult time in his life. “ I was not very happy with who I was, I guess, and I wanted to make some changes” says the singer in an interview with Purevolume , in which he addresses It’s Time as a poem he wrote to express