Stevie Wonder Song Analysis

Yes, I believe the current popular song writer and performers address important social issues in music like these artist. “Glory” was an Oscar winning song in the movie Selma written by John Legend. This reflects important social issues such as hatred against the color of your skin (race), religion, sexual orientation and political views. First, the lyrics of this song reflect on how we must remove barrier within/between every group/culture. Second, the song’s content reflects whatever injustice and social problems are occurring which may start a protest.

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.

I choose the song “Humble and Kind” performed by Tim McGraw in 2015. You can find the song here on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awzNHuGqoMc. “Humble and Kind” was written by Lori McKenna in May of 2014 (by herself) who is Nashville’s top songwriter. She wrote the song to reflect the life and way she wants her kids to grow up. Tim McGraw was asked to perform the song for her, were he gladly accepted. Lori herself later performed the song next few years. I would believe that this song would fall other the pop music form. As for country music is not really “country” anymore; it is a mixture of almost every form of popular music in America. The song is precisely what it sounds like: A humble, kind, acoustic-driven tune that softly

If you had to make a choice with nothing to choose from, how could you choose? Would your choice be the right decision since their is no guideline to your future? Listening to music can relieve stress and even a provide a guideline to the right choices. In the book The Outsiders written by S.E. Hinton, the Curtis brothers and other greasers have difficult choices they encounter that relate their life to the song "Give Me Back My Hometown" by Eric Church. The song relates to the actions of the boys, the dreams the greasers have of becoming better, and the need to own the streets in their area.

Through songs many people express their feelings of the world threw the words they have wrote. Many songs talk about civil rights of the people and how change should be an option. In the world we live in today we have social issues that people have to face such as: police brutality, racial profiling, discrimination etc. Through Kendrick Lamar, Public Enemy, The Game, Bebe Winans, and N.W.A they will use their voice as a weapon for change among all people. Music with a message thrives in a live setting, for obvious reasons, and many politically conscious musicians aim to channel the heightened emotions

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.

Despite the fact that Stevie Wonder is blind do to a premature birth incident, he has learned to perfect a numerous amount of musical instruments. “He also bounces from piano to drums to synthesizer” (UXL). Proving as being a skilled composer and musician, Stevie is also very involved in politics. “Over the years Wonder also became progressively more involved in politics” (DISCovering).As proven you can quite tell that Stevie is an energetic and active artist who is very patriotic. You can basically say that Wonder is an inspiring man. “He has inspired a new generation of artists- including rockers the Red Hot Chili Peppers” (DISCovering). There for this proves that

The Vietnam war was a major event to America because it had major conflicts with personal opinions of the people of 1960’s. In this era, plenty of people were rethinking on why they were fighting in a war that they did not need to be fighting. and joined the anti-war movement. This can explicitly be seen from the type of music that people were listening to at the time. The song that I am going to be analyzing is “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones. This song resonated with the persona of the people for multiple reasons because it was a song that was about losing a loved one and dealing with the sadness.

Music,music has so much power over us it makes us feel all these emotions and makes us act bit different when we're listening. The song that makes me fell like I have a lot of energy is "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. The first time I heard the song was when I was seven years old my dad wad the person who showed me the song. When I first heard it I immediately fell in love with it. Ever since that day, I loved the artist and my favorite song has always been "Billie Jean". "Billie Jean" is a song that inspires and motivates me to play soccer.

Stevie Wonder is a blind musician, songwriter, record-producer, and singer from the United States. He is considered of the most influential and successful musicians and performers of the 20th century with his popular and extensive discography. He won 25 Grammys during his career and the United Nations named him a Messenger of Peace.

For example, Smash Mouth writes,”i ain’t the sharpest tool in shed/ She was looking kind was looking kind of dumb with her finger in her thumb.”(Smash Mouth) This lyric describes the singer’s personality. He might not be the smartest person and people might judge him, but The singer is smart enough to make his own decisions. This is a great example of a hypole. Another examples of literary devices in the song is,”Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running.”(Smash Mouth) This lyric is an example of personification. It’s personification because it’s giving human traits to the rules. The lyric give detailed information about the singer listening to the rules, but people make fun of him for listening to every rule. That will not stop him for doing his best.

I chose “Humble and Kind,” by Tim McGraw as my theme song. “Humble and Kind” is a very good song that has very unique lyrics. The song gives advice on how to live. There are many manners in this song that are very important. The song is a parent telling their child how they should live life. It seems that the artist wrote the song on how he wishes he would have acted when he was younger. One of the main messages of this song are that everyone has something in their lives, but you still need to be nice. Some of the lyrics on the song are about the 10 Commandments. Even though we grow up, we still need to remember our manners and how to live life. “Don’t hold a grudge or a chip and here’s why Bitterness keeps you from flying.” This is an example

In 1971, Marvin Gaye, a renowned Motown artist, published a concept album that would become a huge hit for both critics and casual listeners throughout the US. Written towards the end of the Vietnam War, What’s Going On would touch on subjects including war protests, unification of the American people, and the poor treatment of veterans. Gaye’s brother served in Vietnam, and much of this album shows the brother’s thoughts and feelings when he returns. Throughout his album, Marvin Gaye uses his own experiences to give us a look at why he and many others had a dissatisfaction with society and the government during the Vietnam War era in the United States.

Social Justice is a huge topic in our society. Its touches on important subjects such as labor laws, environmental rights (racism), poverty, etc. These topics are things that many people have views on whether they agree or disagree. Many artist took note of this and made songs about this and voiced what they thought was right or how they saw the act.

Apart from being involved in many helpful campaigns and events, Stevie’s music and lyrics inspired musicians everywhere. Jackson 5, Prince, Lionel Richie and D’Angelo all believed that Stevie Wonder had a massive impact on music and song writing (Shmoop, 2015). Musicians such as the Miracles, Ray Charles and Johnny Ace all influenced Stevie to pursue a career in the music industry (Shmoop, 2015). Even though he is blind, he has not let that stop him from doing what he wants to do. Stevie once said “Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision” (Brainy Quote, 2015).