“Big TV” by White Lies, Friday, April 9, 2021

 

I first encountered White Lies in 2009 on an iTunes sampler. The song was "Farewell to the Fairground," a song from their freshman album To Lose My Life... Their follow up album, Ritual, was unimpressive, and I kind of forgot about this band until I heard their single "There Goes Our Love Again," from their 2013 album Big TV. The album is certainly their strongest to date and plays like a New Wave album, taking influence from the most venerated post-punk acts of the ‘80s but released thirty years late. The song "Big TV" deals with themes of modern city life in regards to alienation, capitalism, and fleeting trends. Its electronic feel sounds like it's the kind of music that would be playing late at night, coming from the blue light of a big TV in a studio apartment downtown.

AND YOU CAN GET ME WORK, BUT I CAN'T WORK FOR FREE.  A few years ago, CollegeHumor released a video about Zen Buddhist riddles for millennials. The line that I chose for the sub-header reminded me of the CollegeHumor video. You should live in the city you work, but you can't afford the rent. So why even bother? You're chasing a dream while borrowing money, hoping that your dreams come to fruition. I often think about how service industries don't pay workers enough to live in the region that the workers serve, so service workers have to live in subsidized housing or commute long hours. I think about Seoul. Gangnam has so many English academies with native English teachers. Some English teachers want to live there because of the weekend life they can have. However, the rent is so much and the pay is so little that you wonder what kind of life you can have? 

YOU CAN RAISE A STAR FROM GARBAGE ON THE STREET. With the advent of social media, anyone can become famous. All it takes is a TikTok video and a few million views, and boom you can become an influencer. Maybe it's not that simple, but it seems that there are more points of entry now than ever. However, with the explosion of content comes the constant need to maintain attention. It seemed that there was a time when pop stars kept making more and more shocking songs and videos. Katy Perry kissed a girl then posed nude on a cloud. Ke$ha talked about getting freaky downtown in a dirty strip-joint. Gaga was hopping on disco-sticks, Niki Manaj was talking about anacondas. And you may be wondering what's next after 666 Nikes and WAPing? More shock? What's going to keep our attention, especially if a star can be raised from garbage on the street? Maybe we shouldn't build the pop scene on shock, and let the topics come up, perhaps, naturally?

Read “Big TV” by White Lies on Genius