In 2014, I wasn't listening for what was next in Alternative music. Rock music in the early '10s was disappointing me with all of the Imagine Dragons and Coldplay knock offs. When my friend, fellow music blogger Stephen Barry told me I should check out Bastille, I reluctantly did, but I didn't really listen to them. I just listened to them in passing. My music tastes at that time were: rock should be rock (i.e. Linkin Park and Anberlin), not trying to disguise itself behind big, bright production. I don't think that way anymore. Bastille became a hit in America because of today's song. After reaching #2 on the UK pop charts, the song became a #5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and it topped the Alternative Songs chart. While I would love to bring you another Christmas song, today we take a break from Christmas.
BUT IF YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES... "Pompeii" is a strange pop song. It literally describes the conversation between two people about to be killed in the ancient Italian city as the ash from Mt. Vesuvius consumes everything around them. The band's lead singer and songwriter Dan Smith described the eerie events leading up to the destruction. The song begins with what many listeners might think is just a random phrase sung for effect; however, the ehoh is Latin, meaning alas. Descriptions of the shaking ground and the billowing ash make the singer question "How am I going to be an optimist about this?" Meanwhile, he questions "If you close your eyes, does it feel like nothing's changed at all?" The people of Pompeii had experienced earthquakes and even small eruptions in the years before AD 79. The people with their lavish lifestyles hoped to appease the gods with human sacrifices at the volcano; however, they closed their eyes to the portentous doom that awaited them. The strongest metaphors in poetry and music do not have a key for interpretation within the work. "Pompeii" can literally be a song about the doomed Southern Italian city, or it can have implications for today. What are the red flags you are closing your eyes to?
DOES IT FEEL LIKE NOTHING CHANGED AT ALL? Many had attempted to excavate the city throughout history, however, starting in the 1960s, archaeologists started taking greater care to preserve the ruins of Pompeii. In 1972, Pink Floyd filed a concert without an audience in the ancient city. The band performed their older psychedelic, but some footage shows the band recording their 1973 masterpiece Dark Side of the Moon. Director Adrian Maben found, after losing his passport in the ancient city, was that the excavated amphitheater had extraordinary acoustics, as did the bombed Coventry cathedral from yesterday. The Floydian concept would have been an interesting take for Bastille's music video; however, instead the "Pompeii" director, Jesse John Jenkins, sets the concept of the music video in present day Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California. Singer Dan Smith appears in a post-apocalyptic world in which the people's eyes grow dark, possibly turning to ash. The video mimics several scenes from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. The doom of the video shows that we all have the potential to become soul-less in the fight for what we believe in. It may be easier to "close your eyes" and pretend "like nothing's changed at all," but if we don't, we might be able to leave the doomed city. We might be able to make a difference when everyone else is complacent.
Before " Shape of You ," Ed Sheeran was known primarily as a singer-songwriter. His albums + and X took clear influence from The Beatles , Carole King , Elton John , James Taylor , and the ballad writers of yesteryear. But he had a knack for throwing in a few rap bars along the way. With every record, Sheeran gained more acclaim. His sophomore record produced the mega Billboard #2 hit , " Thinking Out Loud ," which won two Grammys including Song of the Year. The final single from the album, " Photograph " was written in collaboration with Snow Patrol 's Johnny McDaid . Sheeran drew inspiration from his long distance relationship with singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt (the featured musician on Kodaline ’s acoustic version of “Brand New Day” ). The two spent five months apart. They would eventually break up, but the song remains a gem on Sheeran's second best-selling record. LOVING CAN HURT . "Photograph" was the song that introduced m
When I was a Christian teenager, a book started circulating in my church youth group. Joshua Harris wrote about youth with wisdom and authority that seemed logical and categorical for every situation to the young women who read I Kissed Dating Goodbye . The book’s thesis argued that dating was a worldly alternative to the more purposeful Christian concept of courtship. Dating fueled erotic passions, which must be saved for a heterosexual marriage. Dating is casual, even preteens dates. Courtship was about vetting a marriage partner and would happen in the late teen years or early adulthood. YOU THINK I'M PRETTY WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP ON . Josh Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye was part of a movement I’ve written about a lot: purity culture. How much this movement influenced young Katy Hudson, a pastor’s daughter in Southern California, touring with a slew of Christian rockers on the heels of her debut, self-titled album , I can only speculate what went through the 17-year-old star’s
I've talked about how Carrie & Lowell , Sufjan Steven 's 2015 masterpiece, is a quintessential portrait of dealing with grief and forgiveness when I wrote about the first two tracks, " Death with Dignity ," and " Should Have Known Better ." By the third track on the record, " All of Me Wants All of You ," explores grief in a different way from the previous two tracks. As with most songs on the album, "All of Me" appears to be deeply personal to the artist. But being personal doesn't stop this track's language from being the most obscured with allusions to geography and possibly an allegory from a little-known Spanish play. ALL OF ME THINKS LESS OF YOU. There's a debate on Lyrics Genius about the meaning of this song, especially surrounding the identity of the only other character mentioned by name in this song, Manelich. Is he the one the song is about? Stevens has written vaguely about homosexual attraction throughout
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