“Youth Cats” by Secret & Whisper, Wednesday, December 27, 2023

In August 2010, Katy Perry released her seminal album Teenage Dream. While the former CCM singer had several big hits from her rebranded debut album, One of the Boys, it was Teenage Dream that solidified Perry in pop music history as the album tied with Michael Jackson’s Bad for having the most number 1 Billboard’s Hot 100. Teenage Dream wasn’t exactly a concept album, but many of the songs involved fantasy--romantic and sexual. But Teenage Dream wasn’t the only adolescent themed album of 2010. In April, Secret & Whisper released their sophomore record on Tooth & Nail, Teenage Fantasy. Unlike Katy Perry’s sophomore record, Secret & Whisper faded into obscurity after releasing their follow-up to Great White Whale. After one single, “Warrior” (Southern Arrowwood), was heard on Christian Rock radio, the band announced an indefinite hiatus in July 2011. 

TONIGHT I TRY TO STAY AWAY FROM YOU, LADY OF NORTHERN STAR. Listening to Teenage Fantasy, listeners would be hard-pressed to find anything that would warrant the band to be played on Christian Rock radio. Secret & Whisper being signed to Tooth & Nail Records included the band in the Christian Rock scene. While at least some of the band members held at least partial Christian beliefs, lead singer and songwriter Charles Furney (later known as Charles Finn) held extra-biblical beliefs of ghosts and the supernatural, which he talks about in an interview with Frank Jenks, explaining the lyrics from the band’s debut album, Great White Whale. On Teenage Fantasy, Charles alludes to Native American spirituality in “Warrior” (Southern Arrowood) and animism on most of the other tracks, including today’s song, “Youth Cats.” Unsurprisingly, the album was banned from some Christian retailers due to the band’s lyrics. Furthermore, when the band announced the title of their sophomore album, some fans thought that the band was hinting at something perverted. Charles dispelled these rumors in a MySpace blog post. He wrote: “For all of you that have put a pervy twist on the name Teenage Fantasy, all [I] can say is gross. But what can you expect these days, aren[’]t we all kind of idiots?” (italics supplied). 


THE YOUNGER CATS HAVE COME TO TEAR AWAY. Secret & Whisper’s Teenage Fantasy opens with the song “Youth Cats.” Musically, the band stays within the genre of melodic speed metal they established on their debut record, Great White Whale. While the lyrics are sparse on Great White Whale, the lyrics on Teenage Fantasy are immature. It’s an adult reflecting on his teenage fantasies. These fantasies are not sexual, at least mostly, but the fantasy of the album feels more like fantasy as a literary or film genre. “Youth Cats” is a song about “The Lady of Northern Star,” also known as “The lady of miracles” who “commands the river.” The image in the song is about a middle-aged woman who is probably single and who may be openly a shaman or at least is rumored to be a witch. The rumors pique the young speaker’s interest, so he decides to spy on her one night, and that night he happens to see her bathing nude in the river. The speaker’s tone is one of awe and fascination. He feels this shaman has unlocked secrets of the earth through her rituals. Then, who are the youth cats? When Charles Finn sings “The younger cats have come to tear away / Tonight they hunt their prey and it is you,” perhaps he’s alluding to the new ideas and youth who have no interest in shamanism. Maybe it’s the new ideas that don’t listen to the earth and actively try to rid society of the magic. Maybe the song is a lament about how youth culture erodes society from traditions that link us to our history.

 


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