"As the music is, so are the people of the country."
Turkish Proverb
Turkish Proverb
Type your response to the following prompt as a Word document and be sure to proofread and edit before you paste and post. Check either Billboard or Rolling Stone for the current list of America's top 50 songs. Choose at least 3 songs; avoid any songs you are very familiar with. Listen/study the lyrics to the selected songs.
Consider the subject matter, content and point of view of today's top songs and identify lines which contain poetic merit. What do these songs, as a whole, say about our modern American culture? In particular, what do these songs say about your generation as the greatest consumers of music media? How are gender roles represented in popular music? How is success measured?
24 comments:
Nicole Miller
According to Rolling Stone, the top forty songs mostly consist of pop, alternative, and hip-hop. These songs were judged as the most popular currently based on radio airplay, sales pertaining to a certain distributer “Neilsen,” and by streaming music activity related to online music sources. Songs like “Call Me Maybe,” “Wide Awake,” and “Payphone” are currently within the top five on the list. All of these songs are of the pop genre, and are all based around the first person point of view. Viewing the rest of the top songs of 2012, the vast majority are written and sung in the first person point of view as well. Most of the songs on this list are songs that you would expect to hear at a club and would dance to, having the repetitive bass beat holding the rhythm. As a whole, these songs are based on love, whether it be finding love, losing it, or trying to hold on to it. “Call Me Maybe” is about a girl finding someone she is interested, and trying to pursue that love. “Wide Awake” is about falling from love. Following suit, “Payphone” is about trying to rekindle his love, and “What Makes You Beautiful” is about young love. Keeping the theme, “Where Have You Been” is about searching for and finding love. All of these songs are within the top ten, as well as all have to do with love in some way. Reviewing the rest of the songs, the overwhelming majority has to do with some aspect of love. As a reflection of our culture, our current taste in music shows the importance we place in love and experiencing it. We aspire to find love, and to hold on to it. These songs represent that my generation desires to love and be loved, as well as to have music that contains a steady bass beat to dance to. Also, poetic devices and symbolism are used to portray the universal ideas in this year’s top songs. For instance, in Elli Goulding’s “Lights,” the line “I had a heart then but the queen has been overthrown” is symbolic and interesting, as it alludes to someone losing their heart and way due to a certain event, relating to the overthrowing of a queen. Another line that contains poetic merit is in “Titanium” by David Guetta. “You shoot me down but I won’t fall, I am titanium,” Guetta is attempting to show how strong he is by saying that he is titanium. In this instance, the titanium is a symbol for courage and strength.
“Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan portrays a theme of bitter irony. Within the lyrics an initial image of someone who is glamorously spoiled and unprepared for the future. The lyrics then shift to that same person having been reduced to nothing even though they had been warned they may fall down in the future. The narrator repeatedly taunts the aforementioned person by stating “How does it feel?” in an “I told you so” fashion. Imagery is used heavily depicting glamorous scenes such as “the chrome horse with your diplomat” and “the vacuum of his eyes” to contrast this individual’s past and present. This song seems to portray this generation’s lack of responsibility and the youth’s prioritization of popularity over morality. The youth of today are so concerned with fancy gadgets and gizmos they forget responsibility and friendship.
“Satisfaction” by the rolling stones conveys a theme of spoiled ignorance. The singer continually states how nothing is good enough for them no matter how hard they try and that they refuse to listen to anyone else. Repetition is key here in how the singer continually states how they “can’t get no satisfaction” in a whiny manner. The person portrayed in the song has many things but is not happy and just wants more. The character portrayed also refuses to listen to outside sources to find ways to find “satisfaction” but refuses to listen to those who try to “drive” their “imagination”. This song further conveys the spoiled nature of this generation. It’s sadly true that those of this generation just want more and more but do not really feel its worth.
“Imagine” by John Lennon is about what a utopian world would be like. It utilizes dream-like diction by repeating “imagine” and “dreamer” to portray the impossible seeming possibility of a perfect world. They singer calls himself a dreamer, but wants others to join in on their beliefs because they believe if all of humanity bands together the impossible can be possible. It creates a solemn sense of optimism. This song takes yet another shot at the whole obsession with possession that the previous two songs glanced over. It speak of having “nothing to kill or die for” in a perfect world. Society today is so bent on having “things” that it doesn’t understand that these “things” are the root of all evil.
Seth A. killingbeck
“Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan portrays a theme of bitter irony. Within the lyrics an initial image of someone who is glamorously spoiled and unprepared for the future. The lyrics then shift to that same person having been reduced to nothing even though they had been warned they may fall down in the future. The narrator repeatedly taunts the aforementioned person by stating “How does it feel?” in an “I told you so” fashion. Imagery is used heavily depicting glamorous scenes such as “the chrome horse with your diplomat” and “the vacuum of his eyes” to contrast this individual’s past and present. This song seems to portray this generation’s lack of responsibility and the youth’s prioritization of popularity over morality. The youth of today are so concerned with fancy gadgets and gizmos they forget responsibility and friendship.
“Satisfaction” by the rolling stones conveys a theme of spoiled ignorance. The singer continually states how nothing is good enough for them no matter how hard they try and that they refuse to listen to anyone else. Repetition is key here in how the singer continually states how they “can’t get no satisfaction” in a whiny manner. The person portrayed in the song has many things but is not happy and just wants more. The character portrayed also refuses to listen to outside sources to find ways to find “satisfaction” but refuses to listen to those who try to “drive” their “imagination”. This song further conveys the spoiled nature of this generation. It’s sadly true that those of this generation just want more and more but do not really feel its worth.
“Imagine” by John Lennon is about what a utopian world would be like. It utilizes dream-like diction by repeating “imagine” and “dreamer” to portray the impossible seeming possibility of a perfect world. They singer calls himself a dreamer, but wants others to join in on their beliefs because they believe if all of humanity bands together the impossible can be possible. It creates a solemn sense of optimism. This song takes yet another shot at the whole obsession with possession that the previous two songs glanced over. It speak of having “nothing to kill or die for” in a perfect world. Society today is so bent on having “things” that it doesn’t understand that these “things” are the root of all evil.
Hi Mr. Kefor, Sorry if this is late - I couldn't find the due date on the syllabus.
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Neon Trees – Everybody Talks
“I'm a sorry sucker and this happens all the time”
- Alliteration
“Hey honey you could be my drug
You could be my new prescription
Too much could be an overdose
All this trash talk make me itching”
- Metaphor
Maroon 5 – One More Night
“You and I go hard
At each other like we going to war”
- Simile
“So I cross my heart, and I hope to die
That I'll only stay with you one more night
And I know I've said it a million times
But I'll only stay with you one more night”
- Hyperbole
Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
“And me, falling for a screaming that I'm right
And you, will hide away and find your piece of mind with”
- Enjambment
“I used to think, that we, were forever ever ever
And I used to say never say never”
- Hyperbole
Today’s top songs focus on intimate relationships. The songs talk about relationships in definite terms, often exaggerating their importance or impact on the partners. Some songs, such as One More Night by Maroon 5 compare relationships as a war. Other songs, such as Taylor Swift’s We are Never Ever Getting Back Together talk about relationships as troublesome and frustrating, and ultimately not worth their time. In Everybody talks by Neon Trees, relationships are compared to addictive drugs that can’t be escaped, thus leaving one or both parties sick and guilty of the trouble.
These songs present an image of Americans as a relational driven generation. They question the value of their relationships and the appropriate intensity of their relationships. Females are portrayed as both controlling and in control of themselves.
Zack Sicard
Poetry of Song
Culture Assignment
Today’s top songs are “One more night” by Maroon 5, “We are never ever getting back together” by Taylor Swift and “Some Nights” by Fun. “One more night” by Maroon 5 is a perfect example of a very unhealthy relationship that is only kept alive by a physical attraction between man and a woman. Even though the guy can’t stand the girl he’s with, she wouldn’t know because in his words “My body keeps on telling you yes”. In a healthy relationship one cannot just “let it all go” because then making love will leave the guy “feeling guilty as hell”. This song most likely grasps the attention of the males in my generation. The generation that I am in likes to hear music that they can easily relate to. “We are never ever getting back together” by Taylor Swift is a song that any girl would write if they turned into a music star. Of course a girl that went through a bad relationship is going to make a song about it when she becomes famous. In high school most relationships don’t last very long but there are always girls that are going to think it will last “forever”. These girls in particular relate to T-Swift when she says “Never say never”. In “Some Nights” by Fun, Nate Ruess expresses the sacrifice of his artistic principles in order to become famous. Midway through the song Ruess refers to his “ghost” and asks himself “what do I stand for”? Nate’s ghost is his hope of achieving fame without doing away with his artistic principles. Ruess wants balance between fame and his old life which is very hard. Nate Ruess has succeeded and has set the bar as far as I’m concerned with measuring an artist’s success. This trio of songs says a lot about modern American culture in the sense that to become famous you have to sacrifice certain things. To become a real success you must sell yourself to the music industry while still expressing yourself in a truly unique way.
Steven Schlehuber
When I was looking at the Billboard Top 100, I noticed something that a lot of the songs had in common. The majority of the songs I saw on there are songs that young girls like to listen to. It was either that or the songs were songs that people like to dance to. This was not the case for all of the songs but just for most of them. For instance, the song, We are never getting back together, by Taylor Swift. I know that if that song came on the radio in a car full of small girls, they would most likely turn it up and sing along. The same thing applies to the song, As long as you love me, by Justin Bieber. It does not even matter what he is actually singing. Just the fact that he is singing would make them want to listen. Lastly, the song Whistle, by Flo Rida is a song that makes people want to dance when they hear it. It is not necessarily a good song but for that reason people enjoy listening to it. I personally am not a fan of any of these songs. This shows that you do not have to be that talented to be as successful as these people. If you want to be successful in the musical industry you should make songs that are catchy and that appeal to young girls. This shows a lot about my generation of consumers. It shows that a person with very little talent can have one of the top songs on Billboards Top 100. This is because of the certain music that the majority of my generation likes to listen to. I believe that there are some people that deserve to be in the top 100 much more than these people. It seems that success is based off of the amount of young girls that you can get to listen to your songs. If I was planning on becoming a musical artist I would not write music that even I enjoyed listening to. I would write music much like this because these songs are somehow some of the best songs out right now.
Steven Schlehuber
When I was looking at the Billboard Top 100, I noticed something that a lot of the songs had in common. The majority of the songs I saw on there are songs that young girls like to listen to. It was either that or the songs were songs that people like to dance to. This was not the case for all of the songs but just for most of them. For instance, the song, We are never getting back together, by Taylor Swift. I know that if that song came on the radio in a car full of small girls, they would most likely turn it up and sing along. The same thing applies to the song, As long as you love me, by Justin Bieber. It does not even matter what he is actually singing. Just the fact that he is singing would make them want to listen. Lastly, the song Whistle, by Flo Rida is a song that makes people want to dance when they hear it. It is not necessarily a good song but for that reason people enjoy listening to it. I personally am not a fan of any of these songs. This shows that you do not have to be that talented to be as successful as these people. If you want to be successful in the musical industry you should make songs that are catchy and that appeal to young girls. This shows a lot about my generation of consumers. It shows that a person with very little talent can have one of the top songs on Billboards Top 100. This is because of the certain music that the majority of my generation likes to listen to. I believe that there are some people that deserve to be in the top 100 much more than these people. It seems that success is based off of the amount of young girls that you can get to listen to your songs. If I was planning on becoming a musical artist I would not write music that even I enjoyed listening to. I would write music much like this because these songs are somehow some of the best songs out right now.
Steven Schlehuber
When I was looking at the Billboard Top 100, I noticed something that a lot of the songs had in common. The majority of the songs I saw on there are songs that young girls like to listen to. It was either that or the songs were songs that people like to dance to. This was not the case for all of the songs but just for most of them. For instance, the song, We are never getting back together, by Taylor Swift. I know that if that song came on the radio in a car full of small girls, they would most likely turn it up and sing along. The same thing applies to the song, As long as you love me, by Justin Bieber. It does not even matter what he is actually singing. Just the fact that he is singing would make them want to listen. Lastly, the song Whistle, by Flo Rida is a song that makes people want to dance when they hear it. It is not necessarily a good song but for that reason people enjoy listening to it. I personally am not a fan of any of these songs. This shows that you do not have to be that talented to be as successful as these people. If you want to be successful in the musical industry you should make songs that are catchy and that appeal to young girls. This shows a lot about my generation of consumers. It shows that a person with very little talent can have one of the top songs on Billboards Top 100. This is because of the certain music that the majority of my generation likes to listen to. I believe that there are some people that deserve to be in the top 100 much more than these people. It seems that success is based off of the amount of young girls that you can get to listen to your songs. If I was planning on becoming a musical artist I would not write music that even I enjoyed listening to. I would write music much like this because these songs are somehow some of the best songs out right now.
Zachay Freedman
There are three songs that stick out to me as “Songs that show what our modern American culture is like.” The first song I chose from billboard’s top 1-10 songs for the week of September 29, 2012 was #1 “One More Night” (Maroon 5). I chose this one in particular because of the clear subliminal messaging that influences love, sex, and power throughout the song. This seems to be a trend throughout the top ten, as multiple songs have these same messages trickled inside of them. The song title “One More Night” implies that the song writer(s) (Maroon 5) had a blissfully uncontrollable, and give it your last type of mind set when righting this song having to do with basically your last night with someone. “Yeah I stopped using my head, using my head let it all go
Got you stuck on my body, on my body like a tattoo And now I'm feeling stupid, feeling stupid crawling back to you” (rapgenius.com). The lyrically determination by the author to influence the listener to behave like this is astounding, and shows me personally that song writers can have immense influences on a culture.
The next song that I thought would show reflections on our culture today was “Good Times” (Owl City). This song is evident to me even more that there is a trend of money, sex, love, power, and a “Doesn’t matter” type of attitude towards, well just life in general. This is kind of disappointing to me that this is where our culture has arrived at but none-the-less it is unenviable to stop us children from thriving towards danger. “Hands up if you’re down to get down tonight”, “Slept in all my clothes like I didn't care
Hopped into a cab, take me anywhere” (rapgenius.com). These are great examples of the care free lifestyle promoted in this song, and in most of these top tens. I personally think it is wrong, but almost funny how they show clear lines portraying to sex, in songs that may be heard by younger children, without any discretion. But it also shows fantastic use of hidden messages within the rhythm.
Finally, the third and final song that I chose from the billboard’s top ten was “Whistle” (Flo Rida). This song really stood out to me as a song about sex. It never yields to the fact, and actually embraces it. For Example “Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby Let me know Girl I'm gonna show you how to do it And we start real slow
You just put your lips together And you come real close Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby Here we go” (rapgenius.com). Honestly I think that is disturbing, it feels to me that Flo Rida is deliberately trying to dismantle the innocence of young minds in our nation today. To make millions off of a song like this is frankly disheartening, but anyway I think this song is a perfect example that shows how much influence music has on our culture. One song like this and now there are hundreds of people repeating these lyrics probably not even knowing the underlying message. But in the end I believe people will try to change our culture, by putting more pressure on song writers to right more deep, meaningful, and powerful songs to influence our nation to reach news heights.
There are three songs that stick out to me as “Songs that show what our modern American culture is like.” The first song I chose from billboard’s top 1-10 songs for the week of September 29, 2012 was #1 “One More Night” (Maroon 5). I chose this one in particular because of the clear subliminal messaging that influences love, sex, and power throughout the song. This seems to be a trend throughout the top ten, as multiple songs have these same messages trickled inside of them. The song title “One More Night” implies that the song writer(s) (Maroon 5) had a blissfully uncontrollable, and give it your last type of mind set when righting this song having to do with basically your last night with someone. “Yeah I stopped using my head, using my head let it all go
Got you stuck on my body, on my body like a tattoo And now I'm feeling stupid, feeling stupid crawling back to you” (rapgenius.com). The lyrically determination by the author to influence the listener to behave like this is astounding, and shows me personally that song writers can have immense influences on a culture.
The next song that I thought would show reflections on our culture today was “Good Times” (Owl City). This song is evident to me even more that there is a trend of money, sex, love, power, and a “Doesn’t matter” type of attitude towards, well just life in general. This is kind of disappointing to me that this is where our culture has arrived at but none-the-less it is unenviable to stop us children from thriving towards danger. “Hands up if you’re down to get down tonight”, “Slept in all my clothes like I didn't care
Hopped into a cab, take me anywhere” (rapgenius.com). These are great examples of the care free lifestyle promoted in this song, and in most of these top tens. I personally think it is wrong, but almost funny how they show clear lines portraying to sex, in songs that may be heard by younger children, without any discretion. But it also shows fantastic use of hidden messages within the rhythm.
Finally, the third and final song that I chose from the billboard’s top ten was “Whistle” (Flo Rida). This song really stood out to me as a song about sex. It never yields to the fact, and actually embraces it. For Example “Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby Let me know Girl I'm gonna show you how to do it And we start real slow
You just put your lips together And you come real close Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby Here we go” (rapgenius.com). Honestly I think that is disturbing, it feels to me that Flo Rida is deliberately trying to dismantle the innocence of young minds in our nation today. To make millions off of a song like this is frankly disheartening, but anyway I think this song is a perfect example that shows how much influence music has on our culture. One song like this and now there are hundreds of people repeating these lyrics probably not even knowing the underlying message. But in the end I believe people will try to change our culture, by putting more pressure on song writers to right more deep, meaningful, and powerful songs to influence our nation to reach news heights.
Beck Gerritsen
Please refer to my blog post on 9/26/12
The three songs I picked for my Popular Music as a Reflection of Culture assignment were Gangnam Style by PSY, Payphone by Maroon 5, and One More Night by Maroon 5. These songs show the immorality, foolishness, and carelessness of modern culture.
Payphone by Maroon 5 is a song about a man who has spent all of his change, and given all he could give to a person who abandons him. This tells me that our culture is careless, and much too open to give to anyone, no matter their intentions. This tells a story of a careless person, and says that society today is just as careless and does not plan for the future.
One More Night by Maroon 5 is about a person’s intimate experiences. This tells me that today’s society is carefree, and immoral. If our songs are this open and free about a subject that is best kept to oneself, then it says that our society has completely accepted immoral values and is okay with inappropriate topics such as this.
Gangnam Style by PSY is a song that is almost entirely in Korean. This tells me that our culture no longer cares what our musicians have to say. This song is a perfect example of how people today care so little about other people’s thoughts that they could be literally in another language, and it would make no difference to them. By extension, this shows that people today do not care what anyone has to say. They only care about their ideas and have closed their mind to anyone else’s.
In conclusion, today’s society is in a downward spiral of carelessness, selfishness, and immorality. Overall, our music today does not bear a positive message for our culture. However, it bears an important message that we would be wise to heed. We should change our ways before it is too late.
Shifting from the theme of relationships in the songs “One More Night” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” to the theme of longing for an identity in the song “Some Nights”, the top three songs in the country all utilize upbeat music, similar uses of onomatopoeia, and common shifts within the music to appeal to our modern American culture.
The three most popular songs in the country at the moment all contain an upbeat music style. The musical aspect of the songs is important because it is the first things you most often hear when the song begins. Having a cheerful melody selection makes the song appealing to many audiences, which attracts a large profit. With the help of an appealing tune, a song can become very popular and successful in American culture.
Incorporating the use of onomatopoeia in a song can also add to its attractiveness to large audiences. All three songs utilize, in one way or another, the sound “oooh”, which is also appealing to listen to. It is a simple element of the songs that links them together even though they are generally different.
Tempo changes in the music of a song affect the mood of the song. The top three songs of the American culture all develop changes in the music. This allows the audience to easily identify a shift in the song as well as create a distinction between lines or verses of the song. The songs utilize the change in music to draw attention to the shift and add depth to the song.
American culture is largely based on our popular music. The top three songs right now are “One More Night”, by Maroon 5; “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, by Taylor Swift; and “Some Nights”, by Fun. Although these songs are not all similar in terms of theme and mood, they all utilize comparable devices to attract listeners. Their use of similar tempo shifts, language, and melody are contributing factors to their great success in the music media industry.
Jamie Weaver
Refer to my blog to view the date posted
The Three songs i chose for my reflection of culture assignment are “Time is Love” by Josh Turner, “One More Night” by Maroon 5 and “I won’t give up” by Jason Mraz. The theme in the three songs was wasting time on love.
Time is love is a song that in reality says every second of your life could be used for and on love. Which to me is not the way a life should be spent. A normal person can't spend a lot of their time dealing with love because they are working or going to school. To me this a a perfect example of many people are spending their time doing the wrongs things and my carefree choices.
One More Night again shows how time is being wasted by trying to be with one person. One more night is another careless song just the time that was wasted on writing this song and the process to get it released just shows that modern culture is careless and will listen to anything that is considered good by other people.
I won't give up shows just not moving on after a relationship can lead to even more lost time. If you use that time right you might be able to find a better and stronger relationship. There is no telling in what you can do with such little amounts of time. A little bit of time can make a huge difference.
Today's top and popular music culture is careless. We should learn from these songs not how to act but how not act so we can realize we should use every available second to our own advantage. Even though we all know that is not whats being learned. Maybe one day society and music artist a like will realize this type of music is ruining us as a whole.
I posted mine on my blog by accident.
Ashley Liebherr
Posted on my blog on September 26.
Shifting between genres, today’s top songs have common themes, the artists of the top songs utilize themes of good and bad relationships, love and painful heart ache. The three songs that I will take examples from are “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift, “As Long As You Love Me” by Justin Bieber, and “Blow Me(One Last Kiss)” by P!nk. The point of view is usually the singers’ perspective. The subject of the Taylor Swift song is that she was in a relationship that was on and off for a period of time and she loved the person the song is about, but she is going through heart ache and she is stating that it is over for good. The line “We are never ever ever getting back together” is used as repetition. There is also alliteration, as shown in the line, “this time I'm telling you, I'm telling you” the “t” is repeated making this alliteration. The subject of the Justin Bieber song is that he loves someone who he wants to always love him. The song can be interpreted in a few different ways, one way would be that he wrote it about his girlfriend, Selena Gomez, and another is that he wrote it about his fans. He uses personification in this song as well as many metaphors. An example of personification would be the following, “smile on your face even though your heart is frowning/ But hey now, you know girl,/ We both know it's a cruel world” Hearts cannot frown and worlds cannot be cruel. An example of a metaphor would be, “As long as you love me/ I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold” He can’t actually become these things but he is saying he will. Last the P!nk song is about the bitterness of a break up. She is feeling heart ache and mad at the person that the song is about and is using the song as a way to take out her frustrations. The line, “I've been dying over you” is a hyperbole because if she had died over something like this she would not have been alive to write or sing this song. An example of personification is, “My head is spinning so (blow me one last kiss)” This is a commonly used phase meaning that you cannot get your thoughts together and are confused, heads cannot actually spin. These songs show that Americans enjoy upbeat music that they can relate their everyday lives to, everyone has relationships at some point in their lives and everyone gets their heart broken at sometime. Most of the popular songs of this generation are popular for being upbeat and relatable. In my opinion these songs are popular with my generation because music cheers people up, if you get depressed you listen to your favorite songs and they might be able to cheer you up. When it comes to music I don’t think that gender roles are very important because most people don’t say I like this song because the singer is a girl and I don’t like listening to male singers. I think that people base their opinions of music of lyrics and sound more than gender, although boy bands tend to sell more music when they are more attractive. Success is measured in music by the amount of people paying to listen to your music, if your song is the most downloaded on iTunes then you are usually very successful and if you have a lot of songs that hit number one than you are more successful for every song/ album. The three songs have a lot in common with all popular music of this generation.
Ashley Boulos
September 25th 2012
Poetry of Song A
Refer to my blog for original posting date
The songs One More Night by Maroon Five, Blown Away by Carrie Underwood, and What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction all depict that overall our generation is focused on problems within themselves and the relationships they have with the people around them. Our generation worries about what people think of them more than what they think of themselves, relationships are more important than friendships, and parents, who chose to have children, don’t care for them. All of 3 of these dilemmas make a major impact of artists of today, and what music they choose to write/sing about. Although these problems within society make us who we are, they are not problems that many people wish to endure.
One More Night by Maroon Five is about a boyfriend and girlfriend who fight all the time and eventually break up, but the boy wishes to spend one more night with the girl. This song shows that recently Americans have a hard time staying in relationships, and become very depressed and over consumed with emotions for that one person. Many relationships, even marriages end in awful terms leaving both sides of the once committed relationship unhappy. This song is number one on the Billboard charts and I feel it is because it is emotionally relatable. Many people use music as a way to mend hard feelings and emotions, and this song is similar to situations that many people have on daily basis.
Blown Away by Carrie Underwood also is a representation of our generation. This song is about Carrie as a young child with an alcoholic father that often times beats her. She is neglected and uncared for but she broke away from that. This song represents our generation because many children in our generation go through this same type of torture with a family member. Many young children and teenagers can relate to this song because of a problem they may have endured within their own home, and most of them want to grow up and break free from the agony of their deplorable childhood.
One Direction’s What Makes You Beautiful is also a depiction of today’s generation. Within today’s generation many girls across the country have extreme insecurities. This song is a story of how a girl thought that she was not pretty or good enough for anything, but a boy comes along and tells her that she is beautiful even though she doesn’t see it. This song shows that the extreme pressures on girls, and even boys, to look perfect leads to extreme insecurities and body image issues. Also, many of these children and bullied which leads them to be faced with extreme anxiety and feelings of loneliness that sometimes lead to suicides. This song is one of the top 100 because many girls listen to this song in order to boost confidence and make them feel like they are pretty. Although many people believe that our generation is filled with violence and drugs, I chose songs that depict the less harsh side of our generation and show a side of us that can be uplifted.
The Three songs i chose for my reflection of culture assignment are “Time is Love” by Josh Turner, “One More Night” by Maroon 5 and “I won’t give up” by Jason Mraz. The theme in the three songs was wasting time on love.
Time is love is a song that in reality says every second of your life could be used for and on love. Which to me is not the way a life should be spent. A normal person can't spend a lot of their time dealing with love because they are working or going to school. To me this a a perfect example of many people are spending their time doing the wrongs things and my carefree choices.
One More Night again shows how time is being wasted by trying to be with one person. One more night is another careless song just the time that was wasted on writing this song and the process to get it released just shows that modern culture is careless and will listen to anything that is considered good by other people.
I won't give up shows just not moving on after a relationship can lead to even more lost time. If you use that time right you might be able to find a better and stronger relationship. There is no telling in what you can do with such little amounts of time. A little bit of time can make a huge difference.
Today's top and popular music culture is careless. We should learn from these songs not how to act but how not act so we can realize we should use every available second to our own advantage. Even though we all know that is not whats being learned. Maybe one day society and music artist a like will realize this type of music is ruining us as a whole.
I Posted Mine On My Blog On Accident
Was posted on time on my blog
From within the top ten songs I chose these songs: "One More Night" by Maroon 5, "Too Close", by Alex Clare and "Everybody Talks" by Neon Trees. The reoccuring motif throughout all of these songs is relationships. Popular music has the same subject matter for the artists know what the majority of the audiance likes and that their music will sell. Each song references relationships but "Everybody Talks" talks about gossip and rumors too. These songs say a lot about our culture and more importantly our generation. I believe that all of the songs make connections to relationships, love, and gossip because they are things that kids and teens, for the most part, can relate to.The artists know what kids like and that their music will sell so they dont stray far from these basic ideas. I don't think the artists should be blamed for making the same music as everyone else.If I was going to make a ton of money doing one thing that everyone was doing or a little doing something original I would probably take the money too. Most people like this kind of music because they can relate to it. However does that mean that people can relate to it only because all they care about is theirs, and others relationships and gossip and rumors. That is exaggerated but I think the songs show that many people's priorities lie in gossip and relationships. In most popular music,besides ganster rap, gender isn't a factor. In these songs male singers talk about the struggles in their love life. There is also a Taylor Swift song ,or all of them, that talk about her love life. Wither these songs are negatively or positively describing their partner both genders do it. Also rapper is prodomminantly males but Nicki Minaj is a female rapper altering the sterotype that rap is only for male artists. Success is measured in numerous ways. It could refer to album sales or money. The success that is in songs is usually about the number of females someone has had interourse with, how many cars they have, or how much drugs and money they have.
Allison Brooks
Three of the top 40 songs, according to billboard.com, are "Payphone" by Maroon 5, "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Ray Jepsen, and "What Makes you Beautiful" by One Direction. By these songs, I can tell that our culture today no longer cares about song meanings or a story line that is told through the song. Payphone is a song about a guy who loves a girl and she no longer loves him and he becomes sick of everything about love. Almost every song today is about either falling in or out of love and it's becoming cliched. Call me Maybe and What Makes you Beautiful are all songs about people who love someone and that person doesn't love them back. From these songs, i can come to the conclusion that people are trying too hard to be like everyone else. All originality has disipated and now, people are left with sappy love songs that are probably false.
Hannah Labonte
Cultures of Popular music Blog
A Period Poetry of Song
As the generations change, so does the music that people are listening to. In the year 2012, Most of the most popular songs that are out, have no important meaning in the world anymore. They just have nice beats and a nice vibe to the song. The most popular type of music is usually happy, up-beat kind of music, country and R&B. Three songs that demonstrate this theory are, “Good Time” by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen, “Wanted” by Hunter Hayes, and “Hard to Love” by Lee Brice.
The song “Good Time” by Owl City and Carly Rae is about how everyday and every night is always a party and is always fun. They explain how they wake up happy and go to sleep happy. They do not have to try to have a good time they are always having a good time. This is a great symbolization of how our generation is today. Most kids are all about having a good time and having no worries. Most kids are open to doing and trying anything and that is what this song is explaining. It also shows how all the technology is so important. In the line “Freaked out, dropped my phone in the pool again” This shows how important technology is to teenagers and how it is defining our generation.
In the song “Wanted” by Hunter Hayes, it is a very pleasant song about a nice boy and how he feels about the girl he loves. This is a common type of music in this generation because most country or slow pop singers sing about love and heartbreak in their music. This song is about the artist and his love for a girl. He explains how he wants to make her feel wanted unlike anyone else has and how he truly feels something for her. This shows a lot about our generation because Hunter Hayes is saying that anyone can tell someone how they feel or make up how they love them, but he wants to make them know how he really feels. These lyrics show how our generation speaks to one and other and demonstrate our feelings.
“Hard to Love” By Lee Brice is another great example of the music that is mostly liked today. Most people are very into country. Lee Brice is a country artist who mostly sings about love and happiness, which is what most people are looking for in music. In Lee Brice’s song, “Hard to Love” Brice is explaining to the audience that he is not an easy person to be in love with and that he is happy that someone loves him “good”. He doesn’t want to pass up the opportunity of how much this girl loves him and how perfect she is for him, although he makes mistakes. He states that she loves him even though he doesn’t deserve it. This is a great song to give people hope and a happy but soft feeling when they listen to it. This defines how our generation is all linked to certain types of music.
Although music has changed since the protest generation and folk music, these songs still have a good meaning. They may not be about war, or anything too important in the world, but they still keep the crowd happy.
Just to sum it up.
Just to sum it up.
Natasha Merianos
The top three songs, currently, are “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift, “Gangnam Style” by PSY, and “Some Nights” by FUN. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift is a song about a boy who broke her heart, and she complains that they will never get back together. Like most people, they say “forever” but nothing lasts forever, therefore she was clearly let down by this boy. “Gangnam Style” by PSY is a song sang in Korean. The English translation is about a warm, loveable guy that wants the love returned back in his favor. There is also a Gangnam Style dance that goes along with this song. Finally, “Some Nights” by FUN is a Pop Indie song about sacrificing yourself for something. All of these songs are upbeat songs that can be easily sang or danced to.
Levi Kahn
9/25/12
Period A
Contrasting three entirely different sounding male artists, Maroon 5’s pop song , the Neon Trees’ club hit, and Kanye West’s rap song use provocative imagery, catchy repetition, and tasteful consonance to drive their songs to the top of the charts. Although sounding wildly different, these three songs have propelled their way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Songs.
In Maroon 5’s #1 hit song One More Night, the singer uses a very catchy, repetitive chorus over and over again throughout the song. This is the song’s backbone and is used to glue the rest of the song together. The chorus is the song’s tag line and the smooth, catchy repetition in and of the chorus itself holds the song together. The singer uses provocative imagery such as “throwin things and slamming the door” and “stuck on my body like a tattoo” to create a visual setting of his pain for his audience. Consonance is also very present throughout One More Night, filling out the verses with silky, tasteful lines that flow together nicely.
In the Neon Trees’ dance/pop hit song Everybody Talks, the singer again uses a very repetitive, ultra-catchy chorus throughout the song. This time, the title line is repeated again and again, but also the main riff off the song is repeated along with the chorus. The Neon Trees’ incorporated a catchy riff that repeats over and over again along with the chorus and the title line. This song’s imagery is also very provocative to its younger audience, with lines such as “take me to your love shack” and “then she made my lips hurt”. Targeting young audiences in clubs, their singer’s imagery captivates the audience, enticing them to listen to the rest of the song. The Neon Trees’ also use glistening consonance, giving the song a rhythm that is very easy to dance to.
In Kanye West’s rap hit Clique, the speaker uses the most repetition of any of the three songs in the chorus. This is the theme of the song, and the speaker drives home his opinion to the listener with the repetition used in the chorus. The speaker incorporates a great amount of consonance and assonance through the song, which is an effort to use clever wordplay to keep the audience interested and hanging on every word. The imagery is provocative, if profane at times, and creates a clear picture of the speaker’s street-life motif in the song. Although it is another world from the Neon Trees’ and Maroon 5, Kanye West’s clever uses of these rhetorical devices pushed his newest single to the top of the charts.
Levi Kahn
9/25/12
Period A
Contrasting three entirely different sounding male artists, Maroon 5’s pop song , the Neon Trees’ club hit, and Kanye West’s rap song use provocative imagery, catchy repetition, and tasteful consonance to drive their songs to the top of the charts. Although sounding wildly different, these three songs have propelled their way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Songs.
In Maroon 5’s #1 hit song One More Night, the singer uses a very catchy, repetitive chorus over and over again throughout the song. This is the song’s backbone and is used to glue the rest of the song together. The chorus is the song’s tag line and the smooth, catchy repetition in and of the chorus itself holds the song together. The singer uses provocative imagery such as “throwin things and slamming the door” and “stuck on my body like a tattoo” to create a visual setting of his pain for his audience. Consonance is also very present throughout One More Night, filling out the verses with silky, tasteful lines that flow together nicely.
In the Neon Trees’ dance/pop hit song Everybody Talks, the singer again uses a very repetitive, ultra-catchy chorus throughout the song. This time, the title line is repeated again and again, but also the main riff off the song is repeated along with the chorus. The Neon Trees’ incorporated a catchy riff that repeats over and over again along with the chorus and the title line. This song’s imagery is also very provocative to its younger audience, with lines such as “take me to your love shack” and “then she made my lips hurt”. Targeting young audiences in clubs, their singer’s imagery captivates the audience, enticing them to listen to the rest of the song. The Neon Trees’ also use glistening consonance, giving the song a rhythm that is very easy to dance to.
In Kanye West’s rap hit Clique, the speaker uses the most repetition of any of the three songs in the chorus. This is the theme of the song, and the speaker drives home his opinion to the listener with the repetition used in the chorus. The speaker incorporates a great amount of consonance and assonance through the song, which is an effort to use clever wordplay to keep the audience interested and hanging on every word. The imagery is provocative, if profane at times, and creates a clear picture of the speaker’s street-life motif in the song. Although it is another world from the Neon Trees’ and Maroon 5, Kanye West’s clever uses of these rhetorical devices pushed his newest single to the top of the charts.
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