Tuesday, April 19, 2011
All you need is Love
Love is the most powerful element to this world. It endures all things and provides people with the sense of completeness. Life is for love. Love comes in all shapes and sizes; love for your parents, love for your peers, love for companionship, love for your significant other, and etc. Jason Mraz’s song, “Lucky”, describes how lucky he is to be “In love with my best friend.” Most importantly, music teaches you to love yourself. Inner beauty is what defines character. By loving yourself, you can love and provide for others and your community around you. Just remember what GaGa says, “Just love yourself.” Katy Perry’s whole song, “Firework”, displays a message of love for oneself and believing that you are original. You can give love through music by showing people that you care and cherish them. Many people use music in order to express their love for their significant others. Family love is very important and is demonstrated through music. Music provides children with a sense that their parents love and care for them and are proud of them. The band, Of Mice and Men, confesses to their parents that they hope they are ”Proud of who you raised up.” We Came As Romans reminds you to “Show love and show compassion.”
Creative minds
The best way that music helps to shape someone’s identity is through creativity. People use music to express themselves, as music is very bright and influential. Songs and lyrics are used to illustrate an artist’s innermost feelings; feelings that others can relate to. When performing live, artists are given an array of things in order to create an experience unforgettable for the follower. One concert that I will always remember was seeing Panic! at the disco in 2009. Their whole show was like a circus, with jugglers, people on stilts, and many other lights and sounds used to portray the true words of the songs and their meanings. Also, songs exploit using your imagination. Hands Like Houses states that, “Imagination is a vivid place to hide.” Woe Is Me professes that, “These dreams are my castles.” They teach you to dream of anything possible, and that dreaming is healthy. Kid Cudi is “Living my life, getting out dreams.” Underoath provides a sense of invincibility and A Day To Remember reminds you that you are a monument through your creativity. Many music videos use abstract ideas, with a plethora of shapes, colors, objects, and people in order to provide the viewer with an unforgettable experience. Jimmy Eat World’s song, ‘In the Middle’, reminds you to try your best and to be creative. As A Day To Remember puts it, “In the end it’s all about where you want to go and the road you take to help you get there.”
Mood Alteration
Music provides for mood alteration. When feeling sorrowful, you can listen to songs that will either relate to your feelings or help you to become happier. Asking Alexandria reminds us that, “We all loose someone at some point in our lives but don’t loose that smile.” Music is a huge way that athletes and competitors get pumped and excited. They can use songs to help them get zoned in. When going on road trips, people blast soundtracks in order to feel freedom and exhilaration. Music is the best means of communication, and allows for people to express their feelings. Saosin’s song, ‘Your not alone’, reminds people that others are there to comfort them in their dark times. Music is a used as a means of health and wellness as it sooths the body, allows you be in touch with your inner most feelings, and can be very peaceful. When studying, many people play instrumental music in the background for relaxation and a way to focus. Most importantly, music provides mood alteration by defending the concept of never giving up. Even when people feel sorrowful, or looked down upon, they can trust in their music to lift their spirits and bring them back up. Many songs are full of optimistic statements. Ethics are taught in the lyrics of many songs throughout various genres. They show you that trust, honesty, and truth are all important aspects to abide by. Sincerity is also a common trend among many of today’s biggest songs. Along with mood alteration comes feelings of greatness. Superiority is satisfactory. When proving someone wrong, many feel of greatness and achievement. Sleeping with Sirens wants to “see their faces when I prove them wrong.” Many songs provide this same sense of greatness.
Getting through these Hardships
Time is everything. Along with time comes many hardships. The human race is faced with hardships everyday. The hardships of being homeless, being laid off, or being judged by society are just a few. As we go throughout life, we build many different relationships. Throughout these relationships people always seem to come and go. Relationships can also bring hardships as negative feelings can be associated with ex best friends, ex lovers, co-workers and sometimes, even parents. An array of memories can come along with these hardships, but music supports you in your tough times. Many artists relate to these hardships through their songs, as they provide words that show the listener that they too have gone through troubled times. Sleeping with Sirens relates to ex friends as they sing, “True friends lie underneath,” as does Bring Me The Horizon when ranting, “Best friends means forever.” Woe Is Me shares their hardship with their parents, as they state, “That a father dies before his son,” in their song fame over demise. The song describes a father that has been absent in his kid’s life due to addiction, but expects money as his kid takes on fame. The music, however, will provide light at the end of the tunnel. When leaving home many people have fears, but music shows you that fear is normal. The music provides you with a way to mature and take on the new responsibility that can come with these hardships. Kid Cudi provides credit to his mother, by rapping about his “Moms Christmas Grind.” Music reminds you not to take any single moment for granted and to cherish your life. As mistakes are made various amounts of time in a person’s life, music gives you hope of forgiveness, a chance to learn and grow from these mistakes, and to never be embarrassed to be yourself. A Day To Remember reminds their viewer that “You never know what you have until it’s gone.” One of the biggest hardships is addiction. Addiction to anything; drugs, alcohol, anything in the world. As people face addiction, they turn to music in order to help them. Many artists have faced addiction and have either gotten through it or are getting help. The music allows the listener to receive help as they may choose to get over addiction.
Politicians beware
As many artist use music to express themselves and their beliefs, lyrics seem to be a threshold of influencing the government. The artist’s lyrics become their outlet of either anger or praise of politics and the certain ways that society is run. Many seem to bash the current U.S. government using their words to let out their anger and disagreement. Lil Wayne expresses his concern by saying, “But you got drafted to defend your U.S.A, Now you got war on your mind, put you on front line and you will die, die, the American way.” By doing so, the music acts as a guide for listeners to relate to. They can shape their beliefs of the political system by using the songs as a gateway. Eminem confesses, “Dear Mr. President, why you got our troops in the war and they fighting over shit that’s irrelevant. For freedom of speech the united government has sworn to uphold.” I am not saying that people should fully agree with an artist’s belief, as people need to make decisions for themselves. I am just suggesting that these words can be a starting point. They can plant the seed of the many controversies and current events that happen in the world. The people that their music reaches will then, hopefully, go on to research certain discussions and make a sand point for themselves. The music will act as an influence to their decisions and as a gateway, not just brainwashing them entirely.
Religious views
Many songs induce the listener with views on Religion. They share their beliefs in the power of God, the demise of the Devil, and describe the many stories of ancient mythology. They distinguish between good and evil and teach the meaning of karma. Woe is me, the band, distinguishes the two when singing, “The Devil and God are knocking at my door,” as they exploit temptation. Another band, Sleeping with sirens, reaches its Christian followers by saying, “Jesus do you feel me when our worlds collide, and if I have nothing left at least I have you. “ Yellowcard expresses their belief in heaven through their song, “View from Heaven.” Although not everyone is of the same religion, or believes in the power of god, songs provide a sense of realness as in what to believe in. Music teaches you to stand by what you believe in and to be open to learning about other religions. There are many religious musical acts out there, including Christian rock bands like The Almost, Jewish rappers, and even those who are Satanic. Judgment is not acceptable, and although others may not believe in the same religion as others, music shows that it is okay to continue to worship. The meaning of salvation and redemption are seen through out various types of music and that being washed of your sins is possible. Songs metaphorically relate rain to rebirth and teach the meaning of forgiveness. Many songs tell the story of then many in the bible like Jamie Elsewhere’s, “Prodigal Son.” As Lady Gaga put it, “I’m beautiful in my way because God makes no mistakes.”
Music shapes Identity
As the world begins to discover more and more about the human genome, DNA sequencing, and gene expression, the endless possibility’s of different characteristics in humans multiplies. People drift father and father apart from each other, trying to find something that everyone shares in common. That niche, that cement block, that supper glue that seems to hold everyone together is the power of music and its capability to help shape someone’s identity. Music is a cultural phenomenon expressing all different types of people’s beliefs and traditions. Identity is defined as The Condition of being Oneself and is influenced by a plethora of things. The choice one makes as to which music genre they like to listen to will thoroughly shape their identity, possibly without them even knowing. Many different types of music help to define character. Sleeping with sirens nailed it in their song, saying, “I started living with a purpose, and everyday I live this future.” Music promotes believing in yourself, pushes you to never give up, and to always follow your dreams. Music instills that life is for a purpose and that the future will be full of many things. It teaches you that we as people are not meaningless and that we are important in every way. As We Came As Romans put it, “I believe we are not meaningless” and we need to “fins faith in life.” The universe is a puzzling place, but music helps to put those pieces together. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbJPgIPL2sw
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