musiast

[musiast]

BIBI’s “Animal Farm” & Oppression in the Music Industry

Many of us are familiar with the story of Animal Farm. A group of animals rebelled against their master and drove him off the farm. A system known as “animalism” was put into place to ensure that all animals were treated equally. A group of pigs who were considered the “smartest” of the animals was appointed the leaders, and ultimately became power-hungry and oppressed the animals just as their master did. These events were inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917, in which the monarchy was overthrown by the revolutionaries and was replaced with a socialist form of government. However, it was not long before leaders such as Stalin became power-crazed and took advantage of the people as well.

Major recurrent themes in Animal Farm include class struggle or antagonism, power dynamics, and inequality. Although these themes were discussed in the context of the political turmoil of the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War II, George Orwell’s novel became a source of inspiration for works in numerous and diverse fields, including music. In the song I am discussing today, a few of these themes are further explored through the lens of an artist working in the music industry.

South Korean singer-songwriter, BIBI, recently released a new single called “Animal Farm”, a suspenseful, yet melancholic tune that talks about the consequences of being subjected to those in positions of power. One may consider the music video more surprising than the lyrics, as it is jam-packed with blood and gore, and is reminiscent of a typical Quentin Tarantino film. I was immediately intrigued by the concept and decided I wanted to break down the lyrics, which are in Korean, for English-speaking audiences such as myself.

And so we begin.

As the music video starts, the camera pans onto BIBI, who is kneeling down on a table with an apple in her mouth, much like a roasted pig. Surrounding her are men with white masks, patiently waiting to dine. Roasted pig is considered a delicacy in many countries, and is typically afforded by the wealthy and affluent. Around her, glasses of champagne and luxurious dishes are being served to the guests.

Verse #1 - Hypocrisy

Words of sin Masks of hypocrisy Overflowing in the ballroom Champagne popping Wine and bread The dance of stuffed pigs

My first thought is that BIBI is commenting on how she is the center of attention for many powerful men in the music industry. These men are masked, implying that they probably work behind the scenes unlike her. Although these men consider her (the roasted pig) a “delicacy”, they are also taking advantage of her by “feeding” on her. Perhaps BIBI has dealt with issues of being objectified as a female artist in the industry and feels as if her work is valued less than her physical appearance.

The image of champagne is analogous to the image of whiskey in Animal Farm and represents corruption. One of the commandments of animalism was that no animal would be allowed to consume alcohol, yet after gaining power, the pigs felt they could break the rule by drinking whiskey. In the context of the entertainment industry, this could be alluding to the fact that many record labels and music producers have the final call on the work an artist ultimately releases – that is, which works the label believes will be most profitable for them. In most cases, the artist is forced to accept these decisions or risk getting fired by their record label.  

Verse #2 - Power Dynamics

Welcome, well done Shameless friends of mine Who’s next Hang my pretty head in your room Where is love? Where is my sympathy? What have we lost? Is it a farm? Is it society? Am I a tiger or a gazelle?

BIBI addresses how people shamelessly use her for their own gain. She questions the lack of sympathy her so-called “friends” have for her and draws attention to the destruction their actions have caused. My assumption is that, once BIBI realized these people were taking advantage of her for personal gains, she cut ties with them. This obviously had negative consequences. I found her question about whether the world is a farm or society particularly interesting. In an ideal society, people are thought to live alongside each other in peace and harmony, while relationships are built on trust and community. On a farm, however, animals are raised in a structured environment and are only kept and nurtured until they are discarded for food - much like record labels that only keep an artist for as long as they are profitable. In BIBI’s view, the lines between these two extremes are blurring. Soon enough, will artists just be treated like farm animals that can be discarded?

Pre-chorus - Hidden Struggles

“It might be pretty, it might be beautiful…This might be right, this might be justice,” BIBI says in the post-chorus. From the outside, BIBI’s situation, like many artists, might seem positive. After all, she is in the spotlight, goes on concert tours, and is constantly meeting famous people. What could be so bad about her life? What many people are not aware of, however, is the oppression many artists like herself face behind the scenes in the music industry - that beyond the smiles and cheers, there are struggles unknown to us listeners.

Chorus - Revenge

Suddenly, the music video takes a dark turn. BIBI picks up a long sword, jumps onto the table, and slashes the neck of the man sitting at the head of it. One by one, she kills off the rest of the men in the dining room. Finally, she stops at a glass showcase with an electric guitar inside. She shoots it open with a gun, takes out the guitar, and begins playing an epic solo in her bloody white dress – surrounded by the countless dead bodies of the men she killed.

But I, sing to death the song of lies Dance along to death the dance of the devils The center of the grand feast Under the big guillotine To whom does the rolling head belong

By going along with the demands of those in power, BIBI is contributing to the very thing she despises. The fact that she has limited control over her creative work and expression makes her feel like she is not her own person, and has lost a sense of her identity. I believe the electric guitar symbolizes her desire to break free from the restraints of the industry and find her own voice.  

I thought it was very creative of BIBI to draw inspiration from Animal Farm in the process of creating this song and music video. It goes to show that more than 80 years later, Orwell’s story remains relevant in modern society. Unfortunately, this also means that issues of power dynamics and inequality are also still pervasive in society and across cultures and industries. Who would have imagined that the message of Animal Farm, an allegory of the 1917 Russian Revolution could be so perfectly encapsulated in a South Korean song released in 2022? I admire BIBI’s courage to come to terms with some serious issues she has experienced, and through highly creative means too.

#BIBI #88rising #kpop #animal farm #george orwell #songwriting #song lyrics #Spotify

[musiast]

Can Songs Not Be About Romantic Love?

I think we can all agree that most songs that exist are about romantic love. You don't need to look far - just turn on the radio and listen to what's playing. What are the top ten charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100 right now? I bet most of them are about love. Regardless of the type of love communicated through songs (i.e. passionate love, obsessive love, or toxic love), love remains a central theme in most of our songs and has been for as long as I can remember. Just to be clear, I am focusing on romantic love and have excluded other types of love such as familial, platonic, and self-love, which I believe are also underrepresented in the music industry and are examples of themes that are not explored enough.

For the longest time, I have been curious about why this is the case. There are plenty of interesting topics to explore in music, from the way the air smells on a spring morning to the way the fire crackles on a quiet night. We could discuss the thrill of riding a rollercoaster or the way our head aches after a night of heavy drinking. Yet moments like these are often overlooked. Is it because these experiences lack dramatization? They can be just as intense and stimulating as the act of experiencing love, so why are they not brought up more in music? I believe the problem lies in the media and its influence on popular culture.

I could get into an extended historical discussion about the origins of music and its sources of inspiration, trace it through time and attribute changes in its themes to several major cultural revolutions - but I'll leave that for another time. For the time being, I would like us to acknowledge the fact that, for various historical, political, cultural, and social reasons, the songs of today have come to rely primarily on themes of romantic love. On the industry's side, I believe this has contributed to decreased imagination in songwriting and repetitious themes. On the audience's side, I believe this has conditioned many listeners to anticipate certain themes in music and has presented an inaccurate representation of society's values.

So what else can songs be about?

Mental Struggles

This category may include sub-categorical themes about coming of age, growing up, stress, anxiety, depression, and discontent, to name a few. We may detail what it was like to experience those emotions in the time being, or perhaps discuss what it was like to overcome those emotional challenges.

Familial/Platonic Love

Who said we can't talk about non-romantic love? In this category, one may discuss their positive or negative experiences and relationships with friends and family members. Because as much as they have the capacity to love you, they also have the capacity to hurt you.

Work/Career

Often underrated, our professional life is just as important as other aspects of our lives. From the colleague you secretly hate to the stack of paperwork you have been procrastinating to work on for the past week, there is a lot of room for creativity in this category.

Inspiration/Positivity

If we can discuss the dark moments in our lives, we can also discuss the bright ones. In this category, artists may write about their positive experiences to inspire or empower both themselves and listeners.

Nature

Poets of the past frequently wrote about nature, although it is not as popular a theme in today's world. Yet nature is one of the most basic and shared experiences in humankind. Everyone has felt a connection to nature at some point, whether they were aware of it or not.

Death/Loss

Death is one of the most popular themes in music, yet it still seems overshadowed by themes about romantic love. All of us have or will inevitably experience grief as a result of losing someone we love and care about. It is an unfortunate but constant theme in our lives.

These are just a few examples of what other themes can be explored in music. My observations are not intended to discredit or disvalue the emotion of love. There is obviously a good reason why people write about romantic love. It is an intense and innate emotion that all humans have or will experience. People fall in love, fall out of love, separate, and get back together - these are all relatable experiences and are extremely impactful to one's life. However, themes about romantic love have been repeated so much that it is now considered the standard approach to songwriting. It has overshadowed the fact that there are plenty of other emotions and experiences to be explored in music that are equally as intense and interesting. I think it is worth taking the time to look around us and consider what other things (or themes of life!) are important to us.

Share those experiences with the world, and you may just be surprised to see how many people have experienced them too.

#love #romance #song lyrics #songwriting #sad #nature #work #career #death #loss #grief #inspiration #positivity #familial love #platonic love #Spotify

[musiast]

Why Lizzy McAlpine is Changing the Way I Listen to Music

A few months ago, I was browsing Spotify for new tracks to add to my playlist when I came across an artist named Lizzy McAlpine. McAlpine quickly became one of my favorite artists due to her unique sound. She has a voice so warm it could melt you into a puddle of butter, yet when she chooses to use it, her raw and raspy voice can bring out the underlying teenage angst in you (that is, unless you already are an angsty teenager). People have described McAlpine's musical style as being inspired by folk, jazz, and even R&B. It is most likely a mixture of all, which would explain the allure of her music. Most importantly, though, her lyrics are some of the most imaginative and genuine I’ve heard from an artist in recent years. Although McAlpine is steadily gaining recognition, I believe she deserves much more, especially for her songwriting skills. Allow me to demonstrate my point through a few examples.

The following are a few excerpts from Lizzy McAlpine’s most recent album, “five seconds flat”:

“doomsday"

Pull the plug, but be careful

I don’t wanna die too soon

I think there’s good in you somewhere

I’ll hang on ‘til the chaos is through

McAlpine starts off this verse by essentially telling her partner to go easy on her. The phrase, "pull the plug" evokes images of her laying in a hospital bed, presumably in her last stages of life. As listeners further explore the image, they can almost hear McAlpine's faint breathing and the intermittent beeping of the heart rate monitor off to the side. I believe this specific imagery is crucial to the theme of the song because McAlpine is implying she has already endured so much emotional pain and suffering from her partner. In a way, this is the final straw for her. Once he "pulls the plug", she will no longer be able to bear it. But despite her misery, she still wants to hang on to their relationship for as long as she can because she believes that there is still some good left in her partner. McAlpine anticipates that she will have to go through many sufferings as a result of her choice - as implied in the line, "I'll hang on 'til the chaos is through" - but she is still willing to do it.

The complex and layered meaning of McAlpine's lyrics may not be immediately obvious to audiences. But in my opinion, it makes the lyrics all the more impactful once we’ve actually taken the time to make sense of it.  

“chemtrails”

I see chemtrails in the sky, but I don't see the plane

What the hell is my problem with taking the blame?

'Cause I play with my food and then someone else takes it away

It's so hard to believe, but I'm trying to change

In this song, McAlpine describes her experience grappling with the passing of her father. She compares it to seeing chemtrails - visible trails left by an airplane and believed by conspiracists to consist of toxic chemicals used to harm the environment and its people. This is a very interesting choice of metaphor that could be interpreted in a few ways. Firstly, McAlpine could be referring to the fact that the plane had already passed (just as her father had passed away), leaving only remnants (or in McAlpine's case, memories) of what was once there. Another possible interpretation is that just as the existence of chemical contrails cannot be proven (it remains a conspiracy theory), so is the existence of her late father (who continues to be present only in her mind). She also describes taking the time she spent with him for granted, per the analogy of playing with her food just to watch someone else take it from her.

Similar to the last song, “chemtrails” may require a few times of listening before audiences can put the pieces together. It is even more challenging in the sense that, to understand the full essence of the song, you are also required to know about the conspiracy theory associated with chemtrails. I thought this was a very creative decision on McAlpine’s part, as it not only serves to deliver a more impactful experience for listeners but creates a more in-depth and multidimensional interpretation of the song.

Lizzy McAlpine’s lyricism is characterized by the frequent use of metaphors and vivid imagery used to evoke strong emotions from listeners. She rarely chooses to communicate her lyrics straightforwardly, but rather makes lyrical choices that encourage her listeners to think along with her as they are slowly transported into her world. So to answer the question, “How is Lizzy McAlpine Changing the Way I Listen to Music?”, I believe McAlpine’s music has been encouraging me to listen to music more actively rather than passively. Her use of metaphors, analogies, vivid imagery, and other lyrical devices has inadvertently forced me to pay more attention to deciphering the meaning of lyrics and “piecing together the puzzles”. Perhaps most importantly, though, McAlpine has inspired me to listen to what stories people have to tell.

References

Lizzy McAlpine. Lyrics to "doomsday". Genius, 2021, genius.com/Lizzy-mcalpine-doomsday-lyrics.

Lizzy McAlpine. Lyrics to "chemtrails". Genius, 2022, genius.com/Lizzy-mcalpine-chemtrails-lyrics.

#lizzy mcalpine #songwriting #lyrics #song lyrics #sad songs #music #indie music #alternative music #Youtube