Elley Colledge Music Blog

 I listened to the episode Up late with Taylor Swift's 'Midnights'. This podcast did a great job highlighting Swifts ability to create a themed album. They mention that Midnights  is not just a concept album, but a continuation of her musical world building. Each album highlights a different world and I think that  Midnights  teeters   in the world between reality and dreams. I think the most interesting thing that was talked about in this podcast was their analysis of Swifts different pens. A quill pen for when she is writing about poetic, deeper themes; a fountain pen for when she is writing about personal images; and a glitter gel pen for upbeat, easy writings. Once they said this, I could immediately categorize a lot of her songs into those different pens. They looked at the song "Anti-hero" and how each pen was used in this song. They also talked about respace. I have never heard about respace before, but once they started describing it I was able...

 For this weeks blog I decided to listen to "Night of the Living Baseheads" by Public Enemy. This song is something that I would never choose to listen to on my own. I picked this song because I think that way Public Enemy uses this song to inform a community about a problem is really interesting. The song opens with a recording of Malcom X and most listeners would think that Public Enemy was using this to look at the relationship between the rising sales of cocaine to systematic problems. However, Public Enemy uses their platform to tell the blatant truth of the situation. Comparing with many preceding Black Nationalist leaders, they are not sugar coating a truth. It is a way to express reality that may not be discussed in media. Many artists write songs about their experiences, but I think that this is different. Public Enemy is not just writing about their experiences, but they write as if their music is a form of media. It highlights many topics that are not talked about ...

 I chose to listen to Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen. I thought that it was interesting how this song is misunderstood by many Americans. Ronald Reagan used it during his presidency to talk about the future and dreams of many young Americans. I feel like since Springsteen shouted the lyrics, it made the story be interpreted as joyous. Listening closer to the lyrics, you understand the story in really anything but joyous. It reaches the topic of veterans who are unable to live a life after war because they were expected to die. " But I guess you didn't hear: you died in Vietnam"  this lyric really emphasized that message. The lack of jobs caused many men to live an unlivable life. Another song that I thought of that had a similar problem is "This is America" by Childish Gambino. This song became the theme song during the Black Lives Matter protests during 2020. As this song became more trendy, the message behind fell way. 

 I chose to listen to Psycho Killer by Talking Heads. Originally, I chose to listen to this one because it is one of the songs my brother would play before he had a wrestling match, so it brought back a lot of memories for me. After learning about it in class, its history became the main reason I wanted to write this song. I think that it is really interesting how this was the Talking Heads first original song and it is one of their most popular. Looking at this song, it focuses on the theme of evil and what it means to different artists. The song tells an interesting story of a killer with a split mind. In the beginning, it kind of sounds like the killer is remorseful but they had no control over what happened. With lyrics like, “I can’t seem to face up to the facts” and, “I can’t sleep cause my beds on fire.” I find it interesting how some of the bridge is sung in a different language. By doing this, it emphasized the idea of a fractured mental state. I really like how artists ca...