thoughts/questions/constructive criticism v welcome cause I’m trying to narrow down the list. I always end up asking for everything in monster letters and I need to chill (also these are only songs; I have a whole different list of music videos)
Your Best American Girl - Mitski (song) -begins so meek and (seemingly) straightforwardly sweet and transforms over the course of the song into a clarion call of hard-won triumph -diaspora feelings up and down and all around, in the air and everywhere -sometimes you love the person but you can’t fit into their world without changing yourself and sometimes you don’t want to change yourself and that’s okay! Good, even! Thank you Mitski! -Mitski is holding absolutely nothing back, ever; some of these lyrics I’d be afraid to write cause they’re embarrassingly honest but I have to respect that
Washing Machine Heart - Mitski (song) -odd thumping rhythm that really works -starts insouciant and gets disturbingly vulnerable and needy real quick - “toss your dirty shoes in my washing machine heart/baby bang it up inside” -”baby though I’ve closed my eyes/I know who you pretend I am” -for those who like twisty thorny complicated dynamics
Doves In The Wind - SZA (song) -this song has panache, chutzpah, swagger, style, confidence, whatever you wanna call it. It has that. All of that. -”it’s only replaced by a rubber substitute/we ain’t feelin you” she went all the way there -there’s still some of that trademark SZA vulnerability even after all that confidence; the singer knows her worth and isn’t going to have any nonsense but she still wants somebody: “I wanted to do it all/unfortunately you couldn’t get your shit together” -on the day that she meets someone with their shit together, is she too jaded to open up or…?
Garden (Say It Like Dat) - SZA (song) -SZA’s voice is dreamy and romantic and uniquely hers -the first chorus is beautiful but in the second chorus, her voice has such warmth and generosity and affection in it when she sings: “open your heart up/hopin’ I’ll never find out that you’re anyone else/cause I love you/just how you are” -this chorus comes with the prompt built in cause first of all, does she find out that the object of her affections is “anyone else”? -and second of all, the chorus immediately continues with: “and hope you never find out who I really am/cause you’ll never love me/you never love me/you’ll never love me/but I believe you when you say it like that” -Who is she? Does she get her heart broken or not???
Normal Girl - SZA (song) -her voice is absolutely exquisite and it’s got longing in not just sweet notes but also when her voice breaks off and in the way she times her breathing and everything she does -has a built-in conflict the same way Garden (Say It Like Dat) does; the singer longs for her lover to treat her as a long-term, full partner, but instead her lover mostly just appreciates how sexually available she is and how openly she wants them -and throughout the song she laments that she’s not a “normal girl” which technically probably has a specific meaning to SZA but in fanfic world could mean anything at all -but then at the end of the song she hopes to get out of the unhealthy relationship: “This time next year I'll be livin' so good/won't remember your name, I swear.”
Retrograde - James Blake (song) -subtle power -the dizzying layering of “we’re alone now” repeated over and over in sonically warped ways -genuinely can’t decide if it’s disturbing or comforting or both -“suddenly I’m hit” -surely there’s a story in the relationship between the singer & the listener
10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) - Matt Redman (song) -I wish I could find a better copy of this song because a better copy of this song would be the warm clear voice of a woman singing from the front of the church while there are people all around you singing and you’re too little to feel anything but perfectly safe and happy there and it’s the best music you’ve ever heard -but also this is not just a nostalgia song, there’s a specific verse that is crying out for a story to be written about it: The sun comes up; it's a new day dawning it's time to sing Your song again whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me let me be singing when the evening comes -that is a prayer that could mean so many different things depending on the context. It could be a battle song, or something very desperate, or something quiet and resigned. It’s so simple and so beautiful.
Help me narrow down this list of songs? (1/2)
Your Best American Girl - Mitski (song)
-begins so meek and (seemingly) straightforwardly sweet and transforms over the course of the song into a clarion call of hard-won triumph
-diaspora feelings up and down and all around, in the air and everywhere
-sometimes you love the person but you can’t fit into their world without changing yourself and sometimes you don’t want to change yourself and that’s okay! Good, even! Thank you Mitski!
-Mitski is holding absolutely nothing back, ever; some of these lyrics I’d be afraid to write cause they’re embarrassingly honest but I have to respect that
Washing Machine Heart - Mitski (song)
-odd thumping rhythm that really works
-starts insouciant and gets disturbingly vulnerable and needy real quick
- “toss your dirty shoes in my washing machine heart/baby bang it up inside”
-”baby though I’ve closed my eyes/I know who you pretend I am”
-for those who like twisty thorny complicated dynamics
Doves In The Wind - SZA (song)
-this song has panache, chutzpah, swagger, style, confidence, whatever you wanna call it. It has that. All of that.
-”it’s only replaced by a rubber substitute/we ain’t feelin you” she went all the way there
-there’s still some of that trademark SZA vulnerability even after all that confidence; the singer knows her worth and isn’t going to have any nonsense but she still wants somebody: “I wanted to do it all/unfortunately you couldn’t get your shit together”
-on the day that she meets someone with their shit together, is she too jaded to open up or…?
Garden (Say It Like Dat) - SZA (song)
-SZA’s voice is dreamy and romantic and uniquely hers
-the first chorus is beautiful but in the second chorus, her voice has such warmth and generosity and affection in it when she sings: “open your heart up/hopin’ I’ll never find out that you’re anyone else/cause I love you/just how you are”
-this chorus comes with the prompt built in cause first of all, does she find out that the object of her affections is “anyone else”?
-and second of all, the chorus immediately continues with: “and hope you never find out who I really am/cause you’ll never love me/you never love me/you’ll never love me/but I believe you when you say it like that”
-Who is she? Does she get her heart broken or not???
Normal Girl - SZA (song)
-her voice is absolutely exquisite and it’s got longing in not just sweet notes but also when her voice breaks off and in the way she times her breathing and everything she does
-has a built-in conflict the same way Garden (Say It Like Dat) does; the singer longs for her lover to treat her as a long-term, full partner, but instead her lover mostly just appreciates how sexually available she is and how openly she wants them
-and throughout the song she laments that she’s not a “normal girl” which technically probably has a specific meaning to SZA but in fanfic world could mean anything at all
-but then at the end of the song she hopes to get out of the unhealthy relationship: “This time next year I'll be livin' so good/won't remember your name, I swear.”
Retrograde - James Blake (song)
-subtle power
-the dizzying layering of “we’re alone now” repeated over and over in sonically warped ways
-genuinely can’t decide if it’s disturbing or comforting or both
-“suddenly I’m hit”
-surely there’s a story in the relationship between the singer & the listener
10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) - Matt Redman (song)
-I wish I could find a better copy of this song because a better copy of this song would be the warm clear voice of a woman singing from the front of the church while there are people all around you singing and you’re too little to feel anything but perfectly safe and happy there and it’s the best music you’ve ever heard
-but also this is not just a nostalgia song, there’s a specific verse that is crying out for a story to be written about it:
The sun comes up; it's a new day dawning
it's time to sing Your song again
whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
let me be singing when the evening comes
-that is a prayer that could mean so many different things depending on the context. It could be a battle song, or something very desperate, or something quiet and resigned. It’s so simple and so beautiful.