Essays on Song Page 5

“Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera was recorded in 2002 for her fourth studio album, Stripped. It was written and produced by Linda Perry. To me, this song tells a story about the struggle of loving yourself in today’s society. It shows the persona’s want to love his or herself, and in some lines their ability to…

A song that I have enjoyed listening to throughout my life is “Gravity” by John Mayer from his well-known album, Continuum. John Mayer is known for his intense emotions that he portrays through his songs. He specializes in the genre of acoustic pop/rock. His music shows his ability to give a message without words, and…

The song “Heavy” is the lead single from Linkin Park’s seventh album One More Light. This is their first single featuring a female vocalist. The lead vocalist Chester Bennington is found singing about feeling the emotional weight of the problems that are “stacking up” and “unnecessary”. It is a song that is looked after his…

“Blurred Lines”, a song produced and sung by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, quickly ranked as a number one hit song in multiple countries. These well known musical artists then directed and released two differently rated music videos for this specific song. The unrated version of the music video was promptly removed from YouTube, a…

“Sunday Bloody Sunday” (1983) is most easily identified by its bellicose drumbeat, sharp guitar, and melodic harmonies, which is why it is no surprise it’s the debut song on U2’s album War. The song is a response to the Troubles, which was an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th century. The lyrics…

Henry Ainsworth- ‘Old Hundred’ (1562/1612) This song has a strophic form and is considered a Psalm tune. Psalmodies were scriptures from the book of Psalms that were turned into metrical Psalms. The song was first published in Geneva and it led to Henry Ainsworth creating his own version of Psalm 100. This piece was straightforward,…

Whitney Houston is considered to be one of the greatest singers of our generation. I chose her as my topic, because she represents resiliency and tenacity, despite her troubled experiences with drugs and her personal life. Whitney Houston comes from a big family with an amazing, musical pedigree her mother, Cissy Houston, was a successful…

Twenty-One Pilots, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, in their Alternative song, Cancer, talks about a patient that is suffering through cancer. Twenty-One Pilots sang Cancer as a cover in 2016. The original writers of cancer are Bob Bryar, Frank Lero, Ray Toro, Mikey Way, and Gerard Way. This song was written to inform the importance…

“Not Gon Cry” is a 1995/1996 single by American R&B singer Mary J. Blige, the song is featured on Blige’s 1997 album, Share My World. This song was written and produce by Babyface. ‘Not Gon Cry’ is fundamentally experienced aurally, through sound. What really catch my sense on this song is this versus “Eleven years,…

Head Hunters is a jazz album made by the talented Herbie Hancock and The HeadHunters. The HeadHunters were made up of Herbie Hancock, Bennie Maupin, Harvey Mason, Paul Jackson and Bill Summers. Head Hunters is considered one of the best jazz albums of all time. When it first was released it sold more than one…