Music Thread: Page 138 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Music Thread

Burnwinter

It was amazing. Truth to power. May will forever be associated with that tragedy due to her lack of leadership.

flobaba

Top q

Qwiss

Incredibly sad news about a brilliant song writer. One of my favourite acts of the last 10 years and I just feel really sorry for all his family and friends too. He'd been missing for a few days and this is a heartbreaking way for it to end. 🙁

jones

One of the best music videos I've seen in a long time

Qwiss

Glovers the susperstar the world needs. Man oozes talent and smarts.

speedy

So what messages do you guys pick up from the video?

y va marquer

speedy wrote:
So what messages do you guys pick up from the video?

Qwiss

Seems like a reaction to trap music in part anyway.

flobaba

How so?

Qwiss

I think the style of the song has some nods to it as do the lyrics and I think while he's highlighting some of the issues facing black people in America he's also criticising artists who focus on materialism and distracting from those issues instead of highlighting them.

y va marquer

Already, nothin' sacred to the remix kids.

jones

Qwiss! wrote:
I think the style of the song has some nods to it as do the lyrics and I think while he's highlighting some of the issues facing black people in America he's also criticising artists who focus on materialism and distracting from those issues instead of highlighting them.

I don't think the criticism is aimed specifically towards trap artists (the song actually features Young Thug and some other kids who would be the prime example of that type) but more general how black American society is always involved in either killings or entertainment and how the latter serves to distract from the former. Even the video itself is doing the exact same thing Glover and the kids dancing in the focus while in the back there are riots etc going on.

You really have to watch the video over and over to get all the hidden stuff. The clip is at over 100m YouTube views in just a week even the explanation videos have several million clicks.

Claudius

Qwiss! wrote:
I think the style of the song has some nods to it as do the lyrics and I think while he's highlighting some of the issues facing black people in America he's also criticising artists who focus on materialism and distracting from those issues instead of highlighting them.

But, this song features a lot of those very same trap artists. So it’s a very strange critique.
Another strange thing he does in the video is who he chooses to act out the violence, particularly the church massacre. The most topical mass killers are white males, yet here he is. Few other touches I liked

seeing how bodies are forgotten when killed, but guns are taken away safely. The gun rules in NRA’s America
children dancing away as though nothing is happening (one of those dances is a popular South African dance. Rihanna also did it at Grammy awards)

Great video by the thoughtful artist Kanye wishes he was 🙂

Qwiss

jones wrote:
Qwiss! wrote:
I think the style of the song has some nods to it as do the lyrics and I think while he's highlighting some of the issues facing black people in America he's also criticising artists who focus on materialism and distracting from those issues instead of highlighting them.

I don't think the criticism is aimed specifically towards trap artists (the song actually features Young Thug and some other kids who would be the prime example of that type) but more general how black American society is always involved in either killings or entertainment and how the latter serves to distract from the former. Even the video itself is doing the exact same thing Glover and the kids dancing in the focus while in the back there are riots etc going on.

You really have to watch the video over and over to get all the hidden stuff. The clip is at over 100m YouTube views in just a week even the explanation videos have several million clicks.

You are probably right about it not being specifically aimed at Trap but I do think the use of those artists and some of that sound is intentional.

It really is a brilliantly layered bit of art from the music, the video, the lyrics, the choreography. The attention to detail and the ability to tie it all together in such a striking way is extremely artful.

jones

Qwiss! wrote:
You are probably right about it not being specifically aimed at Trap but I do think the use of those artists and some of that sound is intentional.

Yeah even if it's not aimed at them there's no doubt about it being intentional. There's some irony involved there just as there is with the appeal of the clip coming from the great dancing even though a lot of it is clearly borrowing from Jim Crow like the bug eyes stuff.

@Claude

You do have a point about the church massacre and I could be way off but there's a perspective that might make sense - he's not talking to white people but addressing his own which is why the clip doesn't have any white people in it. The observation of the clip isn't to state how they are being oppressed by the majority (which they obviously are) but more about what's wrong with black society in the US. Everyone is dancing, getting and spending that money and having fun until they get killed, at which point there's a riot which - literally - dies down then rinse and repeat. Might be that I'm reading too much into it but for me it seems an intentional choice to have white America like police or the church shooter included only as object that is spoken of and not to.

y va marquer

From the director of the video:

There’s sort of a world-weariness in both this season and the music video," Murai said. "They’re both reactions to what’s happening in the world."

What the video boils down to, Murai explained, is "a really crazy confluence of tone changes — that’s the premise of the whole video and the song, in a way." The "harrowing" yet "cartoony" violence also plays a huge role: "There’s Looney Tunes logic in there somewhere. Obviously we’re dealing with very provocative images, so it’s a total tightrope walk.

Murai describes feeling "caught [sic] off-guard and by surprise" by the video's huge reception, though he feels very gratified by fans who commit themselves to unravelling the meaning in its references ("I kind of love it, to be honest.") That fits into the mandate Murai said he had going into the video's production: making something that will surprise "media savvy" viewers. "Even from the start, our big mandate was just surprising people and trying to deliver something that people don’t know that they want to see. "

I appreciate how both Glovers and his director have stepped back and left the video speak for itself, left people to work through it - accepting that once it's out there, how it's received and perceived is outside of their control, yet keenly remaining interested in people's reactions.

Qwiss

jones wrote:
Qwiss! wrote:
You are probably right about it not being specifically aimed at Trap but I do think the use of those artists and some of that sound is intentional.

Yeah even if it's not aimed at them there's no doubt about it being intentional. There's some irony involved there just as there is with the appeal of the clip coming from the great dancing even though a lot of it is clearly borrowing from Jim Crow like the bug eyes stuff.

@Claude

You do have a point about the church massacre and I could be way off but there's a perspective that might make sense - he's not talking to white people but addressing his own which is why the clip doesn't have any white people in it. The observation of the clip isn't to state how they are being oppressed by the majority (which they obviously are) but more about what's wrong with black society in the US. Everyone is dancing, getting and spending that money and having fun until they get killed, at which point there's a riot which - literally - dies down then rinse and repeat. Might be that I'm reading too much into it but for me it seems an intentional choice to have white America like police or the church shooter included only as object that is spoken of and not to.

Yeah thats interesting too. And if thats what he is going for maybe the sound is because he wanted it to be more mainstream than his backpacky stuff or his recent more eclectic and funky stuff.

Qwiss

Turns out we are all wrong. I just read on reddit that Glover is a secret female who was raised as a girl by occultists. Guy who posted says he "clearly" has a female skeleton.

est

Saw Iron Maiden again last night. First show of their new tour Legacy of the Beast. Old boys still got it. The show was amazing and even more so was the setlist. They played some absolute classics that they haven't played in ages. Songs like Aces High, The Clansman, Sign of the Cross, Flight of Icarus, Revelations, Where the Eagles Dare, The Evil that Men Do and The Wicker Man and For the Greater Good of God from their newer albums. Well worth it if the tour comes anywhere near you.

Oh and it wasn't too shabby either that they were warmed up by Killswitch Engage. Two of my favourites in one show. Still buzzing.

Rex

I'm watching them on Friday! 😃

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