By: Lucaiah Smith-Miodownik, News Writer
Tiger Really floats smooth vocals atop high-strung cords, building suspense before dropping down to a gravelly chorus. With lyrics that emulate the melody’s structure, “Dry Heave” paints a picture of struggling mortality: “I wanna live forever, is that too much to ask.” Then it hones in on the worries that lie at the heart of such a desire: “What if I’ll never be the person that I swore I’d give my everything to be?” The song perfectly encapsulates the feelings of angst and longing, woven into an undying sense of hope, no matter how futile. “I’ll waste a lifetime honey, trying to make it last.” Keep in mind that “Dry Heave” also touches on disordered eating.
“Serpentine” by Wisp
Wisp’s ethereal sound works in wondrous ways, decluttering your brain in a manner which you forgot was possible. What was previously a mind filled with aimless worry is suddenly transposed with a calm sea of gentle waves, each more comforting than the last. “I’m not underwater yet, but if I were to be, you’d be the one to pull me down.” “Serpentine” tells a story of what it means to hold someone near and dear, to let their presence wash over you while knowing that they will provide oxygen the moment you slip below the surface.
If Wisp speaks of gentle ripples, The Neighbourhood evokes a crashing swell. “We can try, but we can’t erase. We set a fire inside the waves [ . . . ] tired of fighting all the time, can we put it behind us?” “Tides” serves a sadistic disposition that reminds us of the times when we find a sense of comfort in surviving the storm, no matter how dysfunctional it may be. In moments when the human condition seemingly collapses into itself, we take comfort in lyrics like “The better, the more the pain.” Perhaps it is because “weather can always change?”
“Yesterday & Today” by Murs and 9th Wonder
“Yesterday & Today” emphatically delivers a simple yet everlasting creed: keep going. Murs and 9th Wonder artfully crafts a story of overcoming systemic barriers to find self-assurance and joy in the present day. With a chorus that samples William Bell’s soulful ballad “Yesterday I Lied, Today I Cried,” the rapper speaks to just how much things can change. “Yesterday I felt the most hated, I thought I couldn’t take it, they said I couldn’t make it, and today I feelin’ brand new, I got nothing to lose, I’m bout to make moves.”
