06 Oct 2023
Lately, I’ve been thinking about different forms of media. More specifically, the differences between movies, books, and music.
All of them vary in terms in the time we spend understanding them, with music by far taking the least. In ~3ish minutes, we hear a song full of rhetorical devices & references only to skip past it. In contrast, we spend hours analyzing the written word for meaning in literature classes – even when those words are a transcription of audio. The fact that just because something is intangible – sound – leads to its perceived lack of meaning is astounding.
In any song, an eternity is present. Similarly to how a story can liberally extend across years, decades, or even lifetimes - so do songs. Rarely does a mainstream song seem to be conveying a moment in the few minutes it is listened to. The lack of ability to hit pause (literally) causes a gap in our understandig of this crucial media through which thousands of stories are shared.
Some websites do a decent job of analyzing meaning, notably Genius. Regardless, the level of attention (or lack thereof) paid to songs of the 21st century leaves me concerned on whether such pieces of art will persist through generations. It can be argued that monumental works like To Kill a Mockingbird has survived in no small part due to its passage in high-school/college education; will not the same occur for the music we listen to today on the radio? Music from the past has persisted through centuries (think Beethoven, Mozart), will not the same be true for today’s Drake/21 Savage/Rihanna/YMCB? It may feel absurd to even suggest a comparison between the two artists, but then again artists often gain the respect they deserve after they are long gone.
To be clear, I am not advocating for not listening to songs back to back, or switching radio stations, etc. Instead I am asking for higher academic attention placed on the music media of today.
08 Sep 2023
Flat-earthers have been debating for a long time about whether the earth is flat. And while a nearly unanimous conclusion has been met, I dare say that our earth is not just flat or round. Our world is a distribution. More precisely, many of them.
We = Data
Every single process of our life contributes to a distribution. When I go to the Tea Top store, the boba I buy is added to the distribution of customers, of customers from Lynbrook High School, of customers from Miller Middle School, of customers from San Jose, you get the point. The time when I wake up is added to an number of distributions as well.
Actions
So, what’s the significance of this? This year I will be applying to college & graduating high school. As I take my AP exams this upcoming May or graduate, I will be contributing to a distribution(s) that thousands of high schoolers have gone through.
In other words, this process is not unusual. So how much of my life, from 8am to 2am when I’m awake, is? As much as mathematicians and computer scientists like low standard deviations & “big data”, isn’t it boring to consistently be lumped with thousands, to be denied individuality? Are we trapped to the distributions that not-so-subtly tell us that, yes, we are unoriginal?
Change-makers
Instead, make a distribution. Or refine an existing one.
Change-makers in our world are those who either a) create distributions and/or b) add significant data to existing distributions and/or c) shift existing distributions. When Jobs invented the iPhone, he expanded the existing distribution of hand-held iPhones, shifted the distribution of the most valued company, and created distributions for touch-screen phones. Same applies for anybody whose ever created users to a product. Making change is about making current models of the world inadequate.
Ending
In statistics, the standard deviation formula \(\sigma(x) = \sqrt{\frac{\sum (x[i] - \mu)^2}{N - 1}}\) contains a pesky \(N - 1\). This is there to prevent creating distributions modeling one datapoint (\(N = 1\).) So instead of creating, refining, or shifting a distribution - try to be that 1 living outside of it all.
18 Aug 2023
Besides Club Paradise, another one of Drake’s best (old) songs I want to revisit is Trophies. In accordance to the rules of analyzing these songs, I’ve not visited any pages on the lyrical meaning and will do so at the end after I give it my shot.
Interpretation
Trophies seems to tell the story of Drake defending himself in front of his enemies by claiming that he is an instrumental figure to outsiders (remember this song was made 9 years ago) like him.
In particular, the song begins with brags (e.g. he doesn’t own, he rents) from Drake meant to establish clearly to the listener that he is beefing with somebody. In case by four lines this is unclear, he clarifies that this song is “not a love song.”
The tune changes as Drake goes from brags to being vulnerable with his enemies.
Damn, what’s the move?
Can I tell truth?
If I was doing this for you
Then I have nothing left to prove, nah
This for me, though
I’m just tryna stay alive and take care of my people
And they don’t have no award for that
Trophies, trophies
And they don’t have no award for that
—- don’t come with trophies
Ain’t no envelopes to open
I just do it ‘cause I’m ‘sposed to
Drake here is explaining how his performance is purportedly not to impress anyone, as (through yet another brag) he has already done so, but to show what’s possible for “my people” (most likely referring to those from Toronto?). He repeats the fact that there are no trophies for taking care of others, as if he needs any more.
While it’s unclear if Drake in this verse embodies a man vs. society conflict, it seems more likely than a man vs. man conflict as I cannot see any clear references to others when he says “boys” in the brags that begin the song.
The song repeats a second time, and then ends.
Was I right?
As is custom, I’ll check my interpretation with Genius.
Genius cannot find any specific people Drake is referring to in this song. Drake’s vulnerable segment about not proving himself to others does not seem directed to anybody and is connected to the general idea that at this time he is basically undisputed #1. All the other references Genius finds are for his brag verse.
That’s all!
15 Aug 2023
Here’s a list of philosophies to go over. Mostly just so I remember what they mean.
Solipsism
We will never know if we see the world in the same way. Meaning, are our colors the same? My pink could be your green and your green could be my pink. Do we really taste food the same way?
In short, beyond ourselves, we can’t really think further about what is real. We all mutually agree that the leaves are green, but what if it’s objectively blue but we all say that it’s green because green to us is blue.
This is where science comes into play. While wavelengths do exist to scientifically explain different colors or pH scales measuring acidity - I’m reminded of the dragon in Grendel reprimanding humans for overgeneralization of observations made in an inconsequential amount of time. Like a 2D-seeing deer that can’t recognize the car approaching it, we could be failing to recognize that these easily distinguishable properties between the colors of leaves or tastes of food comes from the simplicity of a 3D view of a potentially ∞-d world. In other words, everything could be an illusion.
What we only know to be true is that we exist and our perception of reality. That’s solipsism.
23 Jul 2023
One of my favorite time wasters is reading song lyrics to understand what they mean. After all, we do the same for literature - analyzing things up to the colon - so maybe doing the same for well-thought music is not a bad idea.
The first song I’d like to try this with is Drake’s reflective song Club Paradise as part of the Care Package album. Keep in mind that at the end of this article I’ll confirm with more reliable sources (cough cough Genius cough cough) about whether I got the meaning correct - so don’t hyperventilate if I completely mis close read.
The lyrics to Club Paradise can be found here.
Story Line
Club Paradise tells the story of Drake having left his hometown (Toronto) wanting to come back to a home that doesn’t accept him anymore. Although not specifically stated, there are strong allusions to Drake being seen as disconnected from who he was due to how he seems “caught up in where [he is] right now.”
“No wonder I feel awkward at this Fashion Week”
Drake denies allegations that he’s changed from his original hometown persona by taking shots at all the fancy things he secretly (or now, publicly) can’t stand - notably Fashion Week or how to formally do a double-cheek kiss. He even goes so far as to defend his realness by the very fact that he knows the names of performers at a gentleman’s club.
Throughout the song, he asks the same question about “who did he leave behind”. My guess is that this is a reference to who Drake has not publicly acknowledged has helped him or not given anything back to in return. He’s desperate for reassurance that he is still the same person, as shown in the lines below:
“Yeah, just lie to my ears. Tell me it feel the same, that’s all I’ve been dying to hear”
The next part of the story confirms his identity crisis even more. Even his mom considers him a “slave to the wealth”. He explains that he’s never failed to achieve anything but is still vulnerable and most importantly needs love.
Overall, this is one of Drake’s better tracks which indicates why it’s probably less listened to (this is real.) The level of introspection present is insane.
Did I get it correct?
As promised, I would check with smarter sources if I missed anything.
This was an easy song to look at it, so there’s not a ton of discrepancies between what I found and Genius. Mostly I couldn’t recognize the subtle indications that Drake doesn’t intend to change based on his performance, and instead maintain the same sound. Club Paradise is actually not a tribute to the 1986 movie but to Drake’s favorite gentleman’s club.
More songs coming! MELTDOWN next?
