sort form Submissions:
submissions
Rihanna – Disturbia Lyrics 14 years ago
Don't tell me you know what panic is when you so clearly do not. Check yourself.

submissions
Rihanna – Disturbia Lyrics 16 years ago
Well, it's one of my Top 20 Songs That Became Personal Anthems. My future posts won't be as long. I was up all night and bored. Skip to the end and you'll get the meat and potatoes of it. ><

submissions
Rihanna – Disturbia Lyrics 17 years ago
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
===========================================
MEANING SEEKER'S NOTE:
ON THIS OPINION
===========================================
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

+++
Okay, I'll be honest...
I have not read any of my fellow Meaning Seekers' responses to this song...
It was too special to me to let other people's opinion sway mine before I posted it. No worries, I’ll go through and read them as soon as I get this one up!
-Art
+++
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
===========================================
MY THEORY ON THE INTENT OF "DISTURBIA"
===========================================
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Disturbia"
Good Girl Gone Bad Reloaded, 2008:
+++
This piece by is supposed to explain the symptoms and effects of a panic attack/nervous meltdown. I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder, and Severe Anxiety in 2008. I had have problems with panic most of my life... so I did what I always do... I tried to find a song that understood my situation. One that could take the alienation out of my disorder, make me feel a little more…understood. I had never found anything that can explain, accurately, how an episode of panic feels to those fortunate people that have never had panic/anxiety issues.
When I listened to "Disturbia",
While following the lyrics I had xeroxed,
I was amazed to find:
An abstract (Rather painfully accurate) account--
Of the unique torment of Panic Disorder
...Hidden in plain earshot...
+++
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
===========================================
LYRICS TO "DISTURBIA"
&
MY INTERPRETATION OF THEM
===========================================
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_____________________________________
1ST STANZA
"BUM BUM BE-DUM BUM BUM BE-DUM BUM"
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
”/pain & agony-ridden shriek\”
+++
"Bum bum be-dum, bum bum be-dum bum"
+++
~~”What's wrong with me?”~~
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+++
When a panic attack is about to start...
Your chest starts to feel a force violently twist,
Which creeps mercilessly downward,
Deep into the cavern of your chest...
Toward your heart,
Piercing your heart...
It beats so hard,
It begins to pound upon your ribcage...
Begging
To be set free from the chaos within.
+++
***************
**********
PANIC!
*****

You don't understand what's going on
You have ten minutes of the most agonizing pain
Wrought from contortion of your chest muscles

***
**

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+++
"Bum bum be-dum, bum bum be-dum bum"
+++
~~”Why do I feel like this?”~~
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+++
This feeling can either emerge one of two ways:
Most commonly, the tightening starts 15 - 20 minutes before the actual attack begins;
Conversely, you can have a 5-10 second warning before the attack will hit.
+++
***************
**********
PANIC!
*****

Your whole body begins to feel;
Beaten and battered.
You can't think straight,
You can't even see straight.

***
**

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+++
"Bum bum be-dum, bum bum be-dum bum"
+++
~~”I'm going crazy now!”~~
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+++
This line is repeated four times per stanza,
Three identical stanzas are within the song.
This can be interpreted as the heart's accelerated rate
During mild to severe panic attacks.
+++
***************
**********
PANIC!
*****

You begin to question your very sanity
You can’t control your body
You mind is a dizzying flurry…
Like insanity has taken control.

***
**

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+++
"Bum bum be-dum, bum bum be-dum bum"
+++

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+++
Your mind begins to race...
Images, thoughts, feelings, past and present stresses...
The uncertainty of the future…
Everything that you can store in your memory
All these things and more,
They start bouncing through your head...
+++

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
_____________________________________
2ND STANZA-- "NO MORE GAS IN THE RIG"
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
+++
“No more gas in the rig
Can't even get it started
Nothing heard, nothing said
Can't even speak about it
All my life on my head
Don't want to think about it
Feels like I'm going insane
Yeah”
+++
The very smallest of things
Have the potential of sending someone into
Full-fledged panic.
Your car won’t start, you have no gas, and no money….
Then it hits
You can’t speak
The mental load is just too much to vocalize
+++

_____________________________________
3RD STANZA
"IT'S A THIEF IN THE NIGHT"
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
+++
“It's a thief in the night
To come and grab you
It can creep up inside you
And consume you
A disease of the mind
It can control you
It's too close for comfort”
+++
A pretty self-explanatory verse.
The attack really does come unexpectedly,
Then you’ve lost yourself to it.
So you start to come to fear every waking moment
Fear that you’ll lose control…
+++

_____________________________________
4TH STANZA
"THROW ON YOUR BREAK LIGHTS"
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
+++
“Throw on your break lights
We're in the city of wonder
Ain't gonna play nice
Watch out, you might just go under
Better think twice
Your train of thought will be altered
So if you must falter be wise
Your mind is in disturbia
It's like the darkness is the light
Disturbia
Am I scaring you tonight
Your mind is in disturbia
Ain't used to what you like
Disturbia
Disturbia”
+++
Seems to me like a warning
A warning that I’ve given to people
Watch out, I am disturbed in the mind
This disease causes me to lose control
Don’t stray to far
Or it will make you my target…
Welcome to my world.
+++

_____________________________________
5TH STANZA
"FADED PICTURES ON THE WALL"
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
+++
“Faded pictures on the wall
(It's like they talkin' to me)
Disconnectin' your call
(Your phone don't even ring)
I gotta get out
Or figure this shit out
It's too close for comfort”
+++
Look what happens
When someone gets too close
And then runs away.
Please don’t do it to me
I don’t think I can do it again…
+++

_____________________________________
6TH STANZA
"I FEEL LIKE A MONSTER"
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
+++
["It's a thief in the night"]
+"I feel like a monster."
+++
Sometimes I really do
Some of the things I say
Or do
Make me a monster
+++

_____________________________________
7TH STANZA
"THROW ON YOUR BREAK LIGHTS"
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
+++
["Throw on your break lights"]
+++

_____________________________________
8TH STANZA
"RELEASE ME FROM THIS CURSE"
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
+++
“Release me from this curse
I'm trying to remain tame
But I'm struggling
You can't go, go, go
I think I'm going to oh, oh, oh”
+++
Help me
I don’t want this
You can’t understand
I’m losing control
Run!
+++

_____________________________________
9TH STANZA
"THROW ON YOUR BREAK LIGHTS"
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
+++
["Throw on your break lights"]
+++

_____________________________________
10TH STANZA
"BUM BUM BE-DUM, BUM BUM BE-DUM BUM"
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
+++
["Bum bum be-dum, bum bum be-dum bum"]
+++

---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
========================
HOW THIS SONG CAME INTO MY LIFE
&
INSTANT REACTION(S)
========================

+++
I saw this song for the first time performed live, at the 2008 VMA's, I was instantly skeptical... What the hell was I supposed to think?
+++

+------+
+------+
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
LIVE PERFORMANCE AT THE VMA'S:
RHIANNA, "DISTURBIA" 2008
WHAT IT WAS LIKE
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+------+
+------+
Out of a cloud of dense, low-lieing fog comes marching an army of (what appears to be) Junglist/Goth Ravers (all with three foot long yellow glow bats) all of them seemed to have issues maintaining normal, fluid, human locomotion... are they made of metal and joints?
Then, the omni-famous: "Bum bum be-dum"'sCome growling and howling up,hauntingly, from the entranced things that continue pouring onto the stage in force. The creatures that are marching onto the stage area start rising there glow sticks in (almost) unison, (mostly) to the beat of the music. From the wall of fog that had formed in the entryway(after the two and half minutes that it takes to get all the dancers onstage (minus the personal Guards of the Queen of Disturbia)).
Rhianna makes her appearance...
"No more gas in the rig"
As she emerged, I blinked my eyes a little. Then rubbed them furiously... I could not be seeing this. I mean--a 50 foot tall cast steel pedestal--For real? We know your short Rhianna-- We think it's cute, play off of that. Making yourself taller than the roof of the venue makes you seem just a touch narcissistic. I still can't believe how harrowing the rolling platform was... The damn thing looked like it was on the Hellraiser:II set-- but it wasn't bloody, pain-inflicting, graphic, or twisted enough to be used... Thus, it got passed off to the VMA's. Where they must have decided to cut Scenic Design funds this quarter. I would have liked it-- If they had covered the hideous thing in a lot of cloth... so as to make it appear she was really the Queen of the Disturbed...[What is my guess to where it's going next?I think the only business that would ever find a use for this hideous prop is a BDS&M stripper cake company.] Now I'm sure you are wondering about all those hobbling Rave Kids? Turns out they are just Rhianna's own Personal Army of Zombies that follow her around like a flock of beggars that would eat New Orleans' beggars brains out... literally. Then, she turns with a "FUCK YOU" Attitude,leaving them all to despair. She walks to the other side of the stage and continued singing and... Wait for it... Two lesbian lionesses come and contort around and about Rhianna. At this point Rhianna is stealing the show–I’m into it. Her army is just there at this point and all eyes are on her. For the finale, she is lifted like the Body of Christ or some superhuman Madonna or P!nk… and we finally see the collected mass of her army… Too many fucking dancers doing too many different things. Not to mention throughout the entire number the lights seem to be attempting to induce an epileptic seizure. Then the end…
+------+
+------+
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
LIVE PERFORMANCE AT THE VMA'S:
CHOREOGRAPHY

+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+------+
I was not impressed with the basic stereotypical 'zombie' dance motions. It's like I was watching Rhianna sings these poignant lyrics in front of my high school cast of Zombie Prom. Also, the zombie 'dancers' were poorly out-of-sync and awkwardly placed for a vast majority of the number... More Fosse should have been applied to the number... too many repetitive moves caused me to cringe in my seat with discomfort at how much I wanted to fix it... But then I started to ignore the damn things and get back to my girl…
+------+
+------+
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
LIVE PERFORMANCE AT THE VMA'S:
COSTUMING

+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+------+
+------+
When she finally descended to the stage in an ensemble the seemed to draw upon the Goth Queen Essence. [You know That intriguing and mystical force that Elvira and Morticia Adams seem to be forged from, and Madonna twists and turns till it is her own.] From the young Barbadian woman that pumped up the dance floor with "Pon de Replay" August Of The Sun, 2005; here comes a song that seems as if it belongs in an edgy and punk horror film... and I was floored... I would have never realized that it was Rhianna if I wasn't a VMA fanatic. So when the performance ended rather... disappointingly. It had been a couple of weeks... maybe more since the VMA's since I had even thought about Rhianna's new song…
+------+
+------+
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
"DISTURBIA",
MUSIC VIDEO

+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+------+
+------+
Then I was cruising You Tube on a late late late night and saw that the video for it was posted and I watched it... This was the turning point for the song, automatically I understood the feelings that the song was trying to portray. I saw what the VMA performance was all about… Video Director: Anthony Mandler and Rhianna's dear Choreography: Tina Landon knew what they were doing when they put vision to Andre Merritt, Chris Brown, and Robert Allen's dance-pop masterpiece. All of the discord, and uncomfortable aspects of the VMA performance suddenly made sense. I went and watched the performance again and loved it… And finally understood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
===========================================
"DISTURBIA"
&
MY FINAL WORD
===========================================
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Congratulations Rhianna, “Disturbia” has been inducted into my Top 20 Songs That Became Personal Anthems. 20 songs have not even made it to that list yet. Keep up the good work!

submissions
Pink – Humble Neighborhoods Lyrics 17 years ago
This is one of my Top 5 P!nk songs, and one of my Top 20 Songs That Became Personal Anthems... I first heard P!nk when her Can't Take Me Home,2000 album was released. I just picked it up at random, got hooked, and proclaimed her my favorite singer... to which she still stakes claim today. Humble Neighborhoods took it's place in my Top 20 Songs That Became Personal Anthems in 2004, when I had just hit the local gay club scene and this song just hit the nail on the head. It is pop music that knows no boundaries that crackles with energy and inventiveness. I love how unique this song is to everything else she had on the album. Any Top 20 in my world says something big, i am a music addict... The Top 20 Song That Became Personal Anthems, however, is a list that is so exclusive for me, 20 songs have not even made the list yet... --ETHAN

* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.