| Sia – Chandelier Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I recently saw Sia perform this song on television, and I must say, coming from someone who had never before heard of the singer or the song, I was blown away - by her voice, by the lyrical content of the song, and later (when I found it on YouTube) by the video as well. Here is my take on it. First of all, I agree wholeheartedly with one of the posters who pointed out that "swinging from the chandelier" can have a double entendre and in this case, that is a very incisive observation. Does she want to swing from the chandelier because she's having such a wild and crazy time with her life, or does she want to swing from the chandelier because she's contemplating suicide? The lyrics speak of a "party girl" who is seemingly all about having a good time, but the desperate quality of the lyrical performance underscores the fact that the partying is nothing more than a means of masking something very dark underneath. And I know from whence I speak. My childhood best friend was one of those "party girls." She was always "up" and the life of the party. Could drink with the best of 'em. She would be at the disco (back in the day) dancing the night away, and lost several jobs because she couldn't get up for work the next day. Long (and very sad) story short: She ended up committing suicide. With her manic "fun" persona she had fooled everyone (including me) into thinking that she was this happy, high-energy person, when in reality she was "just holding on for tonight" until she could hold on no longer. This is what Chandelier represents to me. |
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| Lana Del Rey – Video Games Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I first heard this song in a television performance a couple of years ago, and I couldn't get it out of my mind. I love that it is so enigmatic and subject to so very many interpretations. Here is my take on it: She is a sweet and innocent young thing, very pretty but weak, impressionable and extremely needy. I see her as being maybe in her late teens (young enough to be "swinging in the backyard") and the guy is perhaps in his early to mid-20s (old enough to "pull up in your fast car"). Not a big age difference, but significant enough at that time of one's life. She is totally infatuated with him, besotted and lovesick. She will do ANYTHING to please him: wear his favorite dress, wear his favorite perfume, take her clothes off for him. He is completely emotionally uninvolved, however. He lightheartedly "whistles her name," but in the way that someone would summon a dog. It's like another way of "snapping his fingers" at her to make her compliant. He wants to "take that body downtown" to show off to his friends because while he is EVERYTHING to her, she is nothing more than a pretty face, a plaything for him, a bauble. She is obsessed with him. When they "kiss in the blue dark," or he "holds her in his big arms," she is "drunk [with love] and seeing stars." But he is just as content to hang out in bars, and play pool and darts....and video games. When they do this together she says "this is my idea of fun," but either 1) she is being sarcastic, or 2) she's willing to try to convince herself she's having fun whenever she's with him, even though she would rather be alone with him than spend time together with his friends. She is, basically, a good girl, but willing to be a "bad girl" to please him. She is being extremely flirtatious [not to mention untrue to herself] when she implies that she will be "bad" if that's what pleases him. Likewise when she tells him he's the "bestest." They way she croons "it's you, it's you, it's all for you," I can't help but think of someone who would go as far as suicide if the object of her obsession were to leave her. Like many of the comments here will agree, this is a very dark, very melancholy song; and the tone of voice in which it's sung is perfectly fitting. |
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