Odd to me that this is here, but "Tapes" and "Moratorium" are not, even though one gets a message that they =are= if one tries to post those lyrics. In whatever event, the theme of "IABTGU" is similar.
Al has been consciously struggling (at least lyrically) with her relentless perfectionism since she was 12 or so. In that, she's like a lot of performing artists. The dif -- and the payoff for all of us -- of course, is that she presents her neuroses in public, many of us see ourselves in the mirror, and we all love her for holding the mirror up.
There are parts of Al's mind that do not see growing up as anything other than a process we all have to go through with a shrug. But there are other parts that she loves to shine the light of her hugely educated self-awareness upon.
I don't think she could write the sort of stuff she does -- and then record it for millions to hear (and speculate about) -- if they she was all that sensitive or shame-saturated. She has told us a number of times (lyrically and in interviews) that she sees herself as a clueless nerd at times, then makes it pretty evident that she's anything but... and owns that, as well.
Odd to me that this is here, but "Tapes" and "Moratorium" are not, even though one gets a message that they =are= if one tries to post those lyrics. In whatever event, the theme of "IABTGU" is similar.
Al has been consciously struggling (at least lyrically) with her relentless perfectionism since she was 12 or so. In that, she's like a lot of performing artists. The dif -- and the payoff for all of us -- of course, is that she presents her neuroses in public, many of us see ourselves in the mirror, and we all love her for holding the mirror up.
There are parts of Al's mind that do not see growing up as anything other than a process we all have to go through with a shrug. But there are other parts that she loves to shine the light of her hugely educated self-awareness upon.
I don't think she could write the sort of stuff she does -- and then record it for millions to hear (and speculate about) -- if they she was all that sensitive or shame-saturated. She has told us a number of times (lyrically and in interviews) that she sees herself as a clueless nerd at times, then makes it pretty evident that she's anything but... and owns that, as well.