Thought Process of a Middleschooler.

Music videos. There is something about music videos that I absolutely love. I remember growing up flipping back and forth between MTV and VH1 watching music videos and sometimes watching pop-up video on repeat. Oh man now that I think of it, I really miss Pop-up Video.

I like interpretation. Not interpretive dance.

 But the interpretation of lyrics and song meanings. I always found it interesting how being in middle school how it seemed like N*syncs lyrics were so deep while they sang, "I drive myself crazy thinking of you" then upon viewing, "Making the Video" how they interpreted the song to look like this: Drive Myself Crazy. If I'm honest, I can openly admit that I made a terrible mistake at ever thinking N*Syncs lyrics were "deep", "wise" and "spot-on". But luckily there were other artists whose music I found to be really interestingly interpreted.

I will also openly admit that in the midst of these song interpretations, I had different interpretations in my head. As I would sing to my mirror with an imaginary micraphone (I never used a brush because I thought it was dumb to sing into a hair brush), I played out these interpretations in my head. Further down the road reading more into lyrical meanings and musical interpreation, I was rather thrown off. Parts of me were ripped apart to figure out that some artists literally had no meanings to the lyrics they wrote or that the reasonings for writing the music was just to make money and not express anything. This caused me to seek artists who sought out meaning through their music and lyrical flow.
With in the last 15 years I have learned more of how music brings freedom to think of whatever we want to when we hear music. To break that down from my perspective for you, Just because the artists interprets the song or lyrics one way doesn't mean that in order to enjoy the music we need to see it as the same interpretation.

In very recent years, I have heard multiple songs about other people or the strong hold of relationships with significant others and the intimacy within that. While listening to artists such as Incubus or even Brandi Carlile, I personally have seen an uplifting benefit to rewriting the main subject in my brain to the main subject surrounding Christ.

Two examples:
Incubus- Dig
Brandi Carlile- The Things I Regret

Dig:
We all have a weakness
But some of ours are easy to identify
Look me in the eye
And ask for forgiveness;
We'll make a pact to never speak that word again
Yes you are my friend.
We all have something that digs at us,
Atleast we dig eachother
So when weakness turns my ego up
I know you'll count on the me from yesterday
If I turn into another
Dig me up from under what is covering
The better part of me
Sing this song
Remind me that we'll always have eachother
When everything else is gone.

The Things I regret:
 With the weight of the world resting on my back,
and the road on which I've travled is as long as it is cracked.
But I keep pressing forward with my feet to the ground,
for the heart that is broken makes a beautiful sound.

But when you're wearing on your sleeve,
all the things you regret,
you can only remember what you want to forget

Let them roll over me.
Let them roll over me,
when I doubt you.

Let them roll over me.
Let them roll over me,
when I doubt you.


It is personal interpretation that makes me wonder if the artists themselves have ever seen or read their lyrics in the way that I or possibly others see it in this context. Either way I personally can see God very much speaking to me through music continually and reminding me of his faithfulness and boldness in seeking us out continually.

Bonus:
This was a song that I literally would belt out alone in my room, beleiving that it was my life even though I had never even experienced the deep heart ache that was rather apparent through out this entire song. Step further, I acted it out in my room and loved this song and artist so much, in that  chubby middle school season of my life, that I actually dressed and cut my hair to try and look exactly like her...
I still blare this song when it comes on shuffle.

You're welcome.




-Keep Adventuring.



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