Deceptive Melodies & Magicians
By Nocturne
Music, like any art form, gets its foundation from taking a concept or idea and finding a way to condense or morph it into something more beautifully constructed, something that can be better understood using the five senses, more or less. However, often times, particularly with popular music these days, this attempt at condensing a concept, especially a complex one, into three minutes worth of sound and words ends up oversimplifying the idea, and by so doing often romanticizes or skews the true meaning behind the song, or at the very least leaves little room for interpretation, because the surface-level meaning is, as the word itself states, surface-level and so painfully blatant that attempting to attach your own feelings or experiences to it would be like trying to find different colors in a purely black painting. It becomes remotely impossible. It’s not just the time restraints that contribute to this, however. Add on the music industry breathing down artists’ throats to make something that will sell, it has become somewhat difficult to find truly raw music out there. That isn’t to say that all music, of course, is meant to provide some sort of deeper level of thinking, however escaping the ever encapsulating bubble of generic pop tunes and cheap, overdone love songs, leaving you neck deep in baby's and I need you's, seems to become increasingly challenging as the years pass. Unfortunately, this is mostly a result of consumerism. Record companies try to produce what sells. What sells? Things that are easy to sing along to and don't require much thought. It seems to reveal quite a bit about our society, doesn't it? Of course, there are most likely many other factors coming into play here, and it would be unfair of me not to make a point of mentioning that.
"So, where are you going with this...?" You might ask. I promise you, I'm not going to ramble on about the nature of human superficiality and the avoidances of deeper concepts, societal shallowness, or anything like that for another three paragraphs or so. I will admit, it seems that one of the not so favourable traits that sometimes appears in Slytherin house, the occasional elitisism, has attempted to root itself within my writing. I'm certainly going to work on that. Or not.
Anyways, instead, I'd like to have a little fun, and take some time to dissect an older American muggle "hip-hop" tune that gained some popularity around 2010. It caught my eye for a number of reasons, so I'm really going to try to dig deep, expand the horizons of my level of understanding, and travel into a new plane of thought in order to really grasp the idea behind this song. I hope you're able to keep up.
Disclaimer: This is satire, ladies and gentlemen. Please take all of my comments on this song with a grain of salt.
Magic - B.o.B
"I got the magic in me, everytime I touch that track it turns into gold."
Not really sure what he's trying to say here. Muggles don't have magic and can't turn anything into anything so..some sort of metaphor. I think he's saying he's good at "DJing", something to do with making music. Not so sure about that, but whatever you say Bob, whatever you say.
"These tricks that I'll attempt will blow your mindIs this about magicians? Those con-artists that make a living off of making a mockery of the wizard world? Sorry, I remain unimpressed. And unless you're hypnotizing me to never listen to your music again, I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one.
Pick a verse, any verse, I'll hypnotize you with every line
I'll need a volunteer, how about you, with the eyes?"
P.S We all have eyes. You're going to have to be a bit more specific.
"I'll have you time-travellin', have your mind babblin'Are we sure Bob isn't secretly a wizard? A wizard with a contraband time-turner? Not so sure.
People tryin' to inherit the skill, so they askin' me"
So, where does the concept of "Smoke & Mirrors" come into all of this? Fasten your seatbelts, we're about to get heavy again.
For starters, the way well-intentioned musicians get pulled into this trap of being forced to write songs of little substance for record labels out of pursuit of fame, recognition, money, etc. is the work of Smoke & Mirrors. It's unfortunate that our desires, what we wish to see, often blinds us from the truth, what's really going on. This is of course, in reference to the first point I made about the decreasing level of meaning in popular music, and how exactly it happens. It's hard to imagine that this is the kind of thing these artists want to write about.
And lastly, magicians. They are ALL frauds. And to combine my last point with this, it's a shame to see popular artists (I'm talking to you, B.o.B) supporting this mockery of our kind.
My time is up and I thank you for yours,
Nocturne