Here is the song

The world will end in the biggest flood the earth has ever seen. Think Deep Impact, Think The Day After Tomorrow, Think Noah’s flood. Will the people be prepared, will people pack their things and run for the hill? Or will they embrace the waves?

The waves approach the coast for the first four minutes and then impact occurs. Civilisation is sucked into a watery abyss. But that is not the most amazing part of the story. Lurking in the water is a mythic sea creature the world has never seen – behold the rarest octopus the world has ever seen is floating above your head, humungous size with fractal like legs on legs on legs. Well guess what, the drummer is the octopus, I mean HAVE YOU HEARD THE DRUMS?

It’s almost as if an other-worldy intelligence, something magnificent, monolithic and maniacal in nature and beastly in its genius temporarily takes over the world that is truly helpless against its musical prowess. The end of the song shows what the octopus is about, da funk!

An important piece of wisdom is dispensed through the song, it’s not the flood that you should be afraid of, it’s what has been lying within the ocean depths.

Here is the song

Before you were born, before you were even a thought, who was your mother? What was it like to be her, in her specific context, in her own integrity? Leon Bridges studies his mother’s childhood in such intricate poetic detail and beauty, that his love for her is palpable, even though the song is not about him at all. This is exactly where the song draws its power; simple facts about his mother are being pondered, repeated and magnified to the level of profoundness, which actually rubs off on the listener.

It goes without saying that the storytelling in the song is marvellous. Where, Who, When, What, are all provided in his exposition, but the Why is never answered. We don’t know what prompted the song in the first place, we are just dumped in there. And there is no overall narrative being told about Lisa Sawyer, but we know all about Lisa Sawyer from the way she is described even though she is not pursuing an explicit goal!

What is interesting is that he stops at age sixteen when she gave her life to Christ at an alter. It is as if to say this was her coming of age moment. Forget puberty or her first kiss, this was the most significant decision she took. I’m sure his mum is really proud.

Here is the song

To me, love is the perfect expression of religious belief. At the heart of all religious belief is the spiritual calling and the relationship between God who makes the call and the person who is called. Although I may have my so-called ‘free will’, when the call is so compelling and speaks to my spirit in such a way that I feel I have no choice but to believe, faith then transcends the boundaries of consciousness and rights and becomes as important to the believer as breathing itself.

Emily King makes this analogy at every level of the song in such a way that converts me into a ‘believer’ in her genius. At the beginning of the song, Emily’s trademark minimalist vocals portray an enforced distance she is placing between herself and her potential lover. But during the course of the song, little by little, the background musicality increases, the force is getting stronger. It is when the sheer harmony of the first chorus takes over that she is elevated to a position of faith.

More than just an excellently executed creative analogy linking love and religion, the song also seems to me to be an expression of the triumph of singing over speaking. Her words, although true, were not telling the entire truth, they were still protecting her heart. But when the final chorus hits, this is the truest expression of what she really feels, she wants to believe in love, and she sings in beautiful symmetry with the electric guitar. The song encourages us to always be open to being won over by love, beautiful.

Here is the song

If you were asked to sum up how your best friend makes you feel – to sum up all the experiences you’ve shared, the life events you have endured together, the times they have been there for you, the person you are as a result of them in your life – what words would you form? None. Exactly.

This is why I like jazz, when there are no words, that is fine, vibe with it, be true to the feeling, don’t refine it. The song is a like a toast that starts off on a real reflective note, taking us through the profundity of a deep friendship but then it becomes a mirthful celebration, a joyous melody that we cannot help but join in with. The song takes us through the ebbs and flows of the friendship itself. Sadness when friends are apart in the verse, Happiness when they get together again in the chorus. Seasons of deep reflection which transition naturally into seasons of laughter.

And to build on the toast metaphor; it is as if the song is comparing the friendship to a matured bottle of red wine that has a depth and robustness sonically referenced by the cello. It would seem that this wine bottle and the overall arrangement share in their sophistication. But just exactly how close is this friendship? It’s as in close and in sync as the counterpoint of the two voices are in the song. In fact they are the same voice, and isn’t that the point?

Here is the song

What exactly can’t you explain Wizkid? The substance of great art is in explaining emotions that we can’t quite pinpoint but that we all feel. Artists revel in this feeling of not quite knowing what they are experiencing because in this process of discovering it, experiencing it, defining it, knowing it, all the revelations and creativity flow. Wizkid has given the world a unique gift. This song is universal. It’s as if he has bottled up the experience of the feeling ‘…when I look back on my story, and think of my future, I just think wow, I can’t explain…’ It is not often that a song captures the essence of being grateful for being alive so effectively. Even the instrumental has such a matter-of-factness about it, it is true to life, it has marvellous verisimilitude.

You do not have to speak Yoruba to capture the full spirit of the song, the instrumental speaks Yoruba and it can translate for you. In fact to me, Wizkid’s trademark meandering between English and Yoruba adds an authenticity that is truly inspired. If you speak Yoruba (which I don’t) there would be some thoughts that sound better in Yoruba and some that sound better in English, by flowing between the two it’s like he is truly speaking his mind trying his best to communicate this feeling that he can’t explain.

Here is the song

Mystery. Intrigue. A wisdom and beauty beyond this world – and that is just the intro. Somehow the combination of that piano and that voice draw us down into something so unexplainable that is explored but in my opinion never fully resolved when the song ends. The lyrics are sparse and cryptic, the mood sorrowful yet explorative. Je ne sais quoi.

The songs most amazing quality is its ability to make us reflect deeply on ourselves, in a way that our lives actually luminate. What are the deep double-bass longings of my soul? Has that rhythmic drum been playing all this time, all along? What piano-esque soliloquies has my subconscious been hiding from me? Is that the voice of God humming to me? Am I even awake?

Then as the song comes to its ending, the effect is startlingly magic. Your thoughts die down and fade from the picture and there you are, fully present and attentive as you reflect on the final words “So close your eyes and step into the blue of me and you”. Blue happens to be my favourite colour, just saying.