I'm aware this is totally out of the blue, but trust me.
Let me start this off by saying, listen to this damn album. Or, at the very least, listen to this song please. It's very crucial. Usually when I write a review, I try to be objective as possible and approach it in a way where even if you didn't listen to it, you can still pull away the overall feel. But one thing I cannot really grasp good enough to make it any review, is the impact and flood of emotion a certain album or even song can give you. We all have those. We all have something that when we return to it, it's very moving, and encapsulates your feelings, thoughts, and memories you had at the time.
One of these, for me, is "Cranes In The Sky" by Solange Knowles.
Let me explain to you in a heart-opening way why.
By the way, for real, listen to this before you read this.
If you know me at all, you'll know my last couple months haven't been great. My girlfriend of three years left, there's been three deaths in my family at the writing of this post, things aren't looking good for a few other members of my family, and honestly I was so stressed about about my job, my art, and even this blog at times. I feel like I was torn down all in the span of a couple weeks. Everything did not feel right. I was not in a good state of mind, and the thought of taking it all away was not far behind.
Couple weeks pass. I experimented. I went out. I drank a lot, way more than I'd could imagine. I did anything smother the pain. After a few cycles and drunk accidents later, it hit me what I was doing to myself. I was just distracting myself from the pain. It's all it ever is.
I thought back to albums I could re-listen to. I got the inspiration to check out "A Seat At The Table" again. It's a fantastic album and project, and I will end up doing a Love Letter on it one day. However, one track hit me so hard, I had to make a post about it.
The instrumentation has a scent of melancholy to it, but it has a feeling of inspiration to it. Like they soaked in the darkness, and are trying to make something out of it. Kind of what the song is about to be honest. It's perfect, really. The beat is driving enough so when Solange's vocals shine in the chorus, you can feel all the emotion just pour through.
Let's break down some lyrics. Shall we?
"I tried to drink it away/ I tried to put one in the air/ I tried to dance it away/I tried to change it with my hair"
Here, is the most obvious part of the song. The pain of life gets to you, so you try different things, hoping it'll somehow make everything better. Notice how none of the things in this verse are actually constructive or beneficial to building yourself in a healthy way, they're all distractions. While fun, it's not a good way to cope."I ran my credit card bill up/ Thought a new dress make it better"
We buy stuff we don't need to make us feel better. Whether it's a new shirt, new shoes, new dress. It's a vapid happiness that goes once the "newness" wears off.
"I tried to work it away/ But that just made me sadder/ I tried to make myself busy/ I ran around circles/ Think I made myself dizzy/ I slept it away, I sexed it away/ I read it away"
This part. Everything you do doesn't seem right. You think working will make you feel better, but it doesn't truly. Keeping yourself busy is good, but all you do is run away from what you truly feel. Sometimes even the things that are constructive, can feel like running sometimes. I know it did for me.
"Well it's like cranes in the sky/ Sometimes I don't want to feel those metal clouds"
Alright, this one I have to explain a bit. A few years ago, Solange was going through a divorce as she was writing this. She said her biggest inspiration is when she saw a crane in the skyline, and noticed how ugly it was, but also how essential it is, because it's building something new, but it's such an ugly process. She related this process to life. The ugly parts is all apart of the process of building the person you are. The darkness and all the emotions tied to it are essential. If you reject these, you reject building yourself into a new person. It's heart-wrenching and it honestly really gets to me.
It's the message I needed to hear. Solange nailed it.
It's a fairly simple song, but within there's so much emotion and experience there. I can't fully give it to you here, and hell, you probably won't have the same experience I had listening to this track, but I also know everyone has something like this. The moment, song, movie, or poem that really just knocked you on your ass.
But, it's why I write these love letters. It was beautiful and inspiring to me, and I thought I would share it with you.
Comments
Post a Comment