Analysing Your Song

Target Audience
The target audience for the song I think would be ages 16-18, anyone that is having particular problems in their lives to do with friends, family or just the pressure of workloads being too much for them. Anything that can stress someone out would be a perfect reason to listen to the song has the lyrics don't specify what the artist had been through, it could apply to any situation. The reason I say 16-18 because with A Levels and moving schools and new friendships / broken trust and relationship issues, this is a period in life that stress is quite heavy. Obviously as one gets older so does the level of stress however because of the audience that this song would be played most to it is most likely that they wouldn't hear it. I think the gender of the song would appeal most to females, since a lot of the harmonies created are by the one female and therefore it would be easier for females to relate to the vocals. Also, even though some males may have the same emotional targets as shown in the song to do with friendship, it may not be as deep as how females view it. I think their interests would be quite secluded, anything that other people aren't particularly interested in, for example studying or socializing but in a very small group of people. The lyrics of this song suggests that her trust has been broken, therefore I think that the people that would listen to this song would have a small selection of friends that they can tell their secrets to.

Analysing Lyrics

Back in time like someone pressed rewind on my life

This line automatically shows that the artist is having a flashback, or a vivid memory. The word ‘rewind’ perhaps shows that she sees her life as a movie, as something that she can tell people as a story, a narrative.

I just wanted to succeed

This line shows her initial intention, especially as she has used the words ‘I just wanted to…’ it almost suggests that she has been wrongly accused or told off for something, as those words are used usually in defence. Also, the contradiction of ‘just wanted to succeed’ is effective as no one should be accused for trying to something as positive as succeeding, so this shows how misunderstood she has become.

Trapped me, I can’t breathe

This line has now introduced the theme of being trapped for the first time since the song began, now beginning to show what has happened to her. She can’t breathe, this could be both metaphorically as in feeling trapped within herself and literally being trapped somewhere.

Let’s keep an eye on you

This line has now used a patronizing line, ‘let’s keep an eye on you’ sounds like something that a nurse would say to a small child, or someone that is mentally unstable. It appears to be demeaning and degrading, almost pitiful but not in a positive way.

Because you got serious blues

The artist is now beginning to say what drove her to feeling trapped and being talked down upon. She is clearly battling with a sadness or depression that is slowly driving her insane. Or at least – that is how other people are seeing her.

Take another shot while you’re at it

There is an imperative here, the word ‘take’ is a demand, once again showing that there is someone looking after her as if she was helpless. The connotation of the word ‘shot’ can also be two things. It can either be shot as in a shot that one would drink in a bar to perhaps drown their sorrows away, once again adding to the sadness. Another would be a shot in terms of a jab, an injection that is given to either numb someone or take their pain completely away for a certain amount of time. This is used in psychiatric hospital to patients, in order to ease the mental illness or pain. The words ‘while you’re at it’ are also used so casually, therefore implying that the artist has become used to being treated as she is. 

Stuck wondering how I’ll get through it

The artist has now related the song back to herself again. She has been left alone to deal with whatever is going through her mind. The word ‘wondering’ is something that is done usually when one has spare time, or time in which they aren’t doing anything. This could show how long she has been trapped for.

I hate how everything is

The artist no longer has any hope left. She has resorted to hating EVERYTHING, which is an incredibly strong word to describe how one is feeling and then adding the word everything shows that there is nowhere or nothing that she feels will change for the better.

Nothing feels right not a perfect fit

This line brings to mind the image of a small child trying to fit pieces into a puzzle and getting frustrated since she is perhaps trying the puzzle the wrong way, but she is too young to understand. This then relates back to the fact that the artist is being treated like a child, as she sees things in a childish light. Therefore, a deeper insight on the artist and her story and true personality is being revealed.

Standards so high gonna fall fall fall

This line reveals the artist’s disappointment in what she has been through. Before whatever dramatic event that had taken place to get her into the state that she is in today, she had appeared to be someone who perhaps set her expectations up too easily and was then bitterly let down. This could also be viewed as other people having high expectations of her that she couldn’t reach and because of the pressure to succeed, she crumbled.

Building up another wall wall wall

This line could reflect that either the artist is building up a metaphorical emotional wall to corner herself up from other people, from society. The line could also reflect that other people are cornering her off from themselves, that they are rejecting her. Also, she repeats the word ‘wall’ three times, just as she is repeating the word ‘fall’ which could once again reflect the artist slowly losing her sanity.

Too loud need to break out

The artist is now telling the audience how she feels, although the line almost sounds like she is thinking this inside of her head but she needs to get her thoughts out. The use of the words ‘break out’ also shows that she is being held somewhere against her will, since if it were somewhere that she wanted to be she wouldn’t have to ‘break out’, she could simply leave.

Maximum security lockdown

Finally, the audience may be able to see exactly what has happened to the artist. It sounds like she is definitely either in a psychiatric ward or she is battling with herself, that she just feels too confined for words. ‘Lockdown’ in itself is used as common terminology in both prisons and psychiatric wards in where either a prisoner or a patient has escaped and is too dangerous for other people to be left alone with them. Therefore this shows the panic and the danger that the artist is feeling, or that she has put herself in.

Feeling like a prisoner you can’t leave now

She is again being referred back to as a prisoner, however as she says ‘feeling like’ it doesn’t then necessarily mean that she is one. But she is definitely somewhere that she doesn’t want to be. Also, the words ‘you can’t leave now’ also imply that she is being held hostel, against her will.

Maximum security lockdown (you can’t leave now)

Here she is repeating what she has already said, once again going down the route of reptetion, again reflecting her mental state since when people repeat what they have just said, it means that they are either trying to make a point or they are suffering from anxiety.

Too far down the line to give up now

This line, however, does not sound like something the artist had said on her own accord. It sounds like something that someone would try and tell her in attempt to keep her where she is, once again nudging on the patronizing borderline contemptuous dialogue that she has been experiencing.

  

Maximum security lockdown

Again, she has repeated herself.

Is it normal to feel this way?

Now she has begun to question what she believes in and what she has been told. She uses rhetorical questions to almost turn to the audience, perhaps she is trying to gain their opinion on her situation so that it makes more sense to her.

Do you really think I’m not ok?

Now it is almost like the artist has begun to doubt herself and become self-conscious and paranoid that what she has been told and what she has overheard people say about her is true. Again, another rhetorical question is used.

Don't want to admit to anything

She now is almost stating the fact that she has done something for her to get to where she is now, but she doesn’t want to say what she has done. The reason to this could be that she is worried about her punishment, whatever that may or may not be.

Charged my sentence but I don’t feel nothing

This line  is now showing that perhaps the artist is getting what she had deserved but she doesn’t feel any regret, remorse, anything.

(Because) You just want to see me lose again

In this line, it shows that the artist has been in similar situations like this before and that someone had perhaps broken her trust like this before.

You are not a real friend

Here it has become obvious that some form of trust has been broken and that the artist is now singing to whoever had broken her trust, someone that had been a fake friend to her.

(So you might aswell)Take another shot while you’re at it

Stuck wondering how I’ll get through it

I hate how everything is

Nothing feels right not a perfect fit

Standards so high gonna fall fall fall

Building up another wall wall wall

Too loud need to break out

Maximum security lockdown

Feeling like a prisoner you can’t leave now

Maximum security lockdown (you can’t leave now)

Too far down the line to give up now

Maximum security lockdown

No I don’t wanna talk about it

Here, the artist sounds like she is being questioned by someone like a psychiatrist, someone delving into her thoughts maybe against her will. The word ‘NO’ starts the lyric and also in the song, it was sung with a harsh force. She also doesn’t state what exactly has happened as she uses the word ‘it’, leaving it to the audience’s own imagination. This is effective since allowing the audience to assume what has happened to her will then lead them to believe in the song a little more.

No I don’t know how I feel

Once again, she is answering questions that she couldn’t answer. Her emotions are clearly mixed at this point as she isn’t too sure how exactly she feels. She again starts the sentence with ‘No’, sounding like she’s answering another question that she didn’t really want to answer. Also, the idea of a psychiatrist or someone trying to help her mental state links to the idea of a psychiatric hospital.

No I don’t need to know any of it

This is interesting, as it almost shows that she is being interrogated as she is being offered something that she won’t take. Also, there is a suspicion that she may have forgotten whatever has happened to her, since she ‘doesn’t need to know any of it’, this might also suggest that she wants to completely forget about what she has done and wants to attempt to erase her memory.

Yes I just want this over with

Now there could be a series of things that she is being offered. This is the first time in four lines that she actually answers a question with ‘YES’ and it seems like she either wants to just get her sentence over with or she wants to get her time in wherever she is being held up with ‘over with’.

No I don’t want fake help

Once again, the artist has returned to answering the questions with ‘no’, once more showing that she is slowly becoming irritated with the questions asked. Also, the words ‘fake help’ shows that she doesn’t believe that what she is being offered is genuine and that she is sick of people not acting themselves around her.

No I don’t know how I felt

Now she appears to be answering questions about the crime/situation that she has committed, as she says the word ‘felt’ instead of ‘feel’ showing that it was in the past tense. This is still borderline psychiatrist and now falling into police interrogation, now linking to the idea of a prison and now committing an illegal offence.

No I don’t wanna go through this for a year

Now this line suggests that she’s being held up somewhere, perhaps counselling sessions that would last a year. However the words ‘go through this’ suggest that she is being treated unfairly, therefore hinting strongly at being held in a psychiatric ward. Also, the way that this is portrayed, it shows that people are viewing her as a inferior mentally unstable person that they feel they have to mollycoddle and look after, as if she were a child, and therefore the artist appears to get extremely frustrated because of this.

Yes I just want someone to be near

Once more, she has answered the question with ‘yes’. However there is a pattern here, every fourth question she answeres with ‘yes’. Therefore this could imply that she isn’t paying much attention to the questions asked as she has gotten herself into a rhythm. This lyric also then implies lonliness and the loss of someone to talk to and to have near. The artist just wants everything to go back to normal.

Standards so high gonna fall fall fall

Building up another wall wall wall

Too loud need to break out

Maximum security lockdown

Feeling like a prisoner you can’t leave now

Maximum security lockdown (you can’t leave now)

Too far down the line to give up now

Maximum security lockdown

Standards so high gonna fall fall fall

Building up another wall wall wall

Too loud too loud

This line, the repetition of ‘too loud’ shows her mental state slowly deteriorating, as she is starting to repeat herself and can’t take the noise or the pressure.

Maximum security lockdown

This line implies that the artist is the reason for the lockdown. Throughout the lyrics, she has almost explained her confused state of mind and by ending with the word ‘lockdown’, the impression is given that she is finally going to break out and therefore the ‘lockdown’ is initiated because of her.

Analysing Music
The music begins with a slow steady pace of an organ. Organ's are usually linked to eerie, spooky and mysterious genres of films and music, therefore gives off the spooky element to the song. The bass guitar also appears, after the introduction. This sets the beat well, however since it is such a low sound (it's a mute bass), it adds to the mystery, not taking away from the sound of the organ. Lizzie's voice has no set temp to it, it varies. Sometimes it goes high and other times it wobbled slightly, but even though it is unusual it adds extremely well to the genre of music. The reason that it wobbles and sometimes varies in it's pitch, it makes the lyrics sound like she's slowly loosing her cool and the pressure she is under is becoming too much for her to handle. 

Analysing Tempo
The tempo to the song is steady and keeps that way for the whole way through. The percussion that sets the tempo of the song sounds like it has been done by a drum but then there is a slight echo with every beat that it takes out. Once again, the echo adds to the slightly horror theme that the song maintains. Because the song's tempo is so steady and consistent, Lizzie is able to then vary her voice and go anywhere that she wants it to, depending on how she wants to sing it at the time of recording. She doesn't even necessarily need to follow the tempo with her voice as the beat keeps the song steady.

How would you visually communicate this in a video?

The song is purely based on the themes of loneliness and a mental confusion. Therefore the image I have in my mind is of a girl with long straight dark brown hair constantly over her face in a long white gown. The settings that I would use would be a white room with no way out, with perhaps just a bed in the corner, or a padded cell which I may have to use a green screen with. I would illustrate the lyrics by perhaps having my actress a flash back of  her before the situation happened, totally normal. Then I would show her in the state she is in now compared to the state that she was in before, literally showing her being locked up with no escape at all, crying and screaming in some scenes and lip syncing in others. To amplify this video I would do the same, but not the flashbacks, just a girl frantically bashing on the walls and screeching (with no sound as this would be done underneath the music), clutching her hair in distress and writing the words 'LOCKDOWN' and 'TOO LOUD' on the wall perhaps in blood red paint. To contradict this however I would show a girl running through a field, completely free. This would totally go against the idea of being trapped, therefore perhaps then having an even stronger impact on the video.