it is losing my mind over lapis lazuli time y’all
sorry it took me so long everyone, I place the blame squarely on sims 4, phoebe bridgers music, and my reread of the raven cycle trilogy
have this pretty rock as an apology gift also remember it for later hehe
Anyways, song deconstruction time hehe
First! Of! All! the country style intro. I know y’all have been going on about how you can’t vibe with it because it gives you country music feels. I, for one, will not stand for this slander. There may be country style elements in the song, but Tyler’s voice carries it better than any modern stadium country music I’ve ever heard. Secondly, considering what the song itself discusses, I find the country energy to be both delightfully intentional and meaningful.
The song begins with a very brash sounding, relatively simple guitar pattern compared to their usual openings. However, beginning with the line “well if there’s one thing I know” and continuing progressively through the following stanzas, they begin to drop away elements from the beginning more “country-esque” trappings of the song. For example, dropping away the more metallic baseline beat, and layering in some more delicate, higher notes on banjo and guitar. At the line “you don’t know what you don’t know yet,” the repetitive guitar run falls away and allows the violin, which was building all through the first few stanzas, to show through. Additionally, Maggie’s voice, which was most quieter, backing vocals in the first few stanzas, rises to equal volume.
Overall, gradually the song progresses from being very country sounding to adding in many more recognizable “oh hellos style” elements. Even in doing this, the song does still retain elements of the “country style.” For example, a more audible drum track, and more rock-esque group vocals. At the end of the song, most of the instrumental backing is dropped away so that Tyler can deliver a very intimate, slower stanza, a direct opposite to the opening. It is closer to a “slow country” energy than most of the Oh Hellos’ more delicate music, which generally has more instrumental backing (see: This Will End and the opening of Like the Dawn) while at the same time being the opposite of the opening instrumentally and vocally- soft where it was strong, and flowing where it was rolling. It remains country-referential while still auditorally representing the arc of change depicted within the song.
The “country” motif can be interpreted as representative of an attempt to be more palatable- to create a message that will be accepted or at least listened to by an opposing audience, the difficulty of which is addressed in the song itself.
- lyric analysis below -
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