When I think of a wild song, I think of “Sincerity is Scary” by the 1975, one of my all time favorite bands. The 1975 is based in the UK, and the genre of their music could be categorized as pop rock, alternative, or synth pop. This song is from their album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, and is largely about Postmodernism. As a background, Modernism was a period in time around the early 1900s, where people were discovering new ideas, some based in science and some not, but this point in time represented humanity learning a lot and having a general direction/reason for everything. Postmodernity came after the World Wars, making people start to question the truth, and realizing that not everything you are told is true.
“Sincerity is Scary” is quite an upbeat song featuring elements of jazz with drums, horns, synths, and even a trumpet. This instrumentation is wild in that these instruments are not typically seen in rock or alternative genres. This song is wild not only in the instrumentation, but also in the commentary it provides about our backwards society. It starts off slow and has tactful pauses in the beginning, almost drawing you in to keep listening. The message reveals itself at the very beginning, as it leads with “And irony’s okay, I suppose culture is to blame. You try and mask your pain in the most postmodern way.” This discusses how irony has become almost a point of self-defense for people to hide behind. The song links this lack of emotion back to not being human. The chorus goes, “Why can’t we be friends, when we are lovers? Cause it always ends with us hating each other.” This reemphasizes how it is wild people often go to extreme lengths to not care as a way to act “cool,” and not get hurt, especially in relationships. Sarcasm and putting up a front has become so normalized that we live in fear of being genuine and showing others who we truly are. This song pushes the themes of Postmodernity and the importance of self-awareness, true self-expression, and individualism. The song is truly wild in how unusually upbeat the tune is for how striking of a message it gives on humanity. Every time I listen to it, I think about how living in the truth and expressing all the awkward, emotional, and human qualities I have is so meaningful. It has almost become bizarre to be human, which I think is truly wild.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K93ioXL63c
elina chen
I really love your intake of this song! This is my first time hearing it and it didn’t strike me as “wild” until I read your blog. I like how you describe “wild” in the sense that he uses a serious topic but presents it in a fun way. I can see how wild that is and I really like it. Although those two things are individual, the artist gave a message that was catchy yet serious. It really is wild how he did that and did it so well!
I found your take on this song’s wildness to be very interesting. I liked how you described not only the lyrics, but also the instrumental, as “wild”, which is something I hadn’t thought of when writing my own blog. I also agree with your thoughts on how exposing the truth about something, like humanity in this sense, can be wild because it reveals something we normally don’t think about or are conscious of. After reading your blog, I also perceive this song as wild. Good Job!
Your take on the wildness in this song is super interesting! I definitely did not take into account instrumentation when thinking about wildness but I like that you describe how the instruments and how that contributes to the wildness.
I love your insight on both the the wildness of the instrumentation and matching the topic of the lyrics to postmodernist themes. I can definitely see similar songs that mix upbeat music to more dark/introspective tones being wild after reading your analysis on this one. The themes of self-awareness and hiding behind irony definitely contribute to the wild nature of this song.