When I’m jamming in the car or having a solo performance in the shower, the primary thing I’m on the look out for is how catchy a song is and how well I can dance to it. If I’m in the middle of a dance floor at a party, then I’m intending to sit around with my fellow dancers and analyze the lyrics we’re belting out. As a proud shower-singer and car-jammer, I’m perfectly fine not thinking twice about the potentially upsetting concepts that artists use their music to express. However, on second look, some of the most common, seemingly happy songs we can’t escape from are the ones with the most distressing stories.
1. "I Took A Pill In Ibiza"
Never failing to get the dance floor hype as ever, Mike Posner actually uses this song to warn his listeners that “you don’t wanna be like me.” Explaining his sad lifestyle of loneliness and drug use, Posner uses this song to point out that all he knows are “sad, sad songs.
2. "Pumped Up Kicks"
Unlike Posner’s warning of drug usage and isolation, Foster the People warn their listeners of an antagonist, Robert, because they “better run better run, outrun my gun.” On the search for victims sporting their “pumped up kicks,” these targets better use their feet to get away before they slipping on their dancing shoes.
3. "Semi-Charmed Life"
Not unlike the many songs that are about drugs, "Semi-Charmed Life" takes this content to a whole new level. Explaining the drug user’s decline and usage of crystal meth, "Semi-Charmed Life" gives personal insight on how much he needs “something else to get through this semi-charmed kind of life.” Because who doesn’t want to live a semi-charmed, subpar life?
4. "Love Yourself"
Definitely not the kind of song you want to woo your significant other with. Justin Bieber knew what he was doing with the girl that his mom “don’t like” even though “she likes everyone.” So, to whoever this song is addressed to (cough cough, Selena Gomez), Bieber is already “movin’ on.”
5. "Here"
Written by a 19-year-old, Alessia Cara uses the song "Here" to describe a girl that’s just trying to escape a reckless party. Ever feel like the social outcast at an outing? Alessia understands. Ironically enough, we sing this song at the top of our lungs while probably participating in all the things Alessia Cara is just not into.
