Ari gave me his new car
And all the girls are so champagne
I'm a high liver
I'm a slow burner Tigers Jaw – Cool
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This paints a picture of a person who’s lost in money, alcohol, and sex, superficial and, more probably than not, a total douchebag: in a few lines he brags about his new car then unironically uses “champagne” as an adjective.
This wannabe baller sets the tone for the cynical, careless characters on Charmer. To refer again to Ian Cohen’s Pitchfork review,
To put it bluntly, there isn’t a single nice person populating Tigers Jaw’s lyrics.
Or sends you shooting it through my brain
It's the way you back up into my veins
[Hook]
It's a cruel world
But it's cool
[Verse 2]
It's how you keep wearing me all on your clothes
Or pull me back on my own bed
Or let me see you getting changed
[Hook]
It's a cruel world
But it's cool Tigers Jaw – Cool
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These lines all paint a picture of a girl who is sensual, even seductive. The narrator is captivated by little things, like a whisper in his ear, brushing up against her, laying on the bed together, catching a glimpse of skin as she changes. All of this is intoxicating, having an effect on the narrator not unlike that of alcohol (“Shooting … through my brain”).
There’s the implication that the narrator of the song is being led on (“It’s a cruel world”) but also that merely being around this person is something to be thankful for (“But it’s cool”). Alternatively, they’ve recently fallen out of love, and the narrator comes to terms with it.
Pitchfork’s review of Charmer, written by Ian Cohen, offered the following observation on these lines:
“It’s a cruel world, but it’s cool” … could be read two ways; McIlwee is either conceding to cynicism as a natural state or reveling in it.
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As early as 1990, video-game-obsessed Satoshi Tajiri had a concept for a game called Capsule Monsters, based on his childhood experience of catching insects and placing them in the capsules that vending machine toys come in. In 1996, that game would become Pocket Monsters Green and Red, and, after a US re-release, Pokémon Blue and Red. A phenomenon was born!
In the original games, there were 151 Pokémon, stretching from the reptilian Charmander to the otherwordly Mew. Subsequent releases in the series have seen the addition of no fewer than 567 additional Pokémon, so many that, from Generation III onward, the game’s original slogan, “Gotta catch ‘em all!,” was quietly dropped from official promotions.
The genius of Pokémon becomes truly apparent when one examines the origins, etymologies, and artistic design of each “pocket monster.” Click on any annotation to the left to see the name origin of a Pokémon, the biological organism on which it was based in real life, fan art, and comments from Tajiri and other representatives from Nintendo and Gamefreak!
Useful links
If you’re more into the gaming aspect of Pokémon, there are invaluable resources on the web already, like Serebii, Smogon, Bulbapedia, Pokémon Database, and Reddit, and we’re not even gonna try to touch those guys! And, of course, there’s the official website. Finally, Kotaku is the best website on the web for oscure news of interest to Pokémon fans.
Check ‘em out!
What is this?
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Produced by The Neptunes, this is the second track off of Earl’s debut studio album, Doris. Pictures were released earlier of Pharrell and Earl working in the studio, and this was one of the products of that session. More forthcoming tracks from that session were hinted at like the song “Feet” (currently unreleased).
The “Cut that bitch off!” sample found throughout the track originates from Preacher’s “The Spirit of the Truth.”
The significance of the “Burgundy” is tied to a carpet which was discussed a multitude of times on Earl’s self-titled mixtape EARL. Earl and fellow Odd Future member, Tyler, The Creator, mention the carpet on “Couch” and “epaR”, a song in which Vince Staples is also featured. Burgundy is the colour of blood, which has soaked into the carpet. Truer to life, it may be the colour of the carpet in his grandma’s house, as mentioned in the song’s opening lines. This might tie together two distinct connotations of blood: blood as in violence, and blood as in family. It also can tie in with Earl’s geriatric tendencies, which he discusses more in an interview with Sway in the morning.
The purpose of “Burgundy,” as stated here, is Earl venting to Vince about how he really feels about rapping at that point in time. There were some points when he didn’t even want to be rapping or doing anything at all relating to music because of all the personal things going on in his life, which he touches on a lot in the track.
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You bring in a rapper friend ('sup?) Marianas Trench (Ft. Anami Vice) – Pop 101
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Justin Bieber’s previously mentioned “Baby” would be a great example of a song that tries to farm credibility by including a verse from a rapper, Ludacris. In the case of “Baby,” Luda is naturally way cooler than Bieber, and the verse falls flat. Other pop/rap collaborations (Fall Out Boy/Lil Wayne, Katy Perry/Kanye West) have been better and seem more like an organic combination.
"Higher," "desire," and "fire"
"Higher," "desire," and "fire" Marianas Trench (Ft. Anami Vice) – Pop 101
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Some rhymes just need to die already… their convenience breeds overuse and they become ubiquitous, predictable, tired.
Paul McCartney warned of his own personal pitfall, rhyming “rings” and “things.”
“Rings” is fatal anyway, “rings” always rhymes with “things” and I knew it was a bad idea. I came in and I said [to John Lennon], “These aren’t good lyrics but it’s a good tune [‘Drive My Car’].”
Specifically, this is a reference to “I Want It That Way” by The Backstreet Boys, which had “fire” and “desire” in the chorus of the lyrics.
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Hurry up and get to the chorus
Dumb down, they won't ignore us Marianas Trench (Ft. Anami Vice) – Pop 101
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The idea here is that some demographics aren’t looking to be challenged by music, but rather just “have a good time,” a goal that isn’t inherently bad, but can lead to a lot of insipid, completely heartless songs. This takes a jab at the tendency of pop music to focus on getting to the catchy chorus, which the song might be solely known for instead of holistically with the verses. There is little place for deeper, complex, meaningful lyrics. Pop music instead, is “dumbed down” to appeal to a wider audience.
Josh sings from the perspective of the musician, dumbing down a song for his audience; compare Kurt Cobain in Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” who was taking the role of the audience member.
Hence we have a cycle of fans wanting dumb music and musicians making it!
These lyrics are very similar to the first section of the chorus in “Repeat Stuff” by Bo Burnham, another song about how formulaic pop songs are.
Now I'm talkin' familiar
Harmony in thirds, not fourths
Will take you into the pre-chorus Marianas Trench (Ft. Anami Vice) – Pop 101
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