The Arcade Fire song “The Suburbs”
is also covered by Mr. Little Jeans, and while both songs share identical
lyrics and seem to observe similar meaning, they are conveyed in a different
tone. Arcade Fire’s original version of the song follows an acoustic sound
common in the indie rock genre with unique lyrics punctuated by the lead singer’s
tonal voice. On the contrary, the Mr. Little Jeans version sounds slower and
almost other worldly with a smooth, synthetic beat and vocals the blend
similarly with the sound. While the actual sound difference of acoustics versus
synth seems to distance the songs, they seem to follow similar patterns of rhythm
and tempo. However, each song is unique in its instrumental sound and
incredibly different vocally, making for two lyrically identical songs that may
carry slightly different messages.
In
Arcade Fire’s original, the articulation of the lyrics emphasizes their
meaning, specifically in the song’s three verses. There seems to be a story
being told here about a time before, and feelings of nostalgia are evoked. The
song’s title highlights the main focus of the song, the suburbs and life as an
adolescent in this obscure landscape. This idea is shown in the lines of the
second verse, “The kids want to be so hard/but in my dreams, we’re still
screaming/and running through the yard”. The sentiment here is that in a rush
to grow up and prove their own identities, everyone lost who they used to be
growing up in the suburbs. The chorus reiterates this point talking about, “moving
past the feeling,” and losing the emotions and memories he once felt towards
his past life. The instrumentals of this song have a nice flow that emphasize
the emotions of nostalgia and past happiness attempting to be conveyed through
this song. This is shown at the beginning of each chorus as the beat intensifies
a bit to match the emotion put into the initial words of these few lines. The
song slows a little towards the end, and the lyrics discuss moving on from
their adolescence in the suburbs in order to grow up and mature. A clear
message here is the expression of nostalgia that comes with growing up and
distancing yourself from the places and memories in which you matured.
For Mr.
Little Jeans, the song seems entirely different if you just listen to the instrumental
sound and how it varies greatly from Arcade Fire’s original. However, there
seems to be similar emotions evoked from this version. While Mr. Little jeans
does not seem to be telling a story similar to Arcade Fires’ , she seems to try
to express the same emotions that their version does. The emphasis here seems
to be placed on the chorus, unlike when Arcade Fire focuses on their verses to
tell their story. This chorus about passing feelings from times before is more
emphasized than the verses because the artist articulates these words more,
making them stick out from the smooth synthetic beat that overpowers much of
the song. Perhaps her feelings of nostalgia are towards a past love, rather
than the growing pains of maturity referenced by Arcade Fire.
Nevertheless, each song is effective
in its evocation of emotions of nostalgia, whether through their lyrics like
Arcade Fire, or the use of a powerfully unusual beat like Mr. Little Jeans. Such
a beat makes you feel very calm and reflective, continuing the emphasis on the
past feelings referenced. The audiences of each song varies due to the
difference in the physical sounds of each. However, the underlying message
seems much more similar than initially anticipated, making the audience seem
much broader and overlapping. It is
fascinating to see that two songs that sound entirely different, can have the
same lyrics and emphasize the same emotions through different methods. One
through the tone of its lyrics, references the pastimes of growing up, the
other through a peaceful, introspective vibe achieved in its instrumentals,
also induces nostalgia.
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