Let me just say that thanks to Ms. Jarmer playing the song
in class, this song has been totally stuck in my brain for the past two days! Anyway,
“Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People is an interesting song to say the least.
When I first heard it, I didn’t quite understand the lyrics except the chorus.
And from what I heard from the chorus, I first took this song to be racist. It
sounded like it was referring to the black kids that wore the fancier Nike
shoes, Air Jordans, etc. But now that I read the lyrics and combined that with
the research we did in class, I have a completely different outlook on the
message of the song. First off, the song is written by Mark Foster, who is also
a jingle writer and who was bullied as a child. That brought some inspiration
into the message of the song. The message being that bullying is wrong and we
have no idea the consequences it causes, or even how the one being bullied
truly feels. One day they could just snap and walk into school with a gun, or
even worse, suicide. We don’t tend to think of the other’s feelings when we are
downgrading them. The song takes us into the perspective of a young boy who is
bullied at school and then comes home to an abusive and neglecting father,
which is an interesting way to show the perspective from a lyricist. Generally
most songs you here on the radio about a similar subject/message show the
situation from an outside perspective. It’s kind of cool in a weird and dark
way.
The fact that the song has an interesting beat is enough to catch
my attention in the least. However, it seems that Mark Foster was wanting this
song to pertain to a particular audience of “hipsters”, as research told me
that it was formatted as an “f-you” song to the “hipsters”, however it was
designed to get them to dance to it. Being the fact that Foster is a jingle
writer, I’m sure he designed the song to be “catchy” in order to implant it
into our brains and have us singing it like crazy all day long. In a weird way
though, I believe Foster did a magnificent job of getting the message out. Most
people don’t realize that simply stating a fact won’t go near as far as using
that fact in an example, such as an image or a song. Also, if you notice, the song has a darker
sounding melody with a light upbeat rhythm. It is inspiring to use that kind of
music to attract an audience to listen for three to five minutes-(which is
about as long as most songs are, minus Metallica!) Foster definitely has his
work cut out for him in the music industry, if I do say so myself.
Amanda W.
(485)
When I first heard the song I could not understand the lyrics either. I also thought the song was about shoes but I did not think it was racist though. I also had a totally different outlook of the song after reading the lyrics and doing research on Mark Foster. I did not find information on Mark Foster being bullied at school but since I read your article it does make a little more sense on why he wrote the song now. I did not think the song explained how the bully felt; I thought it was mainly about what bullying causes and shooting. I agree with you that the song is told from a young boy being bullied and then having to go home to his abusive father. I also thought it was interesting and cool that he decided to write the song from a bullied person’s point of view. I thought it made more of an impact with it written like this. I did not realize that the song has a darker melody with a light beat rhythm until you mentioned it; I thought it was just a catchy tune. I agree with you that the song was written towards a more hipsters audience, I just cannot imagine them dancing to the song. Overall, I thought you did a good job analyzing the song.
ReplyDelete-Megan Grimes (226)
I felt the same way you did when I first heard the song as well. Since the music had an up-beat, I didn't realize the lyrics would have such a powerful meaning to them. Once I looked up the lyrics, I realized that the song was towards the youth and how bullying can cause emotional and psychological problems towards a kid. That type of distress can eventually cause them to snap. Bullying isn't a joke, and can really have a big impact on a kid, which could eventually cause them to act out in rage, like causing a school shooting. I did not know that the author was writing the song towards "hipsters", but I can kinda see that now because of the music's beat and instrumental value to it. He was a jingle writer so he knows how to grab the audience's attention better. I also agree with what you said about how the song had a dark melody too it, but beat wise it has a light and modern tone to it. When most people first hear this song, they wouldn't expect the dark message behind it because of the song's musical vibe to it, which causes the listeners to think.
ReplyDeleteEmily Shouse
(203 words)