Lyrical Rhetoric

The song "pumped for kicks" is about a teenager kid who is isolated and hated his life. The kid fantasized on going on a huge killing spree. He wanted to go on a killing spree because he kept getting bullied in high school, he had all he could take. The author is Foster the People. He moved to L.A when he was 18. He moved there trying to make a living by writing songs and making jingles. The band put this song on the internet and blogs and people began to listen to the song. The song became a huge hit and the band started to get known. The song has a very catchy tune that easily catches peoples attention. At first I could not understand a word they were saying I found it very annoying. After reading through the lyrics I found the song to be quite disturbing. In my opinion I think the author is sending out the wrong message in the song. I honestly don't think anyone should approach bullying the way they did. To me its sending a message telling kids if your being bullied it is okay to go on a shooting spree,to me that is not okay!

I understand what the author is trying to say to his audience. I also understand that he was bullied growing up. Being bullied is not okay as well but having a mind set of killing people does not solve any problems it just creates new ones. Eventually people are going to think its okay to kill other people because its continuous. To me it makes it sound like the kid is out for revenge to the kids wearing pumped up kicks telling them to run, run from his gun. That is not a good message to send out to other kids. There will be bullying everywhere no matter how many people try to stop it. I absolutly don't agree with it and I wish it would come to an end. unfortunetly those are situations our society has to deal with. The song being under indie pop I think allowed its audience to want to listen to it. I think they made the song hard to understand so people would pay more attention to what was actually being said. It had a very catchy tune that caught everyones attention. Once people started listening and looking up the lyrics I think then they were confused on the message he was tryin to send others. The band managed to make a lot of hits from this song, this song is what made this band known. I just don't agree with the message he is trying to send out, to me its not very positive.

Megan H
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