Success
The Pussycat Dolls, "When I Grow Up", Pop, 2008.
Kanye West, "The New Workout Plan", Hip-Hop, 2004.
Akon, "I'm So Paid", Hip-Hop/R&B, 2008.
Nelly, "Number One", Rap, 2001.
Montgomery Gentry, "Something to be Proud Of", Country, 2005.
Liberation
Yael Naim, "New Soul", Folk, 2008.
Zac Brown Band, "Free", Country, 2010.
Mae, "Release Me", Alternative, 2007.
Jay Sean (ft. Nicki Minaj), "2012", Pop, 2010.
Sugarland, "Something More", Country, 2005.
I did not have an excessive amount of trouble finding songs for either of these two aims. It seems to me that there is a relatively equal number of songs about success and about freedom, probably because of how deeply engrained these ideas are in American culture and psyche. This country is built on the principles of liberty and freedom; for centuries, the United States has been a beacon of these ideals throughout the world. Americans love their freedoms and will fight to the death to ensure that they are not trampled upon. However great it may be, this concept of freedom has been the cause of much turmoil and disagreement throughout our nation's history. Is there a limit to our freedom? At what point does one person's liberty hinder another's? The principle of liberation can be applied to lots of different situations and its meaning differs for everyone. The song "Release Me" by Mae is about finding a love that will free you from the things in life that hold you back from happiness; it's about realizing what truly matters in life and the freedom that comes with that knowledge. In contrast, the song "2012" by Jay Sean is an anthem to partying and having a good time without a care in the world. If we can "live like it's the end of the world" then we are truly free from any other worries. Ultimately, both songs leave the listener feeling optimistic. I believe that the Hindu aim of liberation is meant to incite the same kind of emotion.
Success is another key component of American society, measured most often in wealth and fame. In Hinduism, success is measured in much the same way. The difference is, however, that Hinduism recognizes the fleeting nature of success; it is a temporary thing and should be treated as such. It is when people think that their wealth, fame, and/or power will last forever that they encounter problems. The pursuit of happiness is a right bestowed upon all Americans that has become synonymous with the "American Dream". In this country, it seems that one is only successful if he or she has a white picket fence, 2.3 kids, and a silver Lexus. It is truly a shame that the scale of one's success is not measured in love, friendship, charity, or other such ideals. I was not surprised to find lots of songs about getting rich, being beautiful, and being famous. In the song "The New Workout Plan", Kanye West satirizes the female quest to be good-looking and in shape as a means of attracting men and using them for their money. Sadly, to some this is seen as "success". The principles of liberation and success are prevalent in American pop culture. Though I believe that our ideas of liberation are very similar, I don't think we understand or respect the concept of success to the extent that Hinduism does. If we recognized that it is a temporary thing, maybe our culture would not be so obsessed with it.
Kyle,
ReplyDeleteYour viewpoint about finding music that relates to both themes equally is very amazing. I truly wish I could say I had the same ease in finding songs relating to both worldly pleasure as well as liberation. I wish I could share your viewpoint about the world as such as well. Like you, I found it very easy to find songs related to worldly pleasure. However, finding songs related to liberation I found to be much harder. Perhaps this difference occurs in what our definition of freedom is. Freedom is, as you said, a definite tenant of our country's history and foundation. The songs relating to freedom in a broad sense are many. However, the freedom I was originally referring to related more to the Hindu mindset of liberating oneself from the cycle of rebirth, a theme that is probably much more foreign to the American realm.
Nevertheless, I was quite impressed with your ability to easily find songs related to liberation. I think it reveals a lot about the way you view the world. I hope that I can start to embody some of the same.
Cheers,
Kunal
I did not have such an easy time finding songs for this assignment. At first I wasn't even sure what I could relate liberation with, but like you I also related it with freedom. I related it to any sort of freedom that Americans could want, like equal rights for everyone or freedom from the horrible life someone may be living. I think that your statement about success is very good, but I think that many of the success songs are also pleasure songs. I did not realize it but my success songs are also pleasure songs, someone pointed out to me that most songs are not just about succeeding, but they are about the enjoyment of succeeding! I think that it is crazy how Americans make everything about pleasure.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your response in the 2nd paragraph about success. I think that the measure of one's success should be "how has this person made a difference in the world" instead how many car's a person owns. It is a shame that our socity places such an emphasis on this instead of things that really matter in life.
ReplyDeleteFirst off: Zac Brown Band! Yes!
ReplyDeleteI didn't even think to connect the American ideal of freedom to liberation! And it would be so easy to find songs about freedom in American songs because, like you said, it is ingrained in our culture. Awesome choice of songs illustrating the success aim. Its crazy to think about what these songs are conveying. "When I grow up" blatantly states "I want to be famous, want to be a star I want to have groupies....blah." No worries about helping others, or anything like that. It shows how different Hindu religion is from American culture.
I agree with you that finding songs for both seemed a little bit easier than last weeks assignment. I almost felt that they went hand in hand with each other. I never even thought of relating our assignment to the basis of US history. I thought it was really neat how you talked about what the country is based upon. I feel like it almost provides this sense of pride in the country, and its a different aspect of looking at things. I feel that with most of the examples that we are using for this assignment it discusses how the American culture is missing the point or does not have true values, but with what you talked about a little in your post, I feel that it does provide some kind of insight on the foundation of American music as well.
ReplyDelete