Musical Analysis #1 - Don't You Worry Child
We are gonna take it back to 2012 for this one. The second this song comes on, just about everyone knows it. The electronic beat in the song makes this the perfect song for a party or a festival, but if you really listen to the words, the song goes a bit deeper than just a great upbeat song to party to. The Stockholm, Sweden natives Swedish House Mafia and John Martin released Don't You Worry Child on September 14th, 2012. This is one of those songs that just touches your soul in an unexplainable way. This song makes you feel at peace as they are basically saying that everything will be okay, you don't have to worry so much. I have seen so many videos of this song being played at festivals and watching them makes me seriously feel like I am missing out.
This when this song was released, it essentially broke the internet. According to the United States Billboard Hot 100 this song ranked at #6, on the United States Billboard Dance Club Songs it ranked #1. This is without mentioning what it ranked across other countries.
Lyrics- If you really listen to what they are saying, they are speaking about how they once had a great life until their parents separated and rocked their world. In an article posted by Billboard they state that "Zitron opened up about his upbringing in a broken home in the immigrant-heavy Tensta borough of Stockholm; his Finnish mother and religiously devout Finnish-Romani father divorced when he was very young leaving his relationship with his dad “damaged.” The song’s now-iconic chorus — “My father said/ Don’t you worry don’t you worry, child/ See heaven’s got a plan for you” — was something essentially taken verbatim from his father’s words of wisdom." They also speak about young love in the song referring to the line "upon a hill across the blue lake/ thats where I had my first heartbreak/ I still remember how it all changed" If you truly analyze the lyrics of the song, you can feel what they are saying rather than just focusing on the background music. I think that everyone can relate to this song in some way.
Beat/tempo- Now referencing back to what I mentioned about this being a "party song" according to Musicstax.com, the song is about 129bpm in the key of D major with a time signature of 4/4. Overall, the beat is one that can be danced to or played in an upbeat setting regardless of the lyrics. In true EDM fashion, they slowly lead up to where the beat will drop, it goes down and then pushes that last drop into the fast pulse again.
Rhythm- They make use of both silence and accent. As I stated above, they make great use of silence by leading up to that accent (the beat drop) They use both so articulately that it makes the listener anticipate what is going to come next and be pleasantly surprised when it does.
All in all, this is a wonderful piece of music and I would recommended it to everyone I know. It speaks to my soul and I would love to experience this song performed live. Watching TikToks or youtube videos of this song being performed bring tears to my eyes because it is so widely loved and appreciated across the world.
Here is a link to the song being played live at a festival in Belgium called Tomorrowland
References
“Swedish House Mafia | Biography, Music & News.” Billboard, www.billboard.com/artist/swedish-house-mafia/chart-history/dsi/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2024.
“Swedish House Mafia | Biography, Music & News.” Billboard, www.billboard.com/artist/swedish-house-mafia/chart-history/hsi/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2024.
Barrionuevo, Alexei, and Alexei Barrionuevo. “How Two “Indie Guys Who Ended up in EDM” Wrote Swedish House Mafia’s Iconic “Don’t You Worry Child.”” Billboard, 15 July 2021, www.billboard.com/music/music-news/swedish-house-mafia-dont-you-worry-child-story-behind-9601017/.
“Key, Tempo & Popularity of Don’t You Worry Child by Swedish House Mafia, John Martin | Musicstax.” Musicstax.com, musicstax.com/track/dont-you-worry-child/3zu2CuVTJwaZn2m4rBzaUO. Accessed 19 Feb. 2024.
I feel that around the same time this song was released, club hits in general were reaching a renaissance. This song is very memorable. I agree with your statement on rhythm and this song was produced very well.
ReplyDeleteHi Holly! I really appreciate your writing style, it's easy to follow your thoughts and you make your points very well. When I watched the video, it looks like it would actually be a lot of fun to be there. I'm not a huge fan of typical rave music, but this song has some depth to it. Although, lyrics like this do leave me wondering, why don't worry? They make you feel good, but there are problems you simply cannot turn a blind eye to. Problems, including within yourself, that you can't ignore, but also can't seem to fix.
ReplyDeleteI remember this song, it kinda brought me back to a childhood music that I would play on the radio. I never paid much attention to the lyrics or the meaning behind the song. Listening to the beat and the melody of the song it is a rave song that gives off this energetic feeling of wanting to dance and follow the rhythm of the song. I think you did a great job with breaking down how much this song impacted you and breaking down the meaning of the song. I never understood what it meant until now and I think it does bring an emotional aspect to the song that I never thought it had. It feels pretty eye opening to realize that after all these years dancing to this song was a kid going through it at home. I also didn’t know this was a Swedish artist but that does make sense with the accents of their voices when singing this song. Great job on your post!
ReplyDeleteThis song was really popular around the time my son was born so when I hear it, it reminds me of those early newborn days. This was a sweet memory, so thank you! Too Close by Alex Clare gives me the same nostalgia, as it was popular at the same time.
ReplyDeleteSomething that might make you laugh... even though I know the correct lyrics now, the first several times I heard the song, I thought he was singing, 'Don't you worry, don't you worry, child. Seattle has a plan for you.' I went for quite a long time imagining that there was a story behind the lyrics of a young person who was forging a new life in Seattle. Still can't help but sing it that way when I hear it, haha! =)