Can definitely relate to this. Lyrics will land differently depending on your state of mind/ emotional landscape at the time. Same goes for any work of art, poetry, literature, even contemplating nature can affect you differently depending on where you are mentally/ emotionally. The world around us is in flux and so are we, although we’re not fully aware of that all the time because we’re busy with the business of living. Connecting with art/ music/ whatever it may be takes us out of time for a moment.

I totally agree. I feel there’s a lot of music or listeners who don’t notice the artistry of lyrics and how impactful lyrics can be in a song. To me there are a lot of songs that lack depth lyrically and are nothing more than a means of cashing a check, but that’s just me.

I’ve also noticed that as I’ve gotten older, I notice and comprehend the complexity of lyrics much more than I used to when I was younger even with songs I’ve been listening to my whole life. It’s quite interesting to see how mood and age change the perception of lyrics.

If you’re interested in reading about it, what you’re describing is a concept called “death of the author,” basically a school of thought promoting the idea that the meaning of art is whatever the person experiencing it decides it is.

IMO, it’s a good perspective to keep in mind, but it also means ignoring authorial intent, and trying to discern authorial intent can be another very interesting way to think about art. So basically there’s two competing ways to look at art, that you can try to do at the same time - “what does this mean to the artist,” and “what does this mean to me.”

I've had this happen before and believe me, there's a simple answer. Growing up.

Let's use Hurt as an example. Trent Reznor (said artist) has essentially passed on spiritual ownership of the song to Johnny Cash after his cover, and there's a lot of argument as to why, but all he said was "It's his now."

I only really came to this realization a couple years ago but the two artists, doing the exact same song, are kind of a perfect example of this.

NIN did a song about pain, suffering, hating yourself or those around you, depression.

JC did it as a retrospective on his life, his legacy, as a hope that even though he's reached the end of his life, suffered in ways others have, haven't, or never wished to.

They're both sad, they're both the exact same song, but NIN is the waiting, and JC is the retrospective many years later.

IMO of course

Another comment above kinda hit on what I’m going to say, but I do believe with any art the meaning is entirely up to the one consuming (in this case listening) to it. To me NIN is about the struggle of the depression and living a lifestyle that’s ultimately self destructive but doing it out of being lost. So the guy who’s out at parties and doing drugs and getting laid, but deep down has a passion he just hasn’t found but knows it’s there. JC is more accepting life as it is even up to the end. Both are ultimately about being human and having all these complex feelings. But then we go to Chop Suey by System of a Down, to the artists it’s about drug addiction, to me it’s about the disorganized chaos that is life, then again their style kinda gets that from me with most of there songs at least to an extent. All music interpretation is just opinion and that’s what’s beautiful about it. We can listen to the same song but get different messages and we’re all right

I’ve heard of it before, I definitely agree and I could go on and on about different songs where I find that, an example that comes to mind is hotel California, the artists intended it to be about addiction, but I take it as the bitter sweet things you’re too attached to let go of. Like that one person in all of our lives who’s really no good for us but we keep around because we love them anyway. It’s the beauty of music usually being in metaphors

Ding ding ding!

We have a saying in a Whisky group I'm a part of: "The best whisky is the whisky you like to drink, the way you like to drink it". Jack and Coke on the rocks? Go for it. Pappy 25 neat? Suuuuure.

These are all subjective things. There really is no "right" answer at all.

Btw good call on Chop Suey. I got a little bit of both, the drug addiction, the chaos, and I also found a sense of loneliness buried deeeep down in there too

I agree, kinda like a Mountain View can be gorgeous, unless your lost and don’t know what mountain you’re looking at. Beauty can also be horror, it’s just so much more fluid to me in music

It’s such a beautiful complex song, but also simple enough to be background while driving or something. And I do agree on the whiskey saying, it’s all personal preference and the beauty is that kinda thing means there’s really no such thing as “bad music”, even if all a song does is make you smile cause of the groove it’s a good song. Just not Gucci gang, that song is straight butthole juice

I can say I've never heard "Gucci Gang" so I feel like I lucked out here. Generally speaking pop music turns me off so not surprising

I envy you for having never heard it. The best isn’t bad but the lyrics and demeanor of the whole song makes it impossible for me to gather anything really from it. It’s like reaching for your whiskey but getting room temp water. As far as pop music with some meaning and heart behind it, if you feel like exploring and haven’t listened to him post Malone is pretty good. Lots of pain and heartbreak in his music, even in his happier songs I hear a bit of sadness but that’s why he’s my favorite pop artist

PM I do like actually, a lot of my old coworkers put on rap, hiphop, grime, so I do run into a lot of really great artists. Some of my new coworkers are way younger and their choices are... Questionable to me. I had somebody lose their mind that I hadn't heard of some guy named after a boat, or another whose name was mostly symbols instead of letters.

For reference I'm from a punk/metal background, spun DNB/dub/garage records for a few years and have a deep appreciation for blues/jazz/soul, so I'm not one to dismiss music easily. Heck, I'll take a T Swift day when my fry cook is in the mood

I see I’ve found a another person who actually listens to everything. I drive a tow truck so sometimes I get too far away for my Bluetooth FM adapter and have to go with radio, who whoever I’m towing has a preference on what to listen to so that as well as just looking for new music gets me some good exposure, especially since growing up I had rap, country, pop, grunge, rock (and all sub genres such as metal and grunge for simplicity) so I’ve never been one to just shy away from music. I’ve had a few instances where I didn’t know of some new artist and me nephew (who’s 17) shows me absolutely awe struck I hadn’t heard of whoever it is

Absolutely love this. Working in kitchens you get exposed to a LOT of different music, so I count myself fortunate. Finding new artists is always a great feeling!

I make an active point of digging for music sometimes so I am kind of stuck in my own feedback loop, but we're always sharing songs and artists because you really never know