I chose the song Stressed Out By Twenty One Pilots, and I chose it because it's by my favorite band and they take a new approach to the subject “coming of age”. The band takes the perspective of kids and teens struggling with mental health issues, an aspect that some people forget exists, the song Stressed Out talks about going back in time when life was less stressful and you weren't struggling as much. The writer of the song, Tyler Joseph, struggles with mental illness and uses his music to help other people. This song is very powerful and relates deeply for some and I think that it's a perfect choice for coming of age.
This song relates to the theme coming of age because mental health issues in teens are becoming more and more prominent and more recognized. The band twenty one pilots makes very relatable music that a lot of teens and some children can easily relate to and find helpful. The band members, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, both struggle with mental health issues and both have their own demons just like a lot of teens today. A lot of coming of age books are based in the past or focus on the one subject of parents not understanding the character, but it's so different today that a lot of teens just can't relate. Modern coming of age stories are based on overcoming depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder etc. and this song perfectly encompasses a modern day take on growing up.
The Literary devices in this song are:
Repetition- “Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer…” (lit devices.net) This song shows repetition by repeating I at the beginning of every line in the first verse and repeating the phrases “I wish” “My names Blurryface and I care what you think” “ We used to play pretend, give each other different names, We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away, Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face, Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."” this is repetition because it is the same phrase or word repeated throughout the song to make a greater effect. Another type of figurative language would be idioms: “a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words” (wiki). The idiom in this song is when Tyler says “Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days” This is an idiom because as the listener you know that it's impossible to turn back the clock to simpler times, but as a whole society we've established that the meaning is not reality and therefore does not relate directly to the words making it an idiom. The last literary device is imagery- Imagery is the use of words or phrases that help create an image or use one or more of the senses: In the song Tyler sings “We used to play pretend, give each other different names, We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away, Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face…” this is imagery because it's showing you a window to the past when most kids played pretend and made up that they were flying and going to space, it's a reminder to stay young.
I wish I found some better sounds no one's ever heard,
I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words,
I wish I found some chords in an order that is new,
I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang,
I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink,
But now I'm insecure and I care what people think.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out (oh).
Wish we could turn back time (oh), to the good ol' days (oh),
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
We're stressed out.
Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young,
How come I'm never able to identify where it's coming from,
I'd make a candle out of it if I ever found it,
Try to sell it, never sell out of it, I'd probably only sell one,
It'd be to my brother, 'cause we have the same nose,
Same clothes homegrown a stone's throw from a creek we used to roam,
But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered,
Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out (oh).
Wish we could turn back time (oh), to the good ol' days (oh),
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
We used to play pretend, give each other different names,
We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away,
Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face,
Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."
Yo.
We used to play pretend, give each other different names,
We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away,
Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face,
Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."
Yo.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out (oh)
Wish we could turn back time (oh), to the good ol' days (oh),
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
Used to play pretend, used to play pretend, bunny
We used to play pretend, wake up, you need the money
Used to play pretend, used to play pretend, bunny
We used to play pretend, wake up, you need the money
We used to play pretend, give each other different names,
We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away,
Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face,
Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."
Yo.
I chose the poem See Me Grow Up by Kaitlyn because it goes along with the theme of my song choice. The poem goes along with the theme coming of age because it was written by a 13 year old so its true feelings about growing up while keeping the innocence of childhood. The poem is about proving people wrong when they told you what you couldn't do and breaking boundaries to be the person you want to be. The poem is related to coming of age because it goes through the emotions of growing up and talks about after college. Throughout the poem no matter what emotions are being displayed it still keeps the innocence of being a child and not knowing what the world has in store.
The literary devices in this poem are repetition- “Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer…” This poem shows repetition by starting almost every sentence with “See me” or “See the” this helps to give the perspective of a child who is growing up because all you want is someone to see you for you, and sometimes it's hard when everyone is treating you like a child. The poem also uses personification- Giving human characteristics to a nonliving thing. This poem uses personification by saying “Time flew by, and left a mark” this is personification because time can't fly or leave a literal mark. The poem also has imagery- Using words or phrases that help create images or use one or more of the senses. You can imagine what the writer was seeing/ thinking as she was writing. The writer also uses situations that most people have been in before making it easy to visualise and hear.
See me cry
See the truth behind the lies
See me smile, see me laugh
See the flashbacks of my past
See my bad habits come to an end
See me leave footprints in the snow
See me wave hello and goodbye
I'm amazed to see everything new
Time flew by, and left a mark
See me dance in the rain
See me ignore all types of pain
See me grow-up and take on the world
See me now, I'm not a little girl
See me graduate high school
See me graduate college
See me wear my heart on my sleeve
See the people leave my side
See the people stay by me
See me start to make my dreams come true
See me speak what's on my mind
See me help people, see me forget
See the next me.
I bet you thought I wouldn't write anything like this.
See me prove you wrong.
I thought you might be surprised, you don't know me then.
See me see you be shocked.
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