The fantastic thing about any art form – be it painting, literature or music – is the fact that you have the creative freedom to infuse meanings into your work; if you’re really crafty, you’ll be able to add hidden meanings that people cannot fathom nor decipher at first glance or first listen. Sometimes, people end up pegging a whole new meaning to your work and that’s what happened with these mega-hit songs! I bet you didn’t know they had such different meanings!
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana
‘Our little group has always been / And always will until the end,’
As it turns out, this punk anthem was inspired by deodorant. Kurt Cobain’s then-girlfriend’s bandmate, Kathleen Hanna, had written “Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit” on the wall of his room while drunk. According to Hanna, she simply found the choice of brand name funny and it had stuck with her.
“I mean, who names a deodorant Teen Spirit? What does teen spirit smell like? Like a locker room? Like pot mixed with sweat? Like the smell when you throw up in your hair at a party?”
Cobain, who had no idea that “Teen Spirit” was the name of a deodorant brand, thought that the phrase made a great ‘revolutionary catchphrase’ as they had just spoken about teen revolution. Cobain only learned of the deodorants existence months after the song was released.
“You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt
![James Blunt - You're Beautiful (Official Music Video) [4K]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oofSnsGkops/hqdefault.jpg)
‘I saw an angel / She smiled at me on the subway / But I won’t lose no sleep on that / ‘Cause I’ve got a plan,’
If this has been on your list of possible wedding songs – you may want to think again. Blunt’s hit song was played on repeat through a lot of 2005, as many found the song “romantic” and sweet. However, the singer himself has said that those that find the song romantic “are f***** up”. Speaking to the Huffington Post, Blunt said:
“‘You’re Beautiful’ is not this soft romantic ******* song. It’s about a guy in the subway stalking someone else’s girlfriend when that guy is there in front of him. And he should be locked up or put in prison for being some kind of perv.”
Whatsmore, the song was inspired by something that happened to Blunt in real life. While at the London Underground, Blunt bumped into his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend (of whom he had no knowledge of) and the two never saw each other again.
Yikes.
“Waterfalls” by TLC
‘His health is fading and he doesn’t know why / Three letters took him to his final resting place.’
This calm, sleepy belter has a deeper, darker message.
Tionne ‘T-Boz’ of TLC has confirmed that the song was meant to “get a message across without seeming like preaching”. And the message? The importance of recognising that, at the time, many young people were dying as a result of H.I.V., drug dealing, and other tragedies. According to Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, another TLC member, no one understood the meaning until the music video for the song dropped. The most obvious line alluding to this in the song is the line, “three letters took him to his final resting place” is referring to someone dying of AIDS.
“Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People
‘All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run, outrun my gun,’
Every time you’ve sung the catchy line, did it ever occur to you that you’ve been singing about school shootings? That’s right. Despite its catchy, somewhat upbeat tune, the song was written after lyricist Mark Foster read shocking statistics regarding the growing trend in teenage mental illness. According to him, the song was his way of getting in the head of an “isolated, psychotic kid” in order to raise awareness about the issue of gun violence amongst the youth.
“Firework” by Katy Perry
‘Do you ever feel already buried deep? / Six feet under screams, but no one seems to hear a thing,’
This song is inspired by death.
Okay, maybe not as morbid as that songs but Katy Perry has explained how the song is basically describing what she wants people to do with her body when she dies. After getting the idea from then-boyfriend Russel Brand, who showed her an excerpt from the book ‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac, Perry told Billboard,
“[W]hen I pass, I want to be put into a firework and shot across the sky over the Santa Barbara Ocean as my last hurrah. I want to be a firework, both living and dead.”
But Katy Perry is perfectly fine with people taking it as a motivational banger so you do you!