Lately I’ve been strangely obsessed with listening to some of my favorite pop songs from my elementary and middle school days. As a child, I danced to these familiar melodies, praising what I believed to be clever and witty lyrics and singing about experiences and feelings that 12-year old me had never had.
However, now as an academic and scholarly person, who has had a myriad of life experiences and opportunities, I have come to appreciate these songs with a keen and critical eye. They are more than just silly and stupid songs with obvious lyrics about falling in love that sometimes rhyme – they are musical treasure tomes, with deep and intellectual clues about our society and the things we hold so dear to our culture.
Below are five hidden meanings I have discovered behind some of our favorite pop songs:
“Burnin’ Up” – Jonas Brothers
With all the references to lava and chasing after girls, this one is a no brainer – it’s obviously about Nintendo’s favorite plumber Mario running through a lava level to chase after his princess. Lava is a highly popular hazard in the Super Mario series, with the Mario Wiki site listing sixteen different instances in each Super Mario game where the threat shows up.
Sample Lyrics:
I’m hot / You’re cold
You go around / Like you know
Who I am /But you don’t
You’ve got me on my toes
I’m slipping into the lava
And I’m trying to keep from going under
Baby who turned the temperature hotter?
‘Cause I’m burning up, burning up
For you baby
“Breakin’ Free” – Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens (from High School Musical)
In the High School Musical universe, this song was written by Kelsi Nielsen to be included in her original musical Twinkle Towne. Not much is known about the musical (other than the main characters’ names and a few of the songs written for the show). But this song, “Breakin’ Free,” gives us a lot of insight about what the plot could possibly be about. With all the talk about flying and going up in the air and continuously reaching for the stars, there’s only one thing this song must be about – getting high.
Sample Lyrics:
We’re soarin’, flying
There’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach
If we’re trying, so we’re breaking free
“Best of Both Worlds” – Hannah Montana
A lot of people think this song is just about Miley Stewart’s double life as Hannah Montana. But if you read between the lines, you’ll find a different, sadder meaning. The song describes a famous person, a celebrity who has made it big. However, in some ways, said person is still a “small town girl.” Given the time period the song was written in (i.e., a time before this year’s Academy Awards), I think we can deduce that the song was written about Leonardo DiCaprio – someone who can afford the “hottest styles, every shoe, every color,” but in “some ways [is] just like all your friends” who, until this year, had never won an Oscar.
Sample Lyrics:
You get the limo out front
Hottest styles, every shoe, every color
Yeah, when you’re famous it can be kinda fun
It’s really you but no one ever discovers
In some ways you’re just like all your friends
But on stage you’re a star
“Girlfriend” – Avril Lavigne
This is the song that inspired Taylor Swift to hire girls to strategically get her boyfriends to break up with her. This ensured that she could continue writing her songs and funding her music career. After all, doesn’t ten, or twenty, or one hundred (or too many) ex-boyfriends sound rather suspicious? This must explain it!
Sample Lyrics:
She’s like so whatever
You could do so much better
I think we should get together now
And that’s what everyone’s talking about!
“This is Me” – Demi Lovato (from Camp Rock)
The speaker of this song is obviously someone whom people have set certain expectations for. But the speaker has dreams beyond what has been anticipated of them. They’re afraid of rejection, because what they want is so atypical of their being. However, through music and lyrics, they find their confidence, and decide to finally “let it show” because “it’s time to let [the world] know. Ladies and gentlemen, there’s only one person this song can be describing: Donald Trump.
Sample Lyrics:
I’ve always been the kind of girl / That hid my face
So afraid to tell the world / What I’ve got to say
But I have this dream / Bright inside of me
I’m gonna let it show, it’s time
To let you know, to let you know
This is real, this is me
I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, now
Gonna let the light, shine on me
Now I’ve found, who I am
There’s no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I want to be
This is me
