"Wake Me Up!" - Avicii

Let’s talk about a trend.

That trend I want to talk about is dance music, and the turn it’s taking. You’ve definitely heard what I’m talking about if you have any knowledge of the music of the past year or so. I’m talking about dance music changing from this…

to this.

It started around when we were giving DJs more attention, sometimes more attention than singers. Suddenly, David Guetta and Calvin Harris were big names in music, rather than just side artists. (Did you know Guetta helped produce "I Gotta Feeling"? I sure didn't.) I think I can pinpoint one of the first “more serious” dance songs that made it big.

This was a stark difference from the dance music we were used to. Most of it back then - and yes, I feel old too when I refer to the distant year of 2010 as “back then” – usually filled up all the space they could with music and lyrics. But here’s a song that showcased the DJ more. Heck, the singer wasn’t even credited on the example I gave. This led to more experimental, beat-heavy dance songs making it big on the charts. There was still Flo Rida come 2012, but his music was slowly falling out of favour. And it’s interesting that I bring up Flo Rida, because one of his late 2011/early 2012 songs used a sample from the artist I want to talk about today, Avicii.

Now, Avicii hasn’t really achieved much Billboard success until this song. Sure, his song “Levels” was sampled by Flo Rida, propelling “Good Feeling” into a hit, but the song itself never reached any higher than #60 on the charts. But with the new dance trend in effect, Avicii cashed in on it and now, he’s in the Top 10. Funny how that works.

I suppose I should talk about what I personally think of the trend itself before I dive into this specific song. It’s definitely interesting. I’m not sure how well it actually works on either a dance song level or an emotional level, but I do enjoy listening to a lot of these types of songs. So, how about this song? Does it hold up? Let’s find out.

Feeling my way through the darkness
Guided by a beating heart
I can't tell where the journey will end
But I know where to start

They tell me I'm too young to understand

They say I'm caught up in a dream
Well life will pass me by if I don't open up my eyes
Well that's fine by me

Uh… Mumford and Sons does dance music?

No, not even that. Where’s the dance music here? I thought that previous songs like this might be hard to dance to, but this is just straight up folk music! It’s like dancing to “Ho Hey”.

So eventually the dancey-ish music does kick in, but even then… I can’t dance to this. Actually, this and other songs like this are ones I don’t consider dance music. At most, it’s fist-pumping music. The beat here’s also really repetitive. It’s just the same thing over and over again, retooled a little halfway through to sound marginally more intense.

No, sadly, this song doesn’t really do it for me. The tone is very confusing. If you set out to make a dance song, or even a fist-pumping song, why lyrics like this?

So wake me up when it's all over

When I'm wiser and I'm older
All this time I was finding myself
And I didn't know I was lost

Wait, what does that even mean?

“Wake me up when it’s all over”? Not only is that a really stark contrast to any sort of excitement, but how are you “finding yourself” in your sleep? You didn’t know you were lost? Then why were you finding yourself?

I might be nitpicking here, but these lyrics just reek of throwing random words into a blender and hoping it comes out inspirational. Which it might, if you don’t look at the lyrics too closely and realize it’s a whole lotta nuthin’.

And just to prove that the writer of this is absolutely bonkers, let’s go back to those first few lines again.

Feeling my way through the darkness
Guided by a beating heart
I can't tell where the journey will end
But I know where to start

They tell me I'm too young to understand

They say I'm caught up in a dream
Well life will pass me by if I don't open up my eyes
Well that's fine by me

Oh, yes. Quite the journey you’re taking, just lying there, asleep, with life passing you by.

…What?

This is baffling, maddening, infuriating. Two things it’s not: a dance song or inspirational. I hate to just dismiss this whole song as pointless noise, but that’s what it is. There’s nothing here of substance, the music, the lyrics, and the combination of the two muddle any message it might have been trying to send, and if there is a message, it’s lazy and demotivational. “Wake me up when it’s all over.” This is basically “The Lazy Song” without even admitting it’s a lazy song. Despicable. That’s all.

Agree? Disagree? Comment below!