Here's Echosmith, a new addition to the pop scene this year with their song, "Cool Kids". But maybe being a cool kid isn't all it's cracked up to be!
...no, no, wait. It is.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in
Wow, being a cool kid sounds great! This song probably won't challenge my thinking, will it?
Okay, the song's story is told from the third-person perspective of two kids that aren't cool. And they wish that they were cool, so they didn't have to deal with their problems. And... that's it. No deeper message or anything like that. Just... "I'm not cool, and I wish I was." That's pretty much the chorus as a whole.
There's no detail in this song, which ruins it from being a personal story. Each "uncool" kid only gets four lines in their verse, and even those lines mostly focus on the cool kids anyway. Well, we don't want to hear about the cool kids! We want to hear about conflict! That's what makes a story interesting!
And sadly, that's what this song is not. It's not a story, and it's not interesting. I don't even think it's trying to make a very strong point about anything. I guess there's a message in the intro, where some nervous girl is getting interviewed on what it means to be cool, and she says,
"Cool, to me, is... kind of being unique and being... someone who you want to be, and like, how you... see yourself, I guess."
So we could argue that the two protagonists in this song have low self-esteem, and that is the underlying issue that we should care about. Which would be true... if I did care.
As far as characters go, these are bland central. Hey, here's an idea! Maybe the reason you're not cool is because you have no personality!
She sees them walking in a straight line, that's not really her style
So, you like to... zigzag when you walk, then? Well, that's gotta be annoying for anyone walking behind you. Maybe you're not cool because you can't follow basic social etiquette! Ever think of that one, Missy?
Okay, I'm getting a little too angry at this song. Sure, the lyrics are disposable, but it does have a lot of indie rock tropes that I've come to enjoy, in spite of myself. You hear the jingle of the chimes, the echo on the guitar (their name is Echosmith...), and you can't hate the song totally if you've grown accustomed to that stuff.
But damn it, indie songs still have to try. This is pandering bullshit at its very worst. It tries to grab preteen and teenage minds by saying the very rudimentary elements of what they're thinking, without expanding on it at all or trying to make any sort of solid point. Lazy, lazy writing. What do you think their next song's going to be about?
I didn't get a good grade on my math test
And now I'm really sad
Really sad, really bad
Actually, I think that topic expands more than this one. So, Echosmith: You've got the classic elements of indie rock down, but try harder with your lyrics before I can give you a free pass. This is not cool.
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