female artists who get it Archives

No Exit by Upset

Upset is an all female, west coast rock band. They released their most recent (self titled) album at the end of 2019 featuring 10 songs full of wonderful, classic alternative rock. Currently they have 2,895 monthly listeners on Spotify, but they deserve much more.

Upset’s music takes me back to my first rock love, 90s alternative. They showcase wonderful guitar riffs, marvelous distortion, and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. I really enjoyed several songs on their most recent album including Holy Basil, Brighton, The World Is Bigger Now, & Tried and True. However, I want to share their second song on the record, No Exit. Lyrics and Commentary below. Enjoy.

Lyrics

Say what you want to me
Choose your words carefully
I can’t keep a secret to save my life
What did I ever do
beside stick up for you
When nobody else was on your side

I may have called you names
Complained of all the times
I leant you money or gave you rides
But what I’ll never do
Is pretend that you
Never deserved our goodbye

Tear it down, break it up
Do what you got to do
What ever it takes to
Take the blame off you

Tear it down, break it up
Do what you got to do
Whatever it takes to
Take the blame off you

You do no wrong
It’s all you do

You do no wrong
It’s all you do

Commentary

Y’all. I can’t help but like this song 5 seconds in; the electric guitar riff calls to me. Then right away we get interesting lyrics ‘choose you words carefully… I can’t keep a secret to save my life.’ One of the more peculiar things about this song is that there is no lyrical chorus. Instead we get more of a musical chorus, which is fun and unique.

The meaning of the song is fairly obvious. It is about a friend who has decided to end the friendship despite the writer’s efforts in the relationship. Also, the friend intending to break ties seems to think they have no faults in the separation causing the writer to say, rather sarcastically, ‘You do no wrong; It’s all you do.’

The real wonder in this song is not the lyrics, although fun. You’ve got to go listen to this song to hear the magic. So go ahead, give it a listen, and while you’re there I highly encourage you to check out the rest of Upset’s self titled album and share them with your friends.

You can follow Upset on Facebook or Twitter.

What are some of your favorite all female bands?

Oslo by De Joie

De Joie is singer/songwriter Kaley Rutledge. Her 7,780 monthly Spotify listeners makes her (by far) the most popular artist we have spotlighted so far. In De Joie’s first album she grapples with the idea of home. Kaley lives in Nashville, but she really found a sense home in her travels to Western Europe. These places impacted her so much that when she got back to the States she made an album of four songs, a song for each city she visited.

Oslo is the first song on De Joie’s album August and is my personal favorite. She mixes vox, strings, and synths to give this song a healing presence. In Olso, De Joie really captures the joy of thriving where you belong. Listening to this song put a smile on my face and I hope it will do the same for you. Lyrics and Analysis below.

Lyrics to Oslo by De Joie (courtesy of jiosaavn)

Can you hear me say “I love you” from across the sea?
Can you hear me whisper to you my dreams?
Well, the weather is fine here in Oslo
We’re about to jump on a plane to the west coast

There’s a view we can’t miss
I wouldn’t dream of it
There’s a view we can’t miss
I wouldn’t dream of it

I was born to be wild and free
Traipsing the coast line of some craggy beach
Go on and tell ’em I’m in good company
Wild and free

Can you hear me say, “I love you” from theses far way places?
All these wide open spaces seem to heal me

There’s a view we can’t miss
I wouldn’t dream of it
There’s a view we can’t miss
I wouldn’t dream of it

I was born to be wild and free
Traipsing the coast line of some craggy beach
Go on and tell ’em I’m in good company
Wild and free

DIVING DEEP

The concept of home has been something that I have thought a lot about over the last decade. It’s not just a physical space; instead it’s a near mythical land with powers to heal. Home is a place of recovery, our very own ICU that each of retreat to every day. This is an insane concept, but equally peculiar is that each of us rehab at our own unique center. How crazy is that!? Every one of us returns to our own distinct location for the same thing. Healing.

Kaley of De Joie does a fantastic job of exploring the concept of home. In the song Oslo we see two different homes. The first home is filled with the people she loves, but it is lacking. She has left it in search for something – Can you hear me say “I love you” from across the sea? Can you hear me whisper to you my dreams? We’re about to jump on a plane to the west coast. The second home is Oslo, which is also filled with people she loves, AND is a place where she finds healing – Well, the weather is fine here in Oslo. Go on and tell ’em I’m in good company. All these wide open spaces seem to heal me.

I really love how Kaley responds to the healing she receives when she finds home: She realizes she was born to be wild and free. This idea seems counterintuitive to me because before finding this new home Kaley was a wanderer, searching for home.. One could say that she was free to roam and be wild, but she did not feel that way.

However, when Kaley finds home, even though she is now tethered to a place (Oslo), she proclaims herself wild and free. How can we make sense of this?

It’s as if belonging to something or someone brings freedom while total independence produces turmoil. This is a thought worth sitting in, and for that I thank De Joie!

What do you think about home? What does home mean to you?

Sources
https://dejoiemusic.com/bio
https://www.jiosaavn.com/lyrics/oslo-lyrics/RwxYdhUIQ1A
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5oJYqPFbjnOksOFe7uOx9G?si=lU9yJgeQTVutw5Y2q_AR7A