Cynthia Pinto-Cabrera

Writing 2
Professor Johnson
May 30, 2016
Different Versions of Love
Music is one of the most popular ways to express how you feel, people usually play a
song that fits your mood. Lyrics are composed together to relate with people, to tell a story, and
to express ourselves. One of the most common thing music expresses is the idea of love and the
feeling people get when they are in love. The idea of love is an individualized concept that is
based on personal experience, many artists draw on those experienced and turn them into popular
songs. Different music genres give different insights to these different views of love. Rap can
have a very distinct message to the one being delivered by alternative music. Rappers such as GEazy have songs like "Some Kind Of Drug" that reveal his views and interpretation of love while
a different view can be seen in songs such as "Single", by the alternative band, The
Neighbourhood. These two songs hold very distinct views of love, but have similar influence on
people.
To begin differentiating the distinct messages genres have we have to look at the genre
conventions first. Rap song typically have fast paced beats that are generated by DJs and usually
lack instruments. As for their lyrics, they primarily consist of more vulgar language and
sexualized tones, especially when they rap about love, they focus on the sexual appeal of a girl
and sex. Another tone that seems to usually fall under the Rap genre is a materialistic one,
rappers generally talk about having large amounts of money or how important money it.
Combined, these genre conventions allow Rappers to be able to reach a wide variety of

audiences ranging from young adult to possibly mid 30s. Rappers are usually not exposed to
younger audiences, such as elementary students due to their language that caused parent
disapproval, however this genre does sometimes reach very young audiences.
Rap conventions can be seen clearly in the rap song Song Kind of Drug by G-Eazy.
This song holds many on the modern day rap characteristics. It begins by demonstrating that love
is greater than making money and the power that comes with it. By using lyrics such as "Ever
since I met you, you got me changing my schedule. If you ain't know, that shits eventful and
losing this money is dreadful, but believe me this (sexual reference) is special", it can be seen
that rappers find love to be something more valuable than money and that it takes a very special
someone to make you change your schedule around often. This idea holds very true to some
people. They believe that their significant other is the most special person in the world and that
they would give up being rich to be with them. This is a truly sweet message that demonstrates
strong love for someone. However, in order to be able to see this sweet message you must look
past the vulgar and sexualized language. This is normal for rap songs, they depict love as
something that money cannot buy. Rap also connects love to sex and sexual pleasure. G-Eazy
states, "since the last time we had sex, honestly, I've been a mess, well Fienin cause you got the
best, borderline kind of obsessed..." Through this he is implying that love is associated with good
sex. This is his personalized view on love that influences many people and remains a consistent
theme in rap music.This kind of message influences people who come from a place where money
is one of the most valuable things one could have this there is only one thing that is better. This
song delivers the message that love is the one thing that is more valuable than money and by
making this comparison it can be seen how Rap is reaching an audience who is materialistic.

Furthermore, in most rap songs, there is a reference to drugs which falls under vulgar
language. In this case the artist is comparing the feeling love gives him to the feeling one would
get when they are high. Lyrics such as "I'm on some kind of drug can't explain all the ways you
get me high" , delivers a message that he can only get the same feeling love gives him when he is
under the influence. Rap depicts love as a feeling that is greater than a high and greater than
money and fame. These lyrics show another mainstream convention of rap. People who listen to
rap typically anticipate a reference to drugs and because that theme was depicted people are
pleased by it. People naturally are more open to ideas and themes when they are pleased by it;
therefore people are influenced to connect these feelings to the feeling of being in love.
Rap is not the only genre that expressed love in their own individualized way. Alternative
music has a softer sound that revolves more around guitar when they sing about love. With its
different genre conventions Alternative music is unlike Rap music in many ways. Not only do
Alternative bands have a softer sound as opposed to rap, artists draw on their emotional side and
usually sing about how they feel when they are in love. Alternative music has a more mellow
tone in their music that delivers a compassionate and heartfelt message throughout song.
Alternative music also consists of bands with a lead singer and a band that plays instruments
such as guitar and piano, which are the most common. Alternative music focuses more on
specific feelings and experiences when these bands are depicting love. They also draw from
personal experience to make the songs more relatable and to deliver a more effective message.
People who listen to this genre of music enjoy the use of guitar in alternative love songs. They
enjoy the mellow and deeper meanings that come from the lyrics alongside the unique sound
alternative music has.

A song that I found to follow these genres conventions is Single by The

Neighbourhood. This is more upbeat song tells the story of love and being unable to forget a
certain someone. The songs begins with the lyrics " I don't ever mind sharing oxygen." This line
demonstrates how love makes sharing everything with a significant other bearable. Sharing can
be a real drag and many people do not like sharing, but this song shows that the love can make a
person toss aside their selfishness in order to share with the one they love. Those lyrics
demonstrate the more emotional and internal idea organs love. The song continues to depict love
as more heart felt emotion when delivering the message of being in love is being vulnerable
towards the person you love. Lyrics such as "you open your mouth, I'm hypnotized." deliver a
message that states being in love means loving everything about them only them. This song
shows a more heartfelt side to love and a deeper meaning to what the idea of love entitles.
Furthermore, the term "baby" was used to describe the girl being talked about in the song. The
term baby entitles a serious relationship and a deep connection between partners, This loving
and sweet name demonstrates that alternative music is very personalized by showing the
nicknames the artists used in their relationships. This song also depicts the idea that love entitled
devotion to your significant other. Using lyrics like "you know you got all my attention, you
know you got all mine" shows that alternative music gives love a very specific definition to what
love should be This deeper meaning to love is what draws the audience in. Passionate people
listen to these lyrics and are moved, they want their love lives to be as deep as their favorite
alternative love song. That need for passion and deeper meaning influences people to use
alternative songs as a reference to what love entitles.
Alternative and Rap are two different genres that have very different idea pertaining to
what it means to be in love and love someone. Some Kind Of Drug showed a comparison to

love and material things, such as money, and that losing money is okay if it is for the girl you
love. It seems as though people who are more materialistic need lyrics such as the ones sung in
rap songs, to be able to understand what love is supposed to make you feel like. Some Kind Of
Drug focuses of the external feelings love. It shows that the outside of a person matters just as
much as the inside. Not only your heart needs to be happy in a relationship, but your body also
has to be happy. Alternative takes a different approach on the idea of love. It does this by saying
that love is a hypnotizing thing that makes you significant other the most interesting person.
Opposite to Some Kind Of Drug, Single focuses on the importance of the internal feeling a
that the most important thing in love is showing your compassion for your significant other.
Single describes a feeling of awe when the significant other speaks. These lyrics cause people
to reflect back on things their significant other does to see if they can relate to the situation and
therefore define the feeling they get as love regardless of what genre they are listening too. Each
of these ideas can stand in an argument, depending on a person's point of view. These points of
view need specific lyrics to enable different people to see what love means and is. People listen
to love songs because it makes them think about their significant other. Whether it is rap or
alternative people find joy in a song that is able to make them think This is exactly how I feel.
Different genres show different sides of love. Love is a very personalized feeling that can
be shown and expressed in different ways. On occasion we rely on music and the stories artists
tell about their love life in order to understand our own. Depending on the genre you listen to,
your view on love can be different. Those who listen to Rap might see love as a more sexual
experience than those who listen to alternative music. There are many ways love can be defined
and expressed, music genre is merely one day to show how many different ways one single
feeling can be depicted. Both artists, The Neighbourhood and G-Eazy clearly demonstrate to

their audience how they view love. Neither is right and neither is wrong, because there are so
many different versions of love out there. It is up to us to choose your version on love.