Graphic: Kenzie Todd/The Olaf Messenger
The saying “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” is apparent when it comes to the artists that use hardships to drive their career through sharing parts of their personal lives with fans. When a pen hits the paper, some artists take it upon themselves to share the deepest parts of them in their music.
In “Cobra,” Megan Thee Stallion does exactly this, addressing her feelings about the events of the past few years. In the song, Megan speaks on the loss of her parents, relationship issues, mental health struggles, and being shot by R&B singer Tory Lanez. Megan faced more backlash than Lanez before, during, and after the trial in which he was found guilty. She was really struggling through this time in a position where much of the world was watching her. This is something shown in the music video of the song, where she stands naked and vulnerable in front of flashing cameras, as well as in lyrics such as “breakin’ down and I had the whole world watchin’, but the worst part is really who watched me.”
Feelings and emotions shared through music aren’t new things. However, when one comes across such a raw piece of media like “Cobra”, it sometimes comes as a surprise. In the rise of “TikTok” music — music geared towards the general public overall — we see that this is something that doesn’t happen in an industry focused on charts and profits.
We are beginning to see artists condemn earlier works of theirs, ones that they claim do not accurately represent them. Earlier this year, rap artist Doja Cat called her two most popular works “Hot Pink” and “Planet Her,” cash grabs, an action that caused the artist to receive backlash. It seems as if personality in music isn’t something that the general public wants. Maybe this is the reasoning for why it’s such a small category of music.
It’s something we see more heavily in smaller artists, such as Phoebe Bridgers, who addresses themes such as relationship issues, familial problems, and the end. Also Mitski, who addresses issues of race, depression, and losing dogs. They’re artists who had major successes recently: Bridgers, had a Grammy nomination for her 2020 album “Punisher,” and Mitski’s song “My Love Mine All Mine” is climbing music charts. Perhaps the existence of emotion behind music in the spotlight is a growing being. But it’ll be quite a long time before we see it become a larger part of popular music.