In the beginning, many individuals wanted songs that were uplifting and powerful. NPR created a staff panel of musicians who would bring in songs and had an audience who contributed to making suggestions of songs. The panel gives most of the material in the NPR series. NPR started off in a period of 3 months of series of anthems. NPR Music's American Anthem series focuses its attention on the songs that have become planted in American culture. They also show how they were written and embraced through millions of perople. The goal from NPR is to make us wonder what is, or what we consider an anthem. An anthem is an inspiring fight song, which revolves around the daily struggles where individuals argue with their personal objectives and strive to find hope. They flow into the audience’s emotional mind and find a connection to relate to. It’s not just about the words themselves, but for the role they play with our society. There are hundreds of different genres of anthems in this world, and today I’ll be discussing the two kinds of anthems out of many that there are.
In 1999, one of the most famous songs of the time, ‘No Scrubs’, became a number one hit. ‘No Scrubs’ was sung by the American girl group, TLC, calling out men with no purpose. Kandi Burruss found closure in writing this song as she was speaking with her close friend, in her car, about her current boyfriend and ended up singing freely. She took it upon herself to send it to TLC which was then published by them. After releasing the song to the public, it instantly became an anthem for all women. ‘No Scrubs’ was an anthem uniting confident, individualistic and daring women. It was and still is an electrical and powerful song that girls can link the struggle about guys who are not worth their time, and are declaring “no” to men. It is something that girls go through daily, where the guys holler at them from the “passenger seat” and are not always a gentleman about it. This song really made women speak up to their supposed ‘lovers’ and out of those 3-4 minutes in which the song plays, everyone is together and makes them wonder, “Am I scrubs?” or “Do I have a scrub?”. This song spread like wildfire because it wasn’t based off of one genre of music, but many. They decided to cater to all genres such as R&B, Pop and even Rock. It inspired many covers from popular singers such as, British singer Georgia Smith, who was an R&B singer, Country singer Casey Musgraves, and the rock band Weaser. Twenty years later it is still considered one of the most looked upon female anthems of all time and continues its legacy.
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Twelve years later, a multicultural pop sensation song by the pop queen herself, Lady Gaga, released an all time hit called, ‘Born This Way’. This song was directed towards anyone who felt different or insecure. It was lyrics to live by. ‘Born This Way’ is an LGBT anthem and was for anyone struggling to come to terms with their sexual orientation. Although this was just a song sung in her California music studio, thousands of miles ways, the words and tone impact us and makes us feel that someone is guarding and protecting us throughout everything. Lady Gaga found inspiration in writing this song from Carl Bean, who also wrote his own original song called ‘I Was Born This Way’. Carl Bean was a struggling gay man who found words to put into song who he was as a person and how he shouldn’t be judged. Once Lady Gaga heard this song, she was instantaneously captivated and had to show the rest of the world what she felt. She herself, was different growing up and felt suicidal, depressed and didn’t know who she was. Not only did she write this song with the help of Carl Bean, but she wrote it from her heart, which affected many individuals and made them feel safe when they had nobody. This song saves hundreds of people every day, even the haters. Furthermore, even though she received backlash from supposedly copying Madonna’s, ‘Express Yourself’ and being accused of exploiting gay fan base, she has never shown a sign of weakness and has proved a point of never giving up. She made sure that everyone listened when she said that you are born this way and you should be proud of that. Not many people took this topic seriously until she gained courage to sing about it. Which is why she is an icon and is the LGBT anthem.
Although ‘Born This Way’ and ‘No Scrubs’ are a jam that everyone can listen and relate to, they both have a sincere significance towards certain individual groups. Both songs unify distinct audiences. ‘No Scrubs’ is positioned for women seeking men who are disrespectful and telling them to check themselves. Whereas ‘Born This Way’ is placed for those diverse and peculiar, hint the name she gave her fans, Little Monsters. On the contrary, they both were written based off of the inspiration of others, which impacted them and many. They both have the same meaning where they defend the audience in some way. Together they take part in being a significant anthem to many and continue to fight against everyday struggles.
In conclusion, a song can mean so much to one person. Each song tells a story that brings out the emotional perspective in them, especially if they are considered an anthem, such as the songs stated above. The way the songs are perceived is what captures the ear to many and urges people to listen to what they are speaking. A song is worth so much more than what people consider and not only is it uplifting, but courageous, and valiant. This is why I strongly believe these two songs are perceptibly different daring anthems and continue to change the way the music world is understood.
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