Song AnalysisPreston Joiner

Strange Fruits-Billie Holiday

“Southern trees bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees”

An early cry for civil rights, possibly the start of the Civil Rights Movement

Changes-Tupac Shakur

“I see no changes. All I see is racist faces.

Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races we under.

I wonder what it takes to make this one better place...

let's erase the wasted.Take the evil out the people,

they'll be acting right.”

Tupac is trying to express the idea that changes need to be made in our everyday lives.

Best Thing I Never Had-Beyonce

“There was a timeI thought, that you did everything

rightNo lies, no wrong

Boy I must've been out of my mindSo when I think of the time that I

almost loved youYou showed you’re a** and I, I saw

the real you”

A failed relationship that she has had in the past. There are emotional shifts that are evident between each verse. Starting at

caring and eventually evolving to hatred and scorn.

No Air-Jordin Sparks

“But how do you expect meTo live alone with just me?

'Cause my world revolves around you

It's so hard for me to breathe”

Jordin uses air as a symbol for love

They need each other and the love that the

other provides

Lego House-Ed Sheeran

“I'm gonna pick up the pieces and build a Lego house

If things go wrong we can knock it down

My three words have two meanings but there's one thing on my mind

It's all for you””

"(It's) about a break-up and it was me using the metaphor of Lego”

The A Team-Ed Sheeran

“White lips, pale faceBreathing in snowflakesBurnt lungs, sour tasteLight's gone, day's endStruggling to pay rent

Long nights, strange men”

She was a heroin addict and she took up prostitution to support her addiction. 

When I Was Your Man-Bruno Mars

“My pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways

Caused a good strong woman like you to walk out my life

Now I never, never get to clean up the mess I made, ohh…

And it haunts me every time I close my eyes”

The song is actually about a breakup that he went through. The shifts that are embedded in the song represent the moods he experienced during that

time.

Nothing Really Matters-Madonna

“When I was very youngNothing really mattered to me

But making myself happyI was the only one

Now that I am grownEverything's changedI'll never be the same

Because of you”

The process of motherhood made her realize that everything that she thought did not matter, actually did.

Butterfly-Mariah Carey

“Spread your wings and prepare to fly

For you have become a butterflyFly abandonedly into the sun

If you should return to meWe truly were meant to be

So spread your wings and flyButterfly”

Wishes he would understand that they had to part ways in order to do what they each needed to do

Every Step You Take-The Police

“Every breath you take

Every move you makeEvery bond you breakEvery step you takeI'll be watching you”

Inspired by the desire for surveillance and control he was

feeling during his divorce