Hi Everyone! To start off this blog, I swear that I actually listen to upbeat music. As this is a musical analysis, it’s easier and more exciting to choose a song that is significant and lyrically/musically deeper and I have resonated with a lot of music over my life that is a little bit darker then the norm. So this is why I chose Blue October’s, ‘Hate Me’ for this week’s assignment. Also, to everyone not wanting to read about KPOP again, you’re welcome. I was so close to doing a musical analysis on a KPOP song again just for laughs and to show the variety of genres within such a category, but I withheld the temptation (as much as I was cackling about it).
During my quick reminder/run through of the lyrics online, I noticed a lot of hate comments about this song. Which I understand why this response from the audience on an extremely deep level. While I understand that the lyrics provided a lot of disgust, I sympathise quite a lot with the artist and what he is saying. It is a well known fact (or maybe not…) that the lead singer, Justin Furstenfeld, of Blue October struggles with bipolar disorder and drug addiction. He is a songwriter/singer “known for pouring the most uncomfortable moments of his private life into his lyrics.”. I appreciate the honesty, bluntness and emotion that he pours into his music. Its real and definitely evokes emotion from me when I listen to it.
WHY I RELATE:
I worked in mental health and drug counseling for ten years and it wasn’t easy. Listening to people’s inner most thoughts can be shocking and draining, but I always appreciated the vulnerability some people could willingly show just to obtain a release and to have someone just listen. This is one of the many reasons why I love this song. The other reason is that it is extremely relatable. I grew up with five family members that presented young with Bipolar, with a few of them furthering their problems with drug addiction. Both illnesses it can definitely cause quite a lot of whiplash to surrounding family. Sometimes the only thing you can do is just be as supportive as you can be while trying to stay positive.
Lyrics, Pitch, Melody, Beat and Tempo
The intro of the song starts off with a recording from his mother asking how he is doing and that she had not heard from him in a while. She further expresses her concern wondering about his medication but is overall quite positive despite her concern for him. This is incorporated over the instrumental and fully blends into the start of the song.
In the song, the singer is using metaphorical phrases throughout the lyrics to explain his feelings to the listener. It’s also fascinating to hear the correlation of such morbid thoughts to a mental illness.
An example of the metaphors present in these lyrics: ‘I have to block out thoughts of you so I don’t lose my head;They’re crawling like a cockroach leaving babies in my bed;Dropping little reels of tape to remind me that I’m alone;Playing movies in my head that make a porno feel like home’
The beat and tempo of the song is slowly steady, providing an additional support on the emotional aspect of the song. The pitch fluctuates from the main chorus (of higher and emotional) to the lyrics outside of the chorus where the singer sounds slightly more tempered, almost like he is reading his thoughts to an audience. The instrumental incorporates drums, guitar, bass, violin and piano into the melody. I love the emotion that is evoked with the rawness of the lead singers vocals with the melody. My favorite part is when the violin comes into play at the end of the song followed by the piano. It really drives the point of the song home. The ending of the song always makes my stomach drop because its a repeated sequence of his mother saying ‘Hey Justin’ morphing almost grotesquely. Overall, I think this song is brilliant and it is one of my top favorites.
Carlosramirez. (2011, June 23). Blue October’s Justin Furstenfeld on His Bi-Polar Disorder and Divorce. Retrieved from https://noisecreep.com/blue-october-justin-furstenfeld-on-his-bi-polar-disorder-and-d/
Blue October – Hate Me. (2006, January 24). Retrieved from https://genius.com/Blue-october-hate-me-lyrics
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