The first revenge song was a big thing. IN How do you sleep at nightJohn Lennon recorded with George Harrison and Yoko Ono for the album Imagine In 1971, John stood up to Paul McCartney for leaving the Beatles and successfully filed an application in a London court to end the group’s legal partnership. She sang to him how she could sleep at night after what she had done, the song was powerful and full of musical pathos: but remembered more for the lyrics, of course. It was a long and painful romance, preceded and followed by a real “diss” between them during those turbulent months, as later became fashionable when rap was born and rappers began to beat each other with rhymes. In this, too, the Beatles were forerunners, even if matters were eventually tempered by encouraging statements from both, but above all, McCartney later explained to John’s son, Sean, how important it was for him to reconcile with John before he was murdered: I wouldn’t give myself peace.”
Heroic times, mythical characters. Now things are more modest like this, poppy: insults have resumed and there are more and more of them, and they are primarily feminine and amorous. In the social media festivities, when a star’s song is found to be spitting venom at an ex-boyfriend who behaved like a scoundrel, there’s immediate attention and a hunt for the scoundrel, mostly a semi-unknown character, perhaps a loser. We strive for the masculine without hesitation, because it is the female musicians who suffer from the worst profiteers. It can be seen that males are less betrayed or prefer to be superior. Suffering, when real, still sounds unmanly today.
The latest to convince the young population was a few weeks ago Olivia Rodrigo, a delightful twenty-year-old who immediately got into bingo: as soon as she left A vampire (nomen omen), immediately ranked #1 on Spotify with 12 million video views in 24 hours. A piece built with feeling, but energetic with attention to rhythm, ready to hook: and it must be said that, despite the drums, however beautiful they are, and also being a good translator, Olivia at times seems seriously suffering, as if she still thought of her own carrion, which fans quickly recognized as director Adam Faze or the next hunk, DJ Zach Bia. “How you sold me to pieces / how you sunk your teeth into me / bloodsucker…” Good man.
It should be remembered that it was Shakira who revived the hype around the so-called revenge songs, whose personal stories were reinforced by the fact that the traitor – the football player Piqué – was just as famous as she was. Mercilessly confessing to her betrayal, she threw herself into sarcasm (“Women don’t cry anymore, women bill”) with caustic comparisons in Music Session Volume 53: “You traded a Rolex for a Casio, a Ferrari for a Twingo.” Unforgettably, the second part is already equipped. Triangles are honey for the public, and hate always has an irresistible follower (especially if you can write).
Lady Gaga remains the most celebrated of the contemporary victims of the insensitive men poured out in the notes. Her wedding to Christian Carino was scheduled for fall 2019. But nothing came of it, and next May, inside the album Chromatic as soon as it came out, you could hear how it ended. In song fun tonighta very reserved Lady sang: “You love the paparazzi, you love the fame/ Even if you know it hurts me/ I feel like I’m in a hell of a prison/ If I scream, you leave/ When I’m sad, you just want to play/ I’ve had enough, why am I staying?
Almost simultaneously, Miley Cyrus plays in Flowers the story that three years earlier led to her divorce from actor Liam Hemsworth: “I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand / Talk to myself for hours … yes, I can love myself better than you.” Taylor Swift, who sang many of these songs to her boyfriends, is best known in the field for Dear John, which should be inspired by my colleague John Meyer. Beyoncé sang about her husband Jay-Z’s infidelity several times, which led to the entire album. Lemonade which is an ode to marital rage. And in any case, the mother of these girls, much more subtle and insidious than all of them put together, was Carly Simon in the late 72nd You shouldn’t be so, where portraits of 3 comrades who shared vanity intersected. The first person to be caught because it was too easy was (then) handsome Warren Beatty. On backing vocals, incognito, Mick Jagger was also credited: nothing more likely that he was one of the three. But the mystery resists. Today this would be impossible.