LUMPENPROLETARIAT—This is an absolutely smokin’ track, which caught my attention whilst at UMKC during the Fall of 2014.  It’s reminiscent of the classic track “Lifetimes” by Slam (Alien Radio, 2001), with throbbing synths.  (Your author ripped Grande’s album during the Winter of 2014-2015, before leaving for another (tightrope) Spring at UMKC, from his Californian stepdaughter (danke schoen, LNF!).  It wouldn’t be surprising if the producers, at least two of whom are Swedes, are well versed in the legend of Slam.  The good people of Sweden have long nurtured a love for electronic music, like yours truly since discovering the gloriously emancipatory electronic and DJ music of the South Bronx circa late ’70s/early ’80s, later known as hiphop and turntablism.)

It’s unlikely Ariana Grande wrote most of the songs on her Grammy-nominated album, My Everything (2014), for (mature) adults.  This wreckid clearly speaks to young people.  But “Love Me Harder” is a sophisticated number.  And the lyrics…

“Love Me Harder” by Ariana Grande

She wants you to succeed, homie!  The song’s protagonist urges her beau to try harder.  “So what do I do if I can’t figure it out?”, sings her beau.  “You got to try, try, try again, yeah,” sings the protagonist.  “So what do I do if I can’t figure it out?”, repeats the beau suffering from one of life’s toughest adversaries—uncertainty.  “I’m gonna leave, leave, leave again…” affirms the protagonist.  Yes, this song is suggestive.  But I think we can cull a deeper meaning here because I think we may find, statistically, that women, especially single moms, have suffered at the hands of careless men far more than the other way around (perhaps, even, within same-sex couples; couples rarely manifest equality of affection[*]).

She wants you to succeed, homie!  Even if that means clearing your mind in a way you’ve never done before.  Even if it means feeling it all, like you’ve never done before.  Even if it means confronting the struggle, the pain, and the tribulations head on without any painkillers, sedatives, stimulants, psychotropics, or other intoxicants.  Come on, Draper.  Even if it means studying that algebra and calculus, homie.

You can do it, holmes, if you work hard at it.  We gotta get on up out the ghetto, homie, only to return with reinforcements to help all those who are still stuck there, especially the houseless, crushed under the brutal weight of the capitalist mode of production.  We can achieve radical transformation for human liberation.  Barbarism begins at home.  But so does love and true faith, if we work hard at it.

-Messina

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[*]  Cf., e.g.:

• About Schmidt (2002):  Recall, or learn about, Schmidt’s startling realisation after his spouse dies and he rummages, forlorn, through her personal effects…
• “Getting Away With It” (1989, 1991, 1994) by Electronic:  However I look, it’s clear to see that I love you more than you love me…

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[last modified 08:16 19 APR 2015]

[Dedicado a nuestra LNF.]