"Whatever Makes You Happy"
Janelle Monae, Avenged Sevenfold and pleasure seeking
It’s been a pretty good week for me in terms of new music. Just as much as I love settling down with an easy-listening folk album, I’m also very much here for heavy metal and (some) hip-hop. Janelle Monae is certainly a leader in the latter field, proven easily by Dirty Computer (2018) which I really love. She’s finally got a new record coming out, The Age Of Pleasure, and the first music video dropped last week for Lipstick Lover. It’s….a lot. Like highly NSFW and honestly just straight-up pornographic. The video is an indulgent, decadent display to kick off an album about indulgence and decadence. At the same time, my favorite metal band, Avenged Sevenfold, is also back with new music and a single titled We Love You. Their album is called Life Is But A Dream and it’s all about the philosophy of Albert Camus, an Absurdist and believer that life is essentially a dark comedy and you should just accept it.
I love thinking about what art means. Both the intent of the artist and what they did not intend. Both of these pieces of music are examples of our collective search for meaning. There are real-world, well-documented schools of philosophy for both songs.
With the fact of our looming deaths hanging over us all, philosophy touches each and every one of us whether we admit it or not. We arrange our lives in such a way as to make peace with our unknown expiration date. Some choose lives of restraint and discipline for their own sake. Others embrace religions of eternal life, karma, and reward for good works. Others go full ham on sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, because it does feel good (when it’s good, ya know?)
I wanted to go a little deeper into this idea of how philosophy can be found in popular music. So I made a video while on the road vacationing in Iceland, explaining how Janelle Monae and Avenged Sevenfold are both advancing competing views of “the good life” at the same time in their new music.
This analysis is also NSFW due to the use of clips from Janelle Monae’s video. So heads up.
Stephen?! What is Walk The Way?! I’m so glad you asked. I am working hard to grow This Is The Way into a more wide-ranging project with podcasts, videos and more articles. Walk The Way is an extension of the brand and will be “official” in June or July. I’ll be doing more videos along with my friend and collaborator,
, who is now on the This Is The Way team.So! Would you be so kind as to leave a comment on the video, Like and Subscribe? This is my first video analysis for YouTube and I have a lot to learn about making better videos. Let me know how I did, so I can improve and double down on what is working.
Anyways.
The philosophies being put forward by Monae and Sevenfold both fall short in my view of capital T-Truth. I think often about a time when my young daughter asked me my opinion on a choice she had to make, and I said “Whatever makes you happy kiddo.”
To which she responded, “That is not an answer and super annoying.”
She was right, of course. It’s not an answer. As far as I can tell, Janelle Monae’s Lipstick Lover and The Age of Pleasure is going to be 2023’s anthem of “Whatever makes you happy” and that makes me sad. In a time where so many people are suffering from depression, loneliness, and suicidality at alarming rates, we all deserve better from our leaders and cultural tastemakers than — do whatever feels good while you still can (Monae) and everything is a joke (Avenged Sevenfold).
You’re probably here and reading this Substack because you believe there’s a little to life than what meets the eye.
This is the way.
ICYMI we have a new piece out also from Riley Blanton, my new partner here at This Is The Way. He wrote about some lessons you can take away from the failure of Disney’s “Star Wars hotel”.
