Our song of the week for (3/25) this Thursday is Hot Rod by Dayglow. This song was released in 2018 on their Fuzzybrain album. This song perfectly sits in the Indie category. You can find this song on all streaming platforms, including Spotify, Youtube and Apple Music.

Best Scenario for this song: This easily screams summertime road trip, convertible, top down.

Trust me on this one.

Lyrics

When you hear of Dayglow you probably immediately think of “Can I Call You Tonight?”. That song is one of their more popular songs amongst teenagers like us. Yet, I’d like to say that Dayglow is extremely underrated for their creativity and music. Their music videos are creatively different because they give off a low budget vibe, but also it’s just a band enjoying making wacky creative stuff. Which you can see in the music video for this song. Beyond that point and my opinion on the artist lets get into the song.

This song to me is an anti-relationship song. It’s like two people know that it’s not working out or going to work out again. This is present in the lyrics too. He starts off with “Tell me again why is it I never can do anything right?”. Easy red flag in a relationship, the feeling of never doing anything right. You can tell the tone of this when he follows up this verse with the next one and uses “Sarcastically”. Practically saying “Oh yeah life is so sarcastic, NOT.” He’s pointing out that he’s not the real problem here.

They both ( the two people in this song) seem to have different views of each other and are realizing maybe they aren’t who they seem to be. In a lyric it says “Maybe I’m not all that you thought”. Saying that constructed view of him in the other person’s head isn’t who he is. He follows up with a few more lyrics and then says “Maybe your not such a hot rod.” Showing that they both don’t see each other the way they are. Like maybe they both aren’t as good for each other as they initially thought.

You can easily tie this song to how people idealize relationships and have unachievable expectations for a relationship, but then when they get in one it completely falls apart because that person can’t meet those unrealistic expectations.

Another thing to prove my point is that he says ” I’m sorry for, not wanting to be your decor”. No one wants to look perfect and act perfect, especially when everyone has flaws. He then says “Truth is such a violent force, pushing you away”. Maybe that other person is realizing that their expectations or views of how a relationship should go is unrealistic and that truth is making them draw back.

They know that this relationship isn’t going to work because he says it in the chorus ” But we both know, the way it’s gonna go.”  It didn’t work the first time and they know it’s not going to work again.

Okay moving on from my lyrical analysis, I’d like to give a shout out to the instrumental after he says “Uh”. It goes off to some nice upbeat instrumental that gives this song that summertime vibe. It’s a nice high pitched guitar solo with light drums. *Chef’s Kiss*.

Alright to wrap this up just remember relationships are not picture perfect like the movies show, they come with hardships and imperfections. Hopefully the lyrics in this song helped you realize what happens to relationships like that.

Never take it too serious and don’t forget to enjoy the music.

Next week’s song will be Too Good by Arlo Parks so go check it out!.