Single Saturdays: April 13, 2024
Single Saturdays is Five Cent Sound’s weekly roundup, where our staff members share a song that they’ve fallen in love with and make their case for why others should give it a listen.
“Dark” by Dominic Fike
By Gianna Di Cristo
“Dark” is a song that sounds like its title, but not in a frightening way. It sounds dark, like when you’re sitting in your room watching the sunset and it slowly gets dimmer and dimmer. Those ember slits of sunlight on your wall lighten with opacity. You watch the sky grow orange, with the horizon fading into black as the minutes go by. That kind of dark.
Backed by a soft guitar with no percussion accompanying, Fike sings “I’ll be gone like summer / I’ll be here like rain,” which is my favorite line in the whole song. I interpreted it as meaning that one side of him is gone, but it doesn’t mean he’s absent. Things have changed – but he’s still there. The time has passed him quicker than he’s realized. Ultimately, he sounds jaded, and at times regretful, in the lyrics. His tone is sleepy, but delicate, in the way of a lullaby. The background vocals are sweet; higher pitched than the main vocals. It adds a sense of nostalgia that you didn’t know you had. He recounts his life while being famous, struggling with substance abuse: “I felt a hole in my soul this evening / I thought it would be different after I left treatment / I stood up to a demon, mama you shoulda seen it.” This tale of struggling alone, and having to do it while being in the limelight, sounds intense. A faint beat comes in, filling in the sound space some more. He mentions life before fame, being homeless and sleeping in cars, trying to rap to see where it goes career-wise. He voices having realizations a lot of young people have — acting like the worst side of their parents — which can be sobering when reflecting on yourself.
The song ultimately circles back to being a kid. There’s an audio clip of him and his mom having a conversation about the way he grew up at the end. It’s a comforting little snippet, as both of them try remembering what Fike’s childhood was like. It ends off incomplete, but it starts to make you ask yourself what you remember about your own childhood.
“Acid” by Jockstrap
By Emily Zeitz
This week, “Acid” by Jockstrap has been at the top of my playlist and on repeat in my head. It can be categorized in a somewhat unique genre of its own, with many elements of psychedelic rock, but still very serene vibes. As its name suggests, it is very trippy, with many unexpected beat switches and new melodies. You’d think something like that would be a bit unnerving, but the overarching tone promotes a sense of calm in the listener. It took me a second to get used to it, but ever since it’s been my go-to. My friends showed me this song, and their recommendations never cease to amaze me. I love discovering songs like this, hidden gems that would never be found on the radio but have their own cause for popularity in a niche group. I believe this song is just the right mix of weird and beautiful that Emerson students love, and I hope you’ll listen and love it yourself sometime this week.