2022 Media Review - Music

Last week was movies and this week is all about the music.

So, what were the last years most streamed songs?

10. Running up that hill (A Deal With God) - by Kate Bush

9. Ojitos Lindos – by Bad Bunny and Bomba Estereo

8. Quevedo: Bzrp Music Sessions Vol. 52 – by Bizzarap and Quevedo

7. Enemy (With Jid) - by Imagine Dragons and Jid

6. Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) - by Elton John, Dua Lipa, and PNAU

5. Titi Me Pregunto – by Bad Bunny

4. Me Porto Bonito – by Bad Bunny and Chencho Corleone

3. Stay (With Justin Bieber) - The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber

2. Heat Waves – Glass Animals

1. As It Was – Harry Styles

"Usually, I put something on TV

So we never think about you and me

But today, I see our reflections clearly in Hollywood

Laying on the screen

You just need a better life than this

You need something I can never give”

- Heat Waves, Glass Animals

“I do the same thing, I told you that I never would

I told you I changed, even when I knew I never could

I know that I can't find nobody else as good as you

I need you to stay, need you to stay, hey

I get drunk, wake up, I'm wasted still

I realize the time that I wasted here

I feel like you can't feel the way I feel”

- Stay, The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber

“If you want me to, I'll make you a baby or bring you the plan B”

- Me Porto Bonito, Bad Bunny and Chenco Corleone

Ey, auntie, asked me if I have a lot of girlfriends, a lot of girlfriends Today I have one; tomorrow I’ll have another, hey, but there’s no wedding, there’s no wedding, auntie”

- Titi Me Pregunto, Bad Bunny

This is just a sampling of some of the lyrics of what many of us were filling our heads with this past year.

Don't get us wrong, most of these songs have really catchy hooks and solid rhythmic beats that you can easily dance to, but the lyrics aren’t just the typical meaningless dance anthems. They’re not even just promoting casual sex. This year, a consistent trend was pointing out how hopeless all of it was. The music is actually a really perfect metaphor for the lifestyles they are singing about; it’s slick, well produced, touched and retouched to be everything you’re looking for but soon enough you’re feeling numb and empty. This isn’t anything new. In the book of Proverbs, there is a story about a young man who is seduced by an attractive woman. He is described as lacking common sense as he walks down her street where she rushes to meet him. She tells him that her husband is away and she is down to get down. She’s beautiful. She’s inviting. She’s everything he could ask for and so, he follows her home. But, pay attention to the description of what happens next.

“With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast

till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.”

- Proverbs 7: 21-27

Our music today is telling us the same story; Go out, party, drink, have sex, hook up with someone new every night (Bad Bunny), but in the end it’s all the same. It’s always empty. It all leads to death. The difference between the story in Proverbs and the songs we’re listening to is that Proverbs offers a way out. Proverbs gives us hope.

My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

- Proverbs 7:1-5

If we are wise, we will follow the commands of our Father. His laws against sex outside of marriage, drunkeness and other similar sins aren’t there to ruin our fun but to save our lives and allow us to live how we were meant to. Wisdom tells us not to even go down that path because we know where it ends up. The thing is, if we are constantly filling our heads with music that is encouraging us to live in this way, it’s like the senseless young man letting the wayward woman whisper in his ear; eventually we are going to get seduced into the lies. I’m not one for making new years resolutions, but if you are, making a change to what you’re listening to might be a really good decision!