#NaNa

In 1967, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics to “Sympathy for the Devil” having been inspired by French poet Charles Baudelaire and a book written by a Russian author by the name of Mikhail Bulgakov.

In 2018, Banx, Ranx, Jacob Manson, Ella Eyre, Yxng bane and Shakka (because adding an ‘x’ to your name makes you cool) wrote the song “Answerphone”. I assume having been inspired by someone not giving the millennial writers the attention that they so crave and believe that they deserve.

In that same time frame, we invented the internet. We replaced vinyl with tapes, then those with CDs, CDs with internet downloads and then proceeded to return to Vinyl. We created touch screen handhelds and sent a thing to Mars (science is not my strong point). Despite all this technological and societal advancement, music has changed for the worse. Gone are the days of the Stones, Queen, Zeppelin, The Who and Meat Loaf who would create epic stories through their music and their lyrics. These musical wordsmiths have been replaced by artists that are six of one/half a dozen of the other. With their songs primarily used for teens to use on social media.

At no point during the six minutes eighteen second journey that is ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ does Mick Jagger mention ‘Sympathy’ or ‘the Devil’, they instead hint at the topic of the fallen angel himself through the lyrical artistry used in the story that they tell. If it were not for the title including the word you would have to figure Mick’s character’s name yourself.

Ella Eyre and Yxng Bane (I don’t even know what he is trying to spell with that first name) mention the titular “answerphone” 13 times within their three minute ten second pop song. The sound ‘Na’ is repeated 40 times just to create a catchy hook, this hook lasts the whole song and is just a variation of the same line followed by “Na Na”.

You know music is in dire need of a saviour when pop songs are credited to the producers who adlib their name into the backing of the first chorus. You didn’t have “Jimmy Miller” in the backing track of “Sympathy for the Devil” and not once did you hear the words “Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno” at the goddamn start of David Bowie’s goddamn epic “Heroes”!

Playing into the hands of the skin crawling celebrity culture of the 21^st century as creativity is being left to the way side in the wake of relatability, social media hits and lyrics that go well under an edgy Instagram post.

#NaNa.