Musical Analysis #2

 She Don't Love You- Eric Paslay 

For me, country songs have the ability to reach a personal level that other genres are not capable of doing. Whether it is because of the lyrics, or the way that the words are sung, country is one of my go-to genres. This song, "She Don't Love You" by Eric Paslay has been a consistent artist in my life, but this song of his is by far my favorite. 

Lyrics

Despite the obviousness of the some of the lyrics, there is always a deeper meaning than what meets the eye. 

                                                    "She don't love you she's just lonely, 

                                                                    she wasn't once upon a time."

 These lines are describing the backstory of the damaged woman that he is talking about. He is saying that this woman isn't actually in love with the man, but that she is only with him because she has no one else to be with. Often, feelings and emotions can be easily confused to be more true than they are, however this is not the case for this woman. He states that she wasn't always like this, but now she is. 

                                                     "She used to dance when the band played, 

                                                                    she used to be the trustin' kind."

These lyrics which follow the previous ones, further describe the condition in which the woman is now. Paslay says that she used to have a bubbly and fun personality, one that would 'dance when the band played' but now all she does is just listen from her chair. She used to be trusting with men, and now she has a wall up and few are able to truly connect with her. 

Timbre

    

The timbre of this song is very soft and emotional; this applies for both the instrumental and vocal aspects of this song. Throughout the duration of the song, it remains consistent for the instruments, but the voice changes. During the chorus, the timbre of the voice becomes slightly more intense and deeper, but it is easy to hear that it remains very emotional throughout. 

Meter

   

The meter for this song, most commonly seen in the majority of music, is on a simple 4 beat scale. Personally, I think that creating the song with a 4 beat scale allows for the listeners attention to be focused more on the lyrics and voice, rather than the instruments. For this song, the instruments do not particularly stand out to me as much as they did in my last song analysis. Being able to draw the focus towards the voice and lyrics of the singer creates a more raw emotion for me, which draws in my attention more than an instrumental-focused song. 

Dynamics

Similar to the timbre of the song, the dynamics are also very soft and light. The guitar is the main instrument that I can hear in the song, which adds to the 'rawness' of the song. There is also a light drumbeat being played in the background as well, which is also accompanied by violin. In today's music, I feel that it is very uncommon to find the violin be a part of the band, but it fits perfectly in this song. 

Melody

The melody, timbre, and dynamics of this song are all very consistent with each other. Each of them are soft and add to the deep emotion that is portrayed by the singer within the music. The melody has a way of keeping the calmness of the song, while adding to the intensity of the chorus. 

This song was written based off of the conversation of two friends, but has made a greater impact in my life than I can write in words.