An Analysis of Metaphor in "Stereo Hearts"

            If you’ve turned on the radio recently, and gone to a pop music station, it’s very likely that you’ve heard the song “Stereo Hearts” by Gym Class Heroes ft. Adam Levine. If you haven’t, you can find it here.  I’m not here to argue about whether the song is a good song (although, I must admit it is pretty darn catchy). Instead, I’m going to focus on the motifs and metaphors that the singers employ throughout this song.

            Most of the song focuses on the idea that the artist is literally a boombox, or a record. Which is kind of cool, and the comparison makes sense. I can understand how a famous musician might begin to feel that’s all he or she is – merely a jukebox used for the entertainment of others. I like where it’s going right now, and it seems that I may be getting a little more depth from pop music than I’m used to getting.

            Then the verse starts up, and my hope begins to wane slightly. The speaker opens with “If I was just another dusty record on the shelf, would you blow me off and play me like everybody else?” Analyzing these lyrics, I’m not sure whether the speaker’s audience can really make a positive choice in this situation. At first, it may seem to be a good thing to blow the dust off of an old record and play it as though it were new, like every other record. However, the terms “blow me off” and “play me” have gained a negative connotation in recent times. To the uninformed, they mean to ignore someone, or manipulate/use someone for one’s own gain respectively.

           

            The good interpretation implies that “everybody else” refers to other records, but this more negative interpretation hints that it actually refers to other women (and perhaps men) in the speaker’s past. This interpretation of  “play[ing]” the speaker is bolstered when a little later he says, “the last girl that played me left a couple cracks.” “Playing,” here, seems to be the more negative, manipulative version, rather than a positive version. But if this is the case, the only other option the speaker has given the audience is to leave it on the shelf gathering dust. Surely this isn’t a positive option either.

            The speaker asking if the listener could manage to “scratch [his] back” only further confuses the interpretation. Scratching a record is cool for a DJ, and usually pretty loved by audiences, but tends to damage the record itself pretty badly. However, scratching a human’s back usually has a positive connotation; it’s a helpful task that isn’t easy to manage by oneself. In addition, this is the kind of thing that leads “skipping tracks” that he mentions in the very next line.

            It seems to perhaps be a poorly constructed motif at this point, but I still hold out hope. It could just be really complex, and require more thought. I do like the little fake skip that happens in the very next line, literalizing the fact that there are scars that he holds from past loves and cementing in the record metaphor even more. In addition, the hopeless romantic in me can’t help but like the idea that the speaker’s “heart is a stereo that only plays for you.” The only time he is truly able to make music, truly able to fulfill his purpose as a musician is when it is for the listener. There’s something beautiful about that I just can’t deny.

            I start to lose that thin thread of hope during the next verse. The next cutesy comparisons to an old boombox (or ghetto-blaster as slang once named them), don’t really connect back to any sort of good picture at all. If he’s the boombox and she has to “carry him around wherever she walks” it sounds like a pretty lopsided relationship. This is only the beginning. Later, the speaker makes sure that the listener “won’t be mad” when she has to completely financially support him. Of course, he says it a little differently – “when she has to purchase mad d batteries.” (again, in case you don’t know, “mad” = a lot of)

            So, overall, this song disappoints me again. As does most pop music, but let’s be real, none of us really listen to pop music for the content. This song does have some nice turns of phrase, and the general cramming in of metaphors and wink-inducing lines do give it some merit. Unfortunately, it’s just not really well crafted enough for me to rejoice.

BONUS: Jason Derulo’s “It Girl” also doesn’t seem to know how to use clichéd metaphors very well. "25 to life" is a well known phrase used in a legal setting, when sentencing a convicted criminal to prison time. Something about comparing that to marriage with a woman whom you claim to love dearly just rubs me the wrong way.