Young the Giant- "It's About Time"

Young the Giant's sophomore album, Mind Over Matter, is filled with both alternative melodies and resonating lyrics. Young the Giant is an American rock band, which gained fame with their self-titled first album. Grammy nominated producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen helped to craft a unique sound on Mind Over Matter, part of the reason why their popularity has surged in recent months. Their song, "It's About Time", examines how each person has a choice to use their power for good or for evil.

"It's About Time" opens with a catchy guitar riff, and then begins the first verse musing over the modern age of society. With the line, "Nights on the wire", the band is referencing the increasingly digitized life that most people lead, for better or for worse. Although the song seems to repeatedly refer to death, through the repetition of guns and triggers, these references serve as symbols for the potential uses of power.

The line, "I'm on a tightrope", shows that people have to balance their lives between what is good for them, and what is right. As the song continues, the lyrics show that a life of pure pleasure is possible and perhaps desirable, through the lyrics, "Lights on the beaches / Everybody come on, delight". The song then incorporates a reference to a movie, The Truman Show, which examines the life of a man who has lived his whole life as part of a T.V. show he doesn't know he is in.

Young the Giant references the final scene in the movie, where Truman decides to open the door, not knowing what he will find. However, Young the Giant argues that it is also possible to, "Close the front door," and live in oblivion. After a lengthy musical interlude, the final verse analyzes the ways that we trick ourselves into patterns of existence, limiting both our freedom and our lives.

The song uses a card trick as a metaphor for life, arguing that you can see what you think is happening, but you don't really know what is going on. With the line, "All the years of paradise / Paradigms / Paralyze us," Young the Giant argues that we can be tricked into a sense of complacency when we should be constantly active and vigilant in our lives.

Through its use of repetition, symbolism, and metaphor, Young the Giant makes the argument that while it is possible to live your life without opening the front door to see what life is, that life is no better than watching a card trick: pleasure without comprehension. This song not only has artistic quality in its unique phrasing and catchy melody, but in its lyrics, which make an argument in an elegant way.