Music Poetry

The name of the song is On Top, which is an electronic song by producer Flume and featuring rap artist T-Shirt. The album that this song is a part of is simply called Flume: Deluxe Edition (the song can also be found on the non-Deluxe edition).

The album's central theme is dealing with issues during adolescence, and growing up in the world. This particular song focuses on what a young person's aspirations to be "on top". More specifically, it discusses and reiterates the universal desire to achieve success. This song includes lines that explain to the listener why this goal is difficult to accomplish. I think T-Shirt is trying to send a message to youth who aspire to be the greatest and best that if you really want your dreams to come true, you have to work hard for them. Many people decide that they want to be this or that in their youth, but do not end up pursuing their aspirations. The song is not sending the message to discourage people from chasing their dreams, but rather is encouraging people to follow their dreams.

The song uses repetition to convey the desire to reach the "top". The line "All I want in this life is the chance to do my thing" is repeated at multiple intervals in the song. The chorus also uses repetition to show the desire to reach the "top". The chorus goes:

I want the top
All my people right there at the back of the spot
I need the top
If you know me y'all now need to stop
I need the top
All my people there back of the spot, now don't be shy
Yeah

Each phrase that repeats "I want the top" and "I need the top" is intersected by a phrase that is pertinent to the main theme of the song. The lines that intersect show the idea that the person climbing to the top wants to bring his "people" with him.

However, this is not the only example of poetic language that T-Shirt uses on the Flume track. In the beginning of the song, he touches on the difficulty that is a part of reaching the "top". The verse goes, "And you don't just wake up rich one day / This kind of life never just slip your way". T-Shirt is alluding to the fact that you cannot expect to reach the top by chance, but that instead you must have the drive to reach the "top".

T-Shirt uses more poetic language nearing the end of the song, putting the situation in a broader perspective. The verse goes, "History favors the bulldog / Roast something, make sure my story gets told". Here he refers to those who are successful as bulldogs, and personifies "history". History is doing the action of favoring, while comparing the dreamer to a bulldog. The artist is saying that the dreamer needs animalistic qualities like that of a bulldog to be remembered.