Monday, April 14, 2014

B-girl Ballads

Mystic was the Weather in the "Valentine" episode for the first year of Welcome to Night Vale.  Her rap, "Neptune's Jewels," is a valentine to a love on a pedestal.  The chorus states that he is the one that she would do anything to keep happy.  In the second verse, Mystic makes it clear that her attraction is more than physical, more than sexual.  "It's the way you make me wanna live instead of die."  Backing vocals make some of Mystic's raps melodic, especially "But you put a new hue in my blue, added a perspective to my concrete views..."  This is a great phrase on learning to trust her emotions.  The melodic chant makes it sound like a quote, perhaps that is a saying of her (potential) lover's.  The language in general has an interesting juxtaposition of street slang and polished poetic imagery:  "I would fly into a merciless sun steal you the sky 'cuz you're the one."



The introduction is also interesting, with mysterious vocals that I (and my family) can't figure out.  Are the purposefully vague murmurs representative of her previous confused loves, or her initial hesitation before falling head-over-heels for Mr. Perfect?  Either way, the whole piece makes a nice Valentine.  Won't you be my Sade tape in the coldest spring?

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