SONG ANALYSIS by NAJMA PREVIA JATI (XI MIA 1/20)

The first song "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry

"Before you met me

I was alright, but things
Were kinda heavy
You brought me to life
Now every February
You’ll be my Valentine, Valentine"

Firstly, I think this song tell us about an adult woman who is living the “dream” of a typical teenage
girl. She wants to feel “pretty without any makeup on” and to be funny. She wants to know that she can “let
my walls come down”. This song mentions something about wanting to run away with this guy and not
looking back, to forget the burden of adult life and go back to her teenage years of freedom, thrill, and
happiness.

"You make me
Feel like I’m a living a
Teenage dream
The way you turn me on
I can’t Sleep
Let’s run away
And don’t ever look back
Don’t ever look back"

Secondly, The song is can also tell us about a someone who has met and fallen in love with 'her
missing puzzle piece', about finding her first love, or more about finding the love she missed as a teenager.
This relationship she have now is so perfect and pure that it takes her back to her teenage years when she'd
sit in her room and dream about meeting her prince charming.

"Let’s go all the way tonight

No regrets, just love
We can dance until we die
You and I, we’ll be young forever"

The one thing about this song that sticks out is the fact that it is adult and also innocent. The lines
'We can dance until we die/ you and I will be young forever' do have an obvious double entendre in them but
they have the concept of never growing up in there. This implies a peter pan type of world where she and her
lover are stuck as teenagers never growing up.

"We drove to Cali

And got drunk on the beach
Got a motel
And built a fort out of sheets
I finally found you
My missing puzzlepiece
I’m complete"

The song is also a reference to a typical Californian teen's life, it talks of getting drunk on the beach,
an activity that is widespread amongst the Californian youth. The "Teenage Dream" implied by the song
talks about the life that teenagers want to have, a live that you dream of as teenagers, a dreamy life filled
with fun, love and wildness. So the "Teenage Dream" is an object or a thing rather than the act of dreaming
itself.
The second song "All I Have To Do Is Dream" by The Everly Brothers

"I need you so that I could die

I love you so and that is why
Whenever I want you
All I have to do is dream." 

This song is all about a person who is longing for a crush with whom they know the love is
unrequited or they are in a long distance place, the protagonist in this song muses on the fantasies they have
with their crush in their dreams. This song implies that because the person love is one-sided, the only way
they can realise the fantasies they have with their crush is through a dream, because they cannot do it in
reality.

"I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine

Anytime night or day
Only trouble is, gee whiz
I'm dreamin' my life away"

But furthermore, the "dream" mentioned in this part of the song is the act of dreaming or even over-
fantasizing. The line "I'm dreaming my life away" implies that unfulfilled dream can cause a lingering sense
of disappointment and sorrow. Dreaming of improving our current situation is always worthwhile as such
dreams can motivate us towards betterment. However, impossible dreams about replacing our current
situation can be harmful. The distinction here is between dreaming about improving our current situation and
dreaming about replacing it.

"Better never to have met you

In my dream
Than to wake and reach
For hands that are not there."

Being too over-occupied with our dreams carries the risk of dreaming our lives away, in the sense
that it can reduce our chances of fully engaging in our more mundane but actual life. Somebody can get their
hopes too high and end up falling. Because in the end of the day, a dream is a dream, once we wake up and
realise that the fantasies will never happen it will only bring great dissapointment. The dissapointment will
lessen our drive to engage in the reality of life hence crippling our life-motivation away. Over fantasizing
can divert us from seeking to improve the life we have and the options that on the other hand are realistically
within our grasp.

Conclusion:

Both song rotates around the theme "Dream". But, the dream mentioned in the first song is more of
an object, a thing, or even an adjective rather than the act of dreaming. It tells the story about somebody who
is living the "Dream Come True" life (a life teenagers dream of), so it is no longer a dream, but already a
reality. It is just that the reality is so fun and pleasurable that it is dream-like.
On the other hand, in the second song, the dream mentioned is literally "the act of dreaming" or in a
sense, over-fantasizing. The author of the song tells us about somebody wishing to be with someone but
cannot do so. So this somebody resorts to dreaming to fullfill his wishes.