See you again

"See You Again" is a song by American rapper Wiz Khalifa, featuring American
singer Charlie Puth. It was commissioned for the soundtrack of the 2015 film
Furious 7 as a tribute to actor Paul Walker, who died in a single-vehicle accident
on November 30, 2013. The artists co-wrote the song with its co-producers, DJ
Frank E and Andrew Cedar, with additional production from Puth and mixing
provided by Manny Marroquin. "See You Again" was released on March 10, 2015,
as the soundtrack's lead single in the United States.

"See You Again" became both Khalifa's and Puth's biggest single to date. It spent
12 non-consecutive weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100, tying Eminem's "Lose
Yourself" for the second longest-running rap number-one single in the country
behind Lil Nas X & Billy Ray Cyrus' "Old Town Road", and topped the UK Singles
Chart for two consecutive weeks. It also reached number one in several other
countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand
and Switzerland. The song held the record for the most-streamed track in a single
day on Spotify in the United States, until it was surpassed by One Direction's
"Drag Me Down". It set the record for most streams in a single week worldwide,
and in the United Kingdom also in a single week.
The music video was the most viewed video on YouTube from July 10 to August 4,
2017. As of September 19, 2021, it has received over 5.2 billion views, 35.6 million
likes and over 1 million dislikes, making it the site's fifth most viewed and second
most liked video. "See You Again" received three nominations at the 58th Annual
Grammy Awards: Song of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best
Song Written for Visual Media. It was also shortlisted for the Song of the Year for
the BBC Music Awards and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 73rd
Golden Globe Awards. "See You Again" was the best selling-song of 2015
worldwide.
The video begins with a shot of a clifftop at sunset, followed by Khalifa walking
down a highway road. Puth is then shown singing the chorus whilst sitting at, and
playing, a piano located between two cars. Khalifa's rap verses and Puth singing
the second chorus and bridge are interspersed with footage from Furious 7. After
the bridge, the final movie scene shows Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian
O'Conner (Cody Walker, filling in for his brother, Paul) driving together, pulled
over in their cars, and smile at each other one last time before driving away on
separate roads into the sunset. After the camera pans up into the sky, the screen
turns white, the words "For Paul" appear on the screen, and the video ends.

Charlie Puth begins the song with a chorus. He sings, "It's been a long day without
you, my friend / And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again." The songwriter
looks forward to being reunited with his friend (even though he doesn't explain
how). Charlie sings, "We've come a long way from where we began / Oh, I'll tell
you all about it when I see you again." The narrator and Paul Walker have been
friends for a long time and had many successes together. Those successes
continue for the still-alive narrator who looks forward to catching up with Walker.

When it's Wiz Khalifa's turn to rap, he focuses more on the good old times shared
by those who loved Paul walker.He sings, "Damn, who knew? / All the planes we
flew / Good things we've been through / That I'll be standing right here talking to
you / 'Bout another path." The song's narrator misses Walker and wishes that he
could have him back. He asks himself how anyone could have predicted that even
though he and Paul did so much together that one day he'd be remembering
Paul's death. The image suggests the narrator is standing by Walker's grave,
talking to himself.
The "[other] path" that Khalifa mentions is different from all their paths together;
those paths were on earth and were adventures they had while still alive, but now
Walker has gone elsewhere that Khalifa's narrator can't follow him to.
Bringing back the traveling imagery, Khalifa sings, “I know we loved to hit the road
and laugh”–possibly a reference to the Furious movies, since Paul Walker did so
much driving in them.
The narrator sings, “But something told me that it wouldn’t last / Had to switch
up / Look at things different, see the bigger picture.” Khalifa is explaining that
even though things used to seem to be so good, they couldn’t stay that way
forever. Life isn’t just about successes–sometimes death happens and can bring
things to a sudden halt.
Khalifa continues singing, “Those were the days / Hard work forever pays / Now I
see you in a better place.” While their time together was wonderful and the hard
work they put in together will be remembered, Khalifa’s narrator likes to think of
Walker as being in an even better place. No matter how good their time was
together, he wants Paul Walker to be even happier now.
Before reverting to Puth for the chorus, Khalifa sings his family-focused pre-
chorus: “How can we not talk about family when family’s all that we got?” He calls
Walker family though neither is Khalifa family to him nor are most of the people
the song is for. But what does make Walker family for the narrator is that Walker
was “standing there by side” for “[e]verything I went through.”

To finish his pre-chorus, Khalifa sings, “And now you gon’ be with me for the last
ride.” The memory of Paul Walker will stay with the narrator until he dies,
reminding him of the good times and supposedly encouraging him onward.
After Puth sings the chorus, Khalifa comes back for a bridge. This time it’s about
friendship and brotherhood and how those things are created. He sings, “First you
both go out your way / And the vibe is feeling strong.” For a friendship to begin,
people need to step out of what they would normally do for themselves and help
someone else. Khalifa sings that you can then feel the friendship growing.
He continues, “And what’s small turn to a friendship / A friendship turn to a
bond.” The friendship (supposedly one that the narrator forged with Paul Walker)
continues to evolve and becomes a bond (or something that ties things together
and often can’t be broken). This lines up with the next line: “And that bond will
never be broken / The love will never get lost.” Their friendship will never die.

Khalifa touches on the concept of brotherhood when he sings, “And when the
brotherhood come first / Then the line will never be crossed.” There are
boundaries in every relationship that people can abuse, but if friendship matters
to people, they are less likely to hurt each other. When it comes to Paul Walker
and his friends, those friendships “[e]stablished it on [their] own / When that line
had to be drawn.” They cared about the relationship enough to watch out for
each other.
The bridge finishes with “And that line is what we reach / So remember me when
I’m gone.” This last “line” could be a reference to the finish lines from the Furious
movies that Walker and his friends reach many times. They accomplished
something great together–they won their races–and now they’re bond is forged
tighter for having had to struggle together.
Charlie Puth finishes the song with an emotionally powerful “re-intro” that leads
back into the chorus: “So let the light guide your way, yeah / Hold every memory
as you go / And every road you take, will always lead you home, home.” Puth
seems to be singing from the usual narrator’s voice as he wishes Walker well on
his next great journey–the journey after death. He wants him to remember the
good times and find a new home. The guiding light will help him to arrive there
safely.
In my opinion, “See you again” is a beautiful song that has a lot of emotional
value attached to it. The music is very soothing and calms the listener. The lyrics
are meaningful, realistic and amazing at the same time.

Thank you for reading! By: Milena

Mkrtichyan