Death | 5ive Songs

1. Alicia Keys, “Perfect Way to Die”

💿 Alicia • 🏷 RCA • 🗓 2020

[⚰: Police brutality; racial injustice]

🎵 “Perfect Way to Die” (💿 Alicia) captures the racial inequality and police brutality that has dominated the headlines. On this piano/string ballad, 🎙 Alicia Keys tugs at the heartstrings as she depicts incidents where innocent black lives were lost.  “Simple walk to the corner store,” she sings on the first verse, continuing, “Mama never thought she would be gettin’ a call from the coroner / Said her son’s been gunned down.”  The second verse is similar, this time with a girl being the victim – the martyr if you will.  Of course, the centerpiece is the chorus, where “the perfect way to die” comes into play.  There is no perfect way to die, but in a sense, it seems Keys is trying to find the positive that can come from such tragedy, including necessary change.  “Perfect Way to Die” is upsetting, but it’s an upsetting, woke song that needed to happen.

2. Lewis Capaldi, “Before You Go”

💿 Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent [Deluxe] • 🏷 Universal Music • 🗓 2019

[⚰: Suicide]

💿 Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent marked the debut album by Scottish musician 🎙 Lewis Capaldi, who sings like an angel. The deluxe edition of the album adds three additional songs, including crown jewel, 🎵 “Before You Go.”  “Before You Go” references a difficult subject: SUICIDE. The lyrics are poetic and reflective throughout.

Of course, the chorus is the crème de la crème: “So, before you go / Was there something I could’ve said, / To make your heart beat better? / If only I’d have known you had a storm to weather…” Capaldi wishes he could’ve prevented the devastating event, a feeling that many people feel when someone they know and loved commits suicide.

3. Cattle Decapitation, “The Geocide”

💿 Death Atlas • Metal Blade • 2019

[⚰: Geocide]

💿 Death Atlas, the 2019 album by death/extreme metal band 🎙 Cattle Decapitation, explores the Anthropocene, the most recent geological time period, highly influenced by humans. The band is incredibly pessimistic regarding it, evidenced by lyrics like, “Fuck the future / Fuck all mankind,” that appears on the brutally honest 🎵 “The Geocide.” Essentially, because humans are so destructive and inconsiderate of everything, we are firmly entrenched in imminent ruination and death – we’ve screwed ourselves over.  The music is incredibly chaotic and unsettling – a fitting soundtrack for the destruction of earth.  The guitars are utterly infernal, while the drums pummel to the nth degree.  Adding to this most damned occurrence, Travis Ryan delivers thrilling, incredibly malicious vocals, not to mention the brutally honest, pessimistic lyricism.

Brutality is exemplified by the chorus:

“The universe, it always finds a way to purge
The sustainably inappropriate numbers that once surged
Death always wins, his molten torch forever burns
And to the ashes and the ground we are returned
Life exists to infuriate, berate, and subjugate
The hapless mortals shit-birthed on a human-altered planet Earth.”

Also appears on 🔽:

🔗 🎧 51 Best Songs of 2019

🔗 🎧 15 G Songs Selected with No Rhyme or Reason

🔗 🎧 11 Colorful Songs That Reference Devastating Disasters

🔗 Music to Atone to

4. Phoebe Bridgers, “Killer”

💿 Stranger in the Alps • 🏷 Dead Oceans • 🗓 2017

[⚰: Serial murder]

“Sometimes I think I’m a killer / I scared you in your house / I even scared myself by talking / About Dahmer on your couch.” Chilling, particularly bringing Jeffrey Dahmer into the mix… That’s what singer/songwriter 🎙 Phoebe Bridgers does on 🎵 “Killer,” a piano ballad from her critically acclaimed debut album, 💿 Stranger in the Alps (2017). The psychological “Killer” explores dark thoughts, including referencing gay serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer on the first verse. Bridgers continues the reference Dahmer on this beautiful if somewhat disturbing number: “But I can’t sleep next to a body / Even harmless in death / Plus, I’m pretty sure I’d miss you / And faking sleep to count your breath.”

Bridgers may have her share of dark thoughts, but she doesn’t take it to the same level as Mr. Dahmer in the least.  Still, she makes numerous killer references, though bloodlust seems to be an overstatement (thank goodness).

Also appears on 🔽:

🔗 🎧 Infernal Songs That Capture the Horrors of Jeffrey Dahmer

5. Dr. Dre, “Genocide”

💿 Compton • 🏷 Aftermath / Interscope • 🗓 2015

[⚰: Genocide]

🎵 “Genocide” is the crème de la crème of 💿 Compton, the long-awaited, 2015 studio album by 🎙 Dr. Dre. Sure, “Genocide” is as morbid as the title suggests, but morbidity has never sounded so celestial from a musical perspective.  The production is awesome in itself, particularly that sick descending chromatic bass line.  Furthermore, all the featured guests bring their A-game, whether it’s 🎙 Marsha Ambrosius’ cool hook, 🎙 Candice Pillay’s reggae-tinged verse, or 🎙 Kendrick Lamar’s “slaughter fest” on his guest verse.