Disappear | 3BOPS

1. GIVĒON, “Vanish”

💿 When It’s All Said and Done… Take Time • 🏷 Epic • 📅 2021

🎙GIVĒON (Giveon Evans) marks one of R&B’s brightest stars.  His baritone vocals are gorgeous – buttery smooth and incredibly nuanced.  It’s not surprising his 2020 EP, 💿 Take Time, was nominated for a Grammy.  Reissued in 2021 as 💿 When It’s All Said and Done… Take Time, the extra songs only sweetened the deal.  One of the best songs is 🎵 “Vanish.” VANISH is a synonym of the word disappear. 

“You said, you hate me, and you wish I would vanish

Okay, you love me, baby, I speak your language.”

“Vanish” is idiomatic of a more alternative brand of contemporary R&B.  How so? Well, the record opts against the traditional verse/chorus form.  Instead, there is pre-chorus (occurs twice), chorus (occurs thrice), a bridge (a variant of the pre-chorus), and outro sections.  Also, there’s intentional use of instrumental music that stretches a potentially shorter record to three-and-a-half-minutes overall.  Form aside, GIVĒON focuses on matters of the heart.  He’s getting mixed messages from this girl who sometimes wants him and other times, as aforementioned, wants him to vanish.  Of course, he admits he’s made mistakes too, and they both need to work together to make the relationship work.  

Also appears on 🔻:

• 13 V Songs: No Rhyme or Reason

2. Lana Del Rey, “How to Disappear”

💿 Norman Fucking Rockwell! • 🏷 Interscope • 📅 2019

“This is how to disappear.” 🎵 “How to Disappear” features a lilting, compound-duple meter.  The record appears on 💿 Norman Fucking Rockwell!, the 🏆 Grammy-nominated 2019 album by 🎙 Lana Del Rey. Here, in the context of NFR!, Del Rey keeps the tempo on the slower side of the metronome.

Lana delivers a compelling story about ‘John,’ who is different from the other guys (“You just crack another beer / And pretend that you’re still here”) and ‘Joe’ who she knows is (“In over his head”). Besides the tales of John and Joe, Del Rey escapes to her future self:

“I’ve got a kid and two cats in the yard

…I watch the skies getting light as I write

As I think about those years

As I whisper in your ear.”

3. St. Vincent, “The Melting of the Sun”

💿 Daddy’s Home • 🏷 Loma Vista • 📅 2021

🎙 St. Vincent (Annie Clark) exhibits musicianship at its finest on 💿 Daddy’s Home, one of the best albums of 2021.  One of the best songs from one of the best albums of 2021 is the brilliant 🎵 “The Melting of the Sun,” which appears as the fifth track. MELT, FYI, is a synonym of the word disappear. Notably, Clark highlights numerous women telling their respective stories, most of which are filled with pain and adversity.

For example, “Saint Joni [Joni Mitchell] ain’t no phony / Smoking Reds where Furry sang the blues.” She goes on to reference the drug overdose of Marilyn Monroe, singing, “‘Hell,’ she said, ‘It’s better than abuse.’” Wow.  One of my favorite lyrics arrives later, as she sings, “And proud Nina [Simone] got subpoenaed / Singing, “‘Mississippi, good goddamn.’” “The Melting of the Sun” is a must-hear.