What’s Up?”
– 4 Non Blondes
I will be analyzing this song called “What’s Up” by a band called 4 Non Blondes which falls under the rock music genre not just because this song is performed by a rock band where the members are all wearing punk-style outfits in the music video or because of their heavy use of instruments like guitar and drums but also because rock music often has a rebellious theme and reflects on social and political issues and I think this song also fits that criteria because it is almost like a response to the political climate of when this song was written.
25 years and my life is still
Tryin’ to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination”
Throughout the song, Linda Perry vocalizes some internal conflicts and frustrations by using carefully chosen words that can really be applied to anyone listening to the song, which is why the lyrics seem very relatable. In the above quote, she invokes a feeling of struggle and hardship that people have to go through to survive that almost seems never-ending by describing it as a “great big hill”. Using words like “great” and “big” makes this “hill of hope” seem very daunting and can mean different things to different people, depending on where they are in their lives and what their “destination” is. I also think it’s interesting that she used “hill” as metaphor because when people are actually trying to walk up a hill, it is not only challenging but also because of the shape of the hill, it obscures the end point or the destination. So I think she’s comparing that to the human experience that when people are struggling to achieve something in their lives, it can get difficult to see the end or even realize that it will eventually get easier.
As mentioned before, this hill can represent different struggles to different people. For me, this hill represents my struggle with social anxiety and figuring out who I am outside of college and research. As an adult sometimes it feels like I should also know what my destination is but I am not sure yet so I intend to just walk up this hill and see where it takes me. For another person, it could mean recovering from past trauma that is also challenging and this person might also not be able to see or even know what their “destination” should look like but they are persevering and still continuing to walk up that hill.