"End of Time" is a song by Swedish singer Zara Larsson, released on 19 May 2023 as the second single from her upcoming fourth studio album, Venus (2024). It was released through Larsson's record label Sommer House.[3] It was written by Rick Nowels and Casey Smith, and produced by Austin Corona, Danja and Nowels.[4] The song's music video followed the same day.[5]
A press release referred to the song as "part symphonic power-ballad, part dystopian dance-banger" and as being inspired by "Loud-era Rihanna and ABBA".[5] Larsson herself described the song as "danceable" and "pop" in an interview with Uproxx.[1] Its lyrics refer to overcoming past trauma by finding strength in the present.[2]
Zara Larsson has had a lot of songs that were never officially released. Songs included on these lists are either registered tracks that have not been commercially or promotionally released, leaked recordings that have gained attention from the media and fans, or songs confirmed by Zara Larsson herself or other musicians working with her.
Ranveer Singh has become synonymous with fun and it looks like his upcoming film Cirkus was created to leverage the actor's charm and energy. Now, the film's latest song Sun Zara has only reinforced this theory. Featuring Ranveer Singh, Pooja Hegde and Jacqueline Fernandez, the track has a distinct touch of the magic of the 60s. It features Ranveer in a pair of oversized pants, a jacket and a red shirt and Jacqueline complementing his look in a red top and a brown skirt. Soon, Pooja Hegde enters the frame in a yellow saree, looking straight out of a 60s Bollywood film.
The first song to be released from the film wasCurrent Laga Re, starring Ranveer Singh with his wife, superstar Deepika Padukone. The song was rendered by Lijo George, Nakash Aziz, Dhvani Bhanushali, and Jonita Gandhi. Vivek Hariharan created the rap in Tamil. Lijo George-Dj Chetas wrote the song's lyrics. Hari wrote the Tamil rap lyrics, and Kumaar wrote the lyrics.
The Pop Song Professor project is all about helping music lovers like you to better understand the deeper meanings of popular song lyrics so that you know what your artist is saying and can enjoy your music more.
Clean Bandit, who has been touring with Zara Larsson, just released a new soon-to-be-hit single with the singer. Despite using the word "symphony" eight times, "Symphony" has got a strong dance beat and heavy synth, and sounds custom-made for the club. But that's what one expects from Clean Bandit. And also as expected from Clean Bandit," Symphony's" music video has a strong emotional meaning. Their last hit, "Rockabye" was about the important of single mothers, and the music video for "Symphony" shows a man recovering after the death of his boyfriend/husband. But does the song itself reflect this depth of meaning?
Clean Bandit's "Symphony" is about wanting to be close with someone else, to love that person and to be with him or her. "Symphony" doesn't take us to any great depth of meaning, but it is a sweet song, and it's easily explained.
She describes these songs as "[a] rhapsody for you and me" and tells him that "[l]ife was stringing me along." She didn't have control of her life and merely wanted to be able to feel like she was getting something out of her life. But this person "came and cut [me] loose." He freed her and helped her to find a better way to live life, which we can presume was with him. Zara and Clean Bandit give a pun when they tell us that the narrator was "solo singing" and "[n]ow . . . can't find the key without you."
Clean Bandit uses the lyrics of the pre-chorus to continue the music metaphor that the title and verse 1 begin: "your song is on repeat" tells us the narrator is obsessed with and is with the guy she's singing about. Her "dancin' on to your heartbeat" is her caring about him, and she tells us that she's "incomplete" when he's not with her.
The chorus showcases all of the pop qualities of the music of the song and continues the story by telling us that the narrator wants to be "part of your symphony." She wants to "make music" with him, simple to be with him. She asks him to hold her "tight and not let go." She compares their relationship to "a love song on the radio," which is oddly ironic since this song will ostensibly one day be "a love song on the radio" (see more below).
The most noteworthy moment in this song is the line "Like a love song on the radio." Of course, this isn't the first time that a popular song has referred to music within itself. That happens all of the time perhaps most notably in songs like Selena Gomez's "Love You Like a Love Song" (which has an obvious meaning) and Maren Morris's "My Church," a song about the place FM country music radio takes her.
All of these songs refer to and celebrate music but often while doing the very thing they're praising those other songs for doing as if they're trying to convince audiences that listening to this very song is somehow related to listening to those other songs. "My Church" does this intensely by using every cliche of country music style and by name dropping all of the country greats, but "Symphony" does this perhaps most blatantly because it is a love song that will likely be played on the radio, and it mentions that very experience, providing the materials for a meta experience.
Of course, this song isn't created with some deep meaning in mind, and likely few will think twice about the self-reference, but it's still interesting, and personally I think it's indicative of pretentiousness in the music industry. It seems odd to refer to your own success in a song that's an example of your greatness and accomplishment. It's almost like Clean Bandit's songwriters borrowed a page from the self-glorying lyrics style of much rap music, but at least "Symphony" is more subtle and lacks the profanity.
Pop songwriters leave meaning gaps all of the time because they don't want audiences to be alienated by too specific of lyrics. That's why Bruno Mars's songwriters will write "Her eyes, her eyes / Make the stars look like they're not shining," instead of "Her eyes, her eyes / They're bluer than the ocean flowing" or something like that.
The songwriters who make these songs (who are very rarely the artists who sing them) want as many people as possible to be able to sing these songs, so they keep them purposefully vague and meaningless. Of course, other bands challenge this status quo. Rock groups often write their own songs, and alternative bands like Twenty One Pilots still often write their own music, a fact that's clear and much appreciated by young audiences who desperately need to be told that music and life means something.
It's not necessarily a bad thing that songs like "Symphony" contain essentially meaningless lyrics or that they're non-specific, but it's important to realize this so that we know what we're listening to and can assess it based on the goals it intends to achieve (which, in this case, are likely largely commercial).
Hi! I'm a university writing center director who teaches literature classes and loves helping others to understand the deeper meanings of their favorite songs. I'm married to my beautiful wife April and love Twenty One Pilots, Mumford & Sons, Kishi Bashi, and so many others!
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