From Nicole to Buzz, From Something Terrifying to Powerfully Stirring
I’m a big fan of the album Nicole. For me It’s a 10/10 album. I once only listened to this album every day on repeat for like 3 months straight. That’s how much I like the album.
When Buzz came out, I’m really excited to listen to her new album. When I listened to it, I realized there were some similar lyrics from the previous album. She uses the same words or terms to show the same situation but with a different approach dealing with that situation. From sad and uncertain in ‘Nicole’ growing to hopefulness and the start of new beginning in ‘Buzz’.
The first lyric that I found is in the song ‘Facebook Friends’ from Nicole and ‘Paths’ from Buzz. In the song ‘Facebook Friends’, Niki says,
So maybe once more we’ll cross paths, maybe we won’t
…
But for now, we stay facebook friends
In the song ‘Paths’ Niki uses the same term “a crossing paths” but with a different approach. She said,
I hope our paths cross again
…
I’ll catch up with you some other time when our paths cross again
In that part of ‘Facebook Friends’, she said that we might or might not meet again. She’s looking into the future with uncertainty. There is a possibility our path crosses again, but for now she’s okay with just being a ‘facebook friends’
Compared to ‘Facebook Friends’, in the song ‘Paths’ she is saying it with more clear intention that she is hoping for ‘our path’ to cross again. No more maybe, no more for now. She wanted for ‘our path’ to cross again, She yearns for it to happen.
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The second one is the song ‘Before’ from Nicole and ‘Tsunami’ from Buzz. In the song ‘Before’, Niki says,
Now we’re holding hands as not quite friends
But not quite lovers
Well, we’ll just pretend
Meanwhile in the song ‘Tsunami’, she said
I’m tired of playing pretend
I wanna jump right off the deep end
Sink into the God-honest truth
Fuck, I think I’m falling for you
In that part of the song ‘Before’, She’s telling a situation about two people that is close to each other. They are too close to being called a friend, but not quite a lovers. But they’re just gonna pretend that it’s okay to stay in that situation. They’re just gonna pretend that they don’t need to make their relationship clear. They’re just gonna pretend that it is fine.
But in the song ‘Tsunami’, she said that she’s tired of playing pretend. She don’t want any of that situationship bullshit anymore. She wants to jump in, that she’s falling for him.
The last one is the song ‘Backburner’ from Nicole and ‘Focus’ from Buzz. In the song ‘Backburner’, Niki says,
I can’t lie, it feels nice that you’re calling
You sound sad and alone, and you’re stalling
And for once, I don’t care about what you want
As long as we keep talking
Meanwhile in the song ‘Focus’, she said
Focus for once, What is it that you want?
…
Wish you’d focus on what’s in front of you right now
I interpret the song ‘Backburner’ as being a second choice in a relationship. In the intro of the song, she’s telling that she felt nice that she could talk to someone who allegedly made her a second choice. She doesn’t care what his intention is by saying ‘I don’t care about what you want, as long as we keep talking’. She doesn’t mind if he just uses her as a temporary escape cause all she needs just to talk to him.
In the song ‘Focus’ in the other hand, she said ‘focus for once, what is it that you want?’. It’s like she doesn’t want to just be in an uncertain situation, just so she can talk to him. She wanted to know what his intention was and what he really wanted. I’m seeing that she is approaching this with more hope and looking forward into the future, not just being in a status quo of uncertainty.
In all of the songs above, I can see how Niki uses the same word in her lyrics but with a different approach. In the album ‘Backburner’ there is a lot of uncertainty, sadness, and standing still. On the other hand, Niki uses the same words in the album ‘Buzz’ with more hope for something to happen. She doesn’t want to just stay in an uncertainty, She’s looking forward to the future to start something new.
