Emmanuel Williams 

English 1101

Annotated Bibliography

Genre: R&B Music

10/ 29/ 19  

             R&B music has a deeper meaning behind the lyrics than people think it does. Different from Hip-Hop, R&B is more about love stories or even relationships between a special person and the singer that is built up or broken up because of a certain situation. “The memory’s stalking me, uh. It’s getting hard for me, uh ‘.Cause you’re a part of me, uh. And I know we can’t get caught up”. (https://genius.com/Her-couldve-been-remix-lyrics). The lyrics here from Tone Stith represent a deep connection that he has to a partner, but he can’t let himself or the partner to get too close with each other because they can both get into deep trouble with their original partners. And the verse where ”The memory’s stalking me” shows that he can’t ever forget the memory of them being together the night that they were hooking up. The artist here is getting at how much they miss the person they were with because he knows that they can become a good couple or even have a good relationship, but they both have separate lives to get back to. This connects to R&B listeners who also may have had this kind of issue at least once in their lifetime while in another relationship. The artist’s decision to choose those words specifically about the situation was to come off as something that was just deeper than just having a good time. He was having one of the best moments of his life, but he knows the costs of what he’s doing so he doesn’t want to actually go through with it. 

            Another R&B song that shows that R&B music has a deeper meaning to it than people think is ”Medicine” by Queen Naija. This song was made based on a situation that she personally experienced in a relationship, and she put her pain through the beats of music. She also mentions that she wants to change ”perspectives and letting them know they’re not alone in whatever they’re going through, ” (http://www.iamqueennaija.com/about/). She wants to let people, who listen to R&B music, to know that they aren’t ”alone” as much as they think they are. The point of the song was to also to show the audience that men are not the only ones who can make one person in the relationship feel less than the other, but women can do it also. This is ultimately to get at the emotions not only to provide sympathy but it can also provide courage to other women that there is still hope for them to keep their pride. 

 

          H.E.R and Daniel Caesar made an R&B song together called ”Best Part” and that song has a lot of metaphors and deep meanings that were included. In one verse H. E. R was singing about how her partner to her, as she said, ” You’re the coffee that I need in the morning” (https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/danielcaesar/bestpart.html). Another line, including Daniel Caesar, with a deep meaning, would also be ”You know that I see it I know you’re a star”. The meaning behind both of those lines lies deep within the certain words that were chosen to represent their partners, such as ”coffee” which was used by H. E. R was meant to represent the great importance that her partner is. Because coffee is used to re-up someone’s energy she is then comparing her partner to the coffee to send the message that he is her re-up. And the part where both singers said that their partners were a ”star” shows that they both take in how bright their partners shine on their lives. Because a star is a shining light in the night, the singers want their partners to know that they are the brightest person in their lives, showing the comparison between the star and their partner is how bright they are. For the audience, this creates an emotion where they feel to take their partner seriously towards how far they can go in their relationship it’s built on beautiful metaphors that adore each other

         Another R&B song that had a lot of meaning inside of it was a song by Usher called ” There Goes My Baby”. In this song, he is singing about women that he\\\ has a real connection and vibe with, as he explains that, ” The feeling of it is if you have a true connection with somebody, no matter what happens in life, it will always come back” (https://www.songfacts.com/facts/usher/there-goes-my-baby). The meaning behind the song is to show that there is a ”real connection” with the person that you’re with and that it won’t go away from each of them. Because the song is showing that there is a real connection that you can find with someone, then that can give the audience hope that they can also find a connection that they have been missing for a while with someone who will be special to them. This also creates an emotional breakthrough for audiences who are in relationships that seem to be broken because now those people in the broken relationship can take a deeper look at their connection and see that no matter what they will come back to each other. 

           The second to last R&B song that has a lot of meaning behind the verses is a song called “Busted” by the Isley Brothers. In this song, the meaning behind the verse there is a deep metaphor that goes beyond just emotion, but more on how a girl tried to play him like he’s a fool. Based on the line where he said, ”Trying to slick a can of oil who you think you fooling”(https://genius.com/The-isley-brothers-busted-lyrics). Based on that line the metaphor that Ron Isley sang, he wanted to compare himself to a ”can of oil” that JS was apparently ”Trying to slick”, all to show that she was playing with him and taking him for a fool. Little does she know that he is smarter than he may seem to her, which makes her look worse in the situation where she cheated on him. This can also create a means for men to know how to handle their emotions when their partner cheats on them, which is to make their partner look more foolish about what they committed, especially when they’re caught. 

             Finally, one more song that has a deeper meaning based in the verses is a song called “When a Woman’s Fed Up” by R.Kelly. In this song, he sings about how it looks when a woman has had enough of a man, and with this overall message, the verses in between the lines are to show the effects of how a man might react if he were to see that a women’s done with him. As sung in these few lines he said, “You can cry a river. ‘Till an ocean starts to form, yeah. But she will always remember. ‘Cause she’s a woman scorned”(https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/2332276/R.+Kelly/When+a+Woman%27s+Fed+Up). Based on that verse the deeper meaning behind the lines is that when women have been bruised then they don’t even want to be bothered by the man who hurt them. R.Kelly even says ”You can cry a river. Till an, ocean starts to form”, based on that line it shows how a man might react to losing their partner might actually react to their women being fed up with them. Because of how exaggerated the crying would be for men when a woman leaves them for being fed up then there is a deeper meaning towards why women will get fed up and how a man might react to that but the women won’t care too much. 

                        Work Cited

https://genius.com/Her-couldve-been-remix-lyrics. Could’ve been remix. By H. E. R. 2019 Genius Media Group. February 1, 2019. 

 

http://www.iamqueennaija.com/about/. Medicine. By Queen Naija. Iamqueennaija.com. March 29, 2018. 

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/danielcaesar/bestpart.html. Best Part. By H. E. R and Daniel Caesar. Jordan Dc Evans, Matthew Burnett, Ashton Simmons, Riley Ian Bell, Gabriella Wilson, Ashton Simmonds. October 20, 2017

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/usher/there-goes-my-baby. There goes my baby. By Usher. Songfacts interviewer. February 9, 2019.

https://genius.com/The-isley-brothers-busted-lyrics. Busted. By The Isley Brothers. 2019 Genius Media Group. May 6, 2003. 

https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/2332276/R.+Kelly/When+a+Woman%27s+Fed+Up. When a Woman’s fed up. By R. Kelly and released in 1998. Lyrics.com, Stands4 LLC 2019. Web. December 18, 2019.