The Challenges that Youth Face
“Lion’s Den” is lyric number five written by Max Collins from Speak in Code album produced by Don Gilmore. The genre of this lyric is alternative rock and pop punk while its band is Eve 6. It was published on April 24, 2012 under label Fearless. Since this album was published in recent time, it brought up issues relevant to current society. “Lion’s Den” lyric shows societal trends’ effects on contemporary music that exposes vile expectations of the society of the youth, such as a boy is expected to be rich while a girl is expected to have attractive physical features.
In first stanza of this lyric, the artist talks about a boy who is from a rich family, as the artist implied in his saying, “loaded dad”. It is as if there is a silent call for the boy to be rich as well. He is very smart, goes to private school, and owns an expansive car. Even though his future seems bright due to his background, he feels lost. He feels depressed and unsatisfied. He is challenged by society’s expectations of him, such that he starts to cry when he looks at the Hallmark Ads, like the artist say, “Hallmark ads make you cry”. Perhaps, these ads are a call to be from the upper class society. Additionally, the ads call one to be wealthy, to be from those who own expensive cars, and to be from those who stand separate from other people who are less fortunate. The boy feels overwhelmed when he realizes what the media and its advertisements want him to be. In fact, he wants to run away from this society to another one that would save him from society’s materialistic expectations of him, as implied in artist’s saying, “Now you’re looking to the world to save you”. As the first stanza comes to an end, the boy falls asleep while he looks out to the world for a savior. It is as if he would wake up in a new world that would allow him to be what he is internally.
In the second stanza, the artist calls on the boy to free himself from the materialistic expectations that the media, society, and ads set out for him. The artist also orders him to tear up the certificates and to throw them to the sea. It is as if the boy needs to free himself from the signs and symbols of society’s standards to be his true unique self. Thereafter, the artist uses second person plural pronoun to address the boy, as in, “Let’s reclaim our innocence”. It is like the social class structure has vanished after the boy threw away the certificates, which represented his upper class proof. Since the social classes are gone, everyone is equal. Thus, the boy is called to make a new start in his life where he could be who he is in reality. He would not be torn apart by the unreasonable expectations of the society and its ads, which the artist calls, “Lion’s Den”. It is called lion’s den because it really tears apart anyone who falls in its vicious circle like one who falls in the middle of lions. The mass media and its ads call the youth to be who they are not in reality. It does not allow the youth to explore his/her self and give it its worth. Furthermore, the mass media and the expectations of the society divide people in different higher and lower classes, which is implied in artist’s saying, “Let’s reclaim our innocence and live in harmony”. Hence, the artist calls for unity by advising the boy to free himself from any signs of upper class.