I'd Like To Make Myself Believe That Planet Earth Turns Slowly
Owl City is Adam Young with a synthesizer. His most popular song to date is "Fireflies," a sweet little song that seems to be about a boy whose dreams are inhabited by countless of the aforenamed insects (in actuality, it's a song about Adam's insomnia, but very few people seem to either know or care). Some of his other songs include "Vanilla Twilight," a nostalgic look at unrequited love, and "Umbrella Beach" which is about...something. He collaborated with Carly Rae Jepsen, singer of "Call Me Maybe," with "Good Time" in 2012.His music tends to cause lots of WAFF, and is rather polarizing. Not so much toward Hollywood executives, though, as he has contributed original songs to no less than 3 CG animated films in the past 3 years.Discography:
Of June (2007)
Maybe I'm Dreaming (2008)
Ocean Eyes (2009)
All Things Bright and Beautiful (2011)
Shooting Star (2012)
The Midsummer Station (2012)
This musician provides examples of:
Actual Pacifist: He said so on his blog, and it could be implied in the song "Dental Care":
Cue the Sun: While not actually the sun, the Aurora-cloud thing in the "Vanilla Twilight" video glows more colorfully and brightly when Adam starts the last verse, and the onlookers react quite happily. It is, of course, fitting the lyrics:
When violet eyes get brighter, and heavy wings grow lighter, I'll taste the sky and feel alive again.
Cursed with Awesome: Imagine: he never would have got this famous if he didn't have insomnia.
"Have a seat," he says pleasantly As he shakes my hand and practically laughs at me "Open up nice and wide," he says peering in And with a smirk he says, "Don't have a fit This'll just pinch a bit," as he tries not to grin.
Hidden Depths: He makes electronic music but counts Refused, Ampere, and Norma Jean as some of his favorite bands. Think he can only do squeaky clean WAFF-y stuff? Think again.
"I've been to the dentist a thousand times / so I know the drill."
"Golf and alcohol don't mix / and that's why I don't drink and drive."
"When hygienists leave on long vacations / That's when dentists scream / And lose their patience."
If the bombs go off the sun will still be shining / Cause I've heard it said that every MUSHROOM cloud has a silver lining... Incredibly Lame Pun and Lyrical Dissonance at the same time.
Adam's particularly fond of Incredibly Lame Puns on his Twitter. Just check a backlog, and you'll see. Here's one:
Me: Whale you be my valentine? You: Dolphinitely.
In "Cave In," one line is "Riding a dirtbike down a turnpike/always takes its toll on me."
Special mention for "The Bird and The Worm": "If my segments get separated, I'll scream / and you'll be there! "
This might be a metaphor for falling apart at the seams/feeling overstressed, and if you call out, the person you love will be there.
Then again, the girl and the guy in the song are "the bird" and "the worm," respectively. And the preceding line is "I know the part, it's such a bummer / but fair is fair." Kinda sounds like she's eating him.
"Cheer up and dry your damp eyes / And tell me when it rains / And I'll blend up that rainbow above you / And shoot it through your veins"
From the song "Galaxies," off his latest album: "Summit the sunset / Dovetail the dragnet / And blow your backbone to bits!"
Justified in that it's about the Challenger explosion.
"And the chatty tree frogs will never wanna leave your throat."
"Plant Life" has a section in the chorus where Adam sings about "daisies to push through the floor." As in, pushing daisies. The lyrics around it go kind of the same way.
In the video for "Youtopia", his collaboration with Armin van Buuren, he plays the ghost of a deceased boyfriend singing to the bereaved girl on a camping trip.
Meaningful Echo: Between "Alligator Sky" and "Plant Life" of all things:
I'm scared to death that I'll never be afraid. Cause I don't feel dead anymore, and I'm not afraid anymore.
Mind Screw: Arguably, The Real World. Is Adam talking about some dream world he never wants to leave, or our world?
"Reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn't wanna live there..." "I'd never leave if it were up to me..."
Yes, both of the above seem to about the same place.
Not Christian Rock: Adam is a Christian, as is obvious from a quick look through his blog. While many of his songs aren't focused on God, there are quite a few that do have Christian themes. These include "Meteor Shower", "Tidal Wave", "Kamikaze", and "Galaxies", though, like most Owl City songs, it can be hard to figure out what exactly the song is about on the first few listens. Additionally, he mentions Jesus in "Christmas Song", has done a cover of "In Christ Alone", and one album ("All Things Bright and Beautiful") is named after a hymn.
Scenery Porn: "The Real World" has some very neat examples:
"From the green belt balcony, the wildfires look so pretty." "To the ruby redwood tree, and to the velvet climbing ivy, painted all mahogany, I'd never leave if it were up to me." "With a starry brush, paint the dusk venetian blue, because in the evening hush, you'll never believe the view'
Finding Nemo: "With fronds like these, who needs anemones?"
Airborn: "If my heart was a compass, you'd be North..." Adam is apparently a big fan of the series.
One of his albums in Adam's Port Blue project is The Airship, which is based on the on Airborn. Some of the song titles refer to different parts of the novel, or just general ideas from the book.
Almost the entire music video to "Deer in the Headlights" was a shout out to Back to the Future.
From The Midsummer Station, Metropolis. Not just the name, the words 'speeding bullet' are actually used in the lyrics. It's actually possible to interpret that whole section of the chorus as one, 'hijacked plane' to the famous 'is it a bird, is it a plane', 'runaway train' to the 'more powerful than a locomotive' and 'speeding bullet' to 'faster than a speeding bullet'.
All Things Bright and Beautiful brings a more traditional, but no less awesome and sweet example, "Honey and the Bee." Made more sweet dream-y by the beautiful chorus, including the following fuzzies-inducing lyric:
"But if I reached for your hand would your eyes get wide?"
Apparently that is a way he comes up with possible song titles.
During his Livestream listening party for his new album, The Midsummer Station, he says that "Hello, Seattle" was the first song he wrote, and that he wrote it by writing down the first things that came to mind. If it rhymes, it goes.
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