Youth has been the subject of numerous songs by many artists. Khalid describes the mistakes he made at “8Teen.” Lana del Rey recalls her willingness to fall in love and party all night in “This is What Makes Us Girls.” Marina and the Diamonds pines for popularity and adhering to society’s standards of teenage girls in “Teen Idle.”
In their new single, “Hunger,” Florence + the Machine represents those who are in their youth striving for something greater with vices that may destroy them.
The song begins with lead singer Florence Welch describing using a destructive method to bring some type of fulfillment in her life (“At seventeen I started to starve myself, I thought that love was a kind of emptiness”). Welch then goes on to sing that perhaps starving herself was to fulfill her desire to be someone else, and she decides this wish is a type of companion (“And at least I understood the hunger I felt, and I didn’t have to call it loneliness”).
The core of the song comes in a simple statement that repeats itself four times. “We all have a hunger” describes how people are empty and wishes to give their lives meaning, thus satisfying their “hunger” for life. It is the acknowledgement that many are not fulfilled with their current situation in life and must find a solution for this.
Florence + the Machine then describes how today’s youth have bravery to seek the change they are looking for (“But you and all your vibrant youth, how can anything bad ever happen to you?”). Florence Welch is captivated by the youth’s energy and does not think that anything bad could ever happen to them if they have the enthusiasm to change the world they live in.
However, Welch then provides a contrast to this enthusiasm in today’s youth. She describes that some people may try to find change in the drugs or people they seek that may actually leave them even more empty. She states that the hunger in people may lead them to “give themselves to strangers and try to find a home with people,” leaving them more alone. Those who believe that substances are the answer may be left even more empty (“I thought that love was in the drugs, but the more I took, the more it took away”). The verse of this song is a warning to be cautious in a youth’s journey for fulfillment and to consider the choices that may impact his or herfuture. While Welch encourages the path to look for meaning, she also warns of its negative consequences.
Florence + the Machine will be releasing their upcoming album “High as Hope” on June 29. They will be performing at Grandoozy on September 14. Tickets can be found on the Grandoozy website.
