Once again, I’m posting this late. I had a big paper due for my exercise Physiology class yesterday, and then the College Ministry at my church had a bon fire at my house late into the evening. Suffice to say that I had a busy day (and weekend…and month) so I didn’t have time until now to post this.
I’ve been thinking about doing an Owl City song for some time now. In fact, Owl City was one of the artists who originally gave me the idea of creating a blog that dissected music, to find what is on the inside (sorry, I just got home from Anatomy class). Most of his (Owl City’s/Adam Young’s) songs are really confusing lyrically, and so I haven’t dared to try and figure out what some of them mean – I just accept the fact that the lyrics sound good together. I figure, if I can’t understand sentences, then it doesn’t matter what the message is. However, there are a few songs that you can definitely understand the lyrics to, and they even make cohesive phrases. Shooting Star is one of these. This song is one of his newest songs to date. It originally came out in the “Shooting Star – EP” on iTunes, and will also be on his new album “The Midsummer Station.” Now on to the review!
Here are the lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/shooting-star-lyrics-owl-city.html
This song is definitely a pump-you-up/party song. In fact, I find it slightly reminiscent of Katy Perry’s song “Firework” – except without Katy Perry (a person who I do not hold a high opinion of). Since Katy Perry is someone whose views, lifestyle, and songs are things that I usually disagree with, I get a bad taste in my mouth when listening to Firework. However, because of who Adam Young is – in terms of his beliefs, actions, and other music – I find Shooting Star to be a very uplifting song. This may not be fair to Firework, but Katy Perry is who she has chosen to be, and I’d rather not support that by listening to her music. I did a cursory glance of lyrics of fireworks, and I found them to be solid. However, even if she has a few good songs, they are spoiled for me by the fact that she made them. But this review is not about Katy Perry (I can save that for another time), it’s about Owl City and Shooting Star.
The first verse talks about stress. There are many things in life that are hard and stressful, often we feel like we are being weighed down, like gravity is working against us. The opening of this song touches on this part of our lives – although, I did notice that he doesn’t provide a way to preserver through the tough times. I like that he admits life is rough, and that he provides encouragement that even though life is tough, it doesn’t alway have to get you down. In fact, if we consider all the “me’s” in this song as God, it makes for a very good rewrite of certain parts of Isaiah (cf. Isa. 40:31, 43:2). Admitting hardship and yet offering hope is very important when dealing with the difficulties of life.
The Chorus is where the song really takes off. This is where the “shooting star” part comes in. He says:
When the sun goes down and the lights burn out
Then it’s time for you to shine
Brighter than a shooting star
So shine no matter where you are
Fill the darkest night with a brilliant light
‘Cause its time for you to shine
Brighter than a shooting star
So shine no matter where you are… tonight
This part of the song is all about spreading hope/love/joy to the dark and broken world around you. In my opinion, this chorus is very similar to Matthew 5:16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Needless to say, I think this is a really good chorus.
Verse 2 is different than verse 1. When the first verse talks about the troubles of life, the second talks about how we have a flame in our hearts that the world will try to drown out, but we must encourage each other and rise above the tide. We have to turn up the heat so as to illuminate the world and bring light into darkness (cf. John 1:5). And that’s basically it. There is a short bridge, but it’s basically the same message. The real question here is what is this light we are shining? Is it our achievements? Our gifts? Our beliefs? Our personalities? Or is it something more?
As Christians, I hope that it is painfully clear that our job is to shine the light of Christ, and His Gospel. We must remember that it’s not about how strong, or good, or smart we are. Paul knew this better than anyone, check out 2 Cor. 12:9-10 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” As a Christian, the light does not come from you, but through you from Christ.
So should we listen to this song? I gladly give a resounding yes! While most people might not take it the same way I do, I feel that this is a very Christian song – especially based on what I read about and from Adam Young (I follow his blog). So go ahead and listen to it! And next time you hear it playing on the radio, or from your iPod, turn to the person next to you and ask them what their light is – who knows, you may just have an important conversation. 🙂
2 Cor. 4:6 “For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. “
Hiding it under a bushel? No!
-Teegan
The Meaning of Music 
I know the review is of Owl City’s Shooting Star, but your comments on Katy Perry are exactly why Christians are viewed as stuck-up, judgemental, and self-righteous. I think you’d be sadly mistaken if you think Jesus would have said that (or even THOUGHT IT) about anyone.
Jesus never supported sin. My comments on Katy Perry are very kind compared to what Jesus said to the religious leaders of Israel (Matt. 23:33). I don’t mean to sound judgmental, but Jesus calls me, as a Christian, to promote holiness and reprove sin – for the sake of the sinner. If all we do is say “you’re fine, Jesus loves you, you can do whatever you want” then what reason would anyone have to change their behavior? While salvation is not dependent on doing good things, that doesn’t mean that we should continue to sin (Rom. 6:1).
In order to be Judge, Jesus must know about, or think about, the sin of people. So to say that Jesus would never say or think that someone is sinful is wrong – on another note, He tells people they are sinful, all the time, in the Bible.
So while avoiding listening to Katy Perry may not totally be the right course, I don’t have a way to meet with Katy and talk about her beliefs either.
I don’t intend to judge her. She may be a true Christian, but her actions, opinions, and songs don’t give evidence to that (Matt. 7:16).
The fact that a song is spoiled for YOU by the fact that SHE made them sounds like a personal tirade against the person not lovingly pointing out the sin in someone’s life as Jesus would have. What I meant by saying that Jesus would never think that is not that he doesn’t think of the sinful as sinful, but that he doesn’t dismiss them because of it. He didn’t say Simeon’s food wasn’t good and He wasn’t going to eat it because it was HIS food, or Zaccheus or any of the other sinners He interacted with. You dismiss the person not point out that they may or may not be a sinner. Besides, if Jesus had the right to judge sin and didn’t use it, we, who are sinners ourselves, definitely do not have it.
I realize that my comments may themselves sound judgemental and I’m sorry about that, but our (Christians’) tirades against “sinners” is precisely why we’re wrongly viewed as judgemental and intolerant. Our God is intolerant of sin, but if He was intolerant of the sinners we’d all be dead by now.
You are right is saying that Jesus does not take issue with sinners, but with sin. That’s right, Jesus didn’t hang out with sinners to approve of their sinful habits – He met with them to change them. One of the lessons I take from this, is that I should not approve of sin – and thus I refrain from listening to most Katy Perry songs. I’m sure she has some songs which can be viewed in a positive light, but the majority of the songs I’ve heard from her don’t have a good (or Christ exalting) message. And since I don’t have the time or patience to listen to every song Katy Perry makes and decide if its good or bad, I tend to avoid them (and thus her) as a whole.
By listening to Katy Perry’s music (what she does for a living), we are condoning what she says in her music. Did Jesus condone what Zacchaeus did for a living? No. He met with him, and changed him.
I suppose it is possible to only listen to the good (or neutral) songs by Katy Perry – and thus avoid condoning the sinful message found in some of her songs – but I’m not willing to put that much effort into it – and there is also the problem of representation that comes with that. My point here is that Jesus didn’t condone sin in the people he encountered, he met with them, and changed them.
There is also this issue of representation. If Christians and unbelievers both listen to Katy Perry’s music, what message are we sending the world? How are we different from the unbelievers around us? Obviously we have different areas of our lives where we are different that we can use as our witness, but why would be decrease those areas? Or maybe listening to Katy Perry increases our witnessing potential because it allows us to connect with people around us? I’m not sure what the answer is here.
I really appreciate your comment, as this is a hard question. Where do we draw the line between “become all things to all people” (1 Cor. 9:22) and “Do not be conformed to this world” (Rom. 12:2)? That’s really what this blog is all about, attempting to discern what music is acceptable to God, and what is not. Please know that I’m glad to have some good commentary (such as yours) on my posts.
-Teegan
P.S. I had the wordpress editor crash on me half way through my comment, and as a result, lost most of the middle section (I had accidentally copied and pasted the first part into a word document). I feel like I wrote a better reply the first time around, so if you still have questions, let me know which part, and I’ll be happy to reply again. Again, thanks for calling me out. I hope this clarifies some things.
Hi, is this site for believers?
This site is really for anyone, but I am a believer in Christ myself, and I usually write as if I’m speaking to fellow Christians. Thanks for visiting!