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Get ready for the best hour of your day. A class soundtracked by the beautiful Years & Years. What more could you ask for?

  • MUSIC FOCUS: Years & Years.
  • ACTIVITY FOCUS: Today, we’re going to explore Olly Alexander’s lyrics in a way that will help us sharpen our analytical abilities. We will explore how important it can be to consider, not just a writer’s individual word choices, but at how the meaning of those individual words shifts when you consider the meaning of the other words surrounding it.

The lovable Olly Alexander speaks with such energy and enthusiasm. In the summer of 2019, this Glastonbury MOMENT served as evidence of exactly that.

Start today by having a go at activity 1, but do skip to the suggestions immediately below (in blue) if you’re not quite sure what you’re being asked to do. My model answers will then give you the confidence to have a go at the similar activities that follow.

ACTIVITY 1

  1. Listen to ‘King’ and consider the line: “I was a king under your control.”
  2. Brainstorm the connotations of the word “king”.
  3. Brainstorm the connotations of the word “under”.
  4. Summarise the relationship between the “king'” metaphor and that preposition: “under”.
  5. Finally, write a few sentences based on tasks 2, 3 & 4 that answer this question: what feelings do you think Olly Alexander is trying to emphasise by placing those words (“king” and “under”) so closely together?
King - song and lyrics by Years & Years | Spotify

DON’T READ ON UNTIL YOU’VE TAKEN THE TIME YOU REQUIRE TO GET AS FAR AS YOU WANT WITH ACTIVITY 1.

Activity 1. Suggestions:

  1. Great song! Great words!
  2. Perhaps your “king” brainstorm served as a doorway to ideas like: power, authority, crown, ruler, money, wealth, queen, important, responsible, bright colours, pressure…
  3. Perhaps your “under” brainstorm served as a doorway to ideas like: lesser, trapped, powerless, scared, hidden, dark, potential, squashed, unimportant…
  4. Perhaps you summarised the relationship between those two words as AWKWARD. A king should be on top – he typically rules ‘over’. A king has ultimate authority and being “under” something suggests that his authority has been compromised.
  5. Olly Alexander is trying to highlight the awkwardness of the relationship he’s reflecting upon. Within that relationship, he was not carrying out the responsibilities he would usually carry out. This likely led to him feeling disappointed in himself and worried. The belief he had in himself was diminished by his partner’s overbearing nature and probably created feelings of frustration and anger. He used to feel powerful but that sense of confidence had diluted. The brightness associated with being high up had been replaced by the darkness that inevitably comes with being “under”. The shift in circumstance could have been quote upsetting and disorientating.

Right, so hopefully you can now see how all of your thinking added up to the developed analysis of Olly Alexander’s relationship. You explored the literal meaning of the two words in question and from there deciphered the feelings (in purple) the Years & Years singer might have been trying to translate.

Complete activities 2, 3 & 4 and you’ll note that your ability to analyse the relationship between key words in a dynamic, layered way has skyrocketed!

ACTIVITY 2

  1. Listen to ‘If You’re Over Me’ and consider the line: “You tell everyone our love went cold.”
  2. Brainstorm the connotations of the word “love“.
  3. Brainstorm the connotations of the word “cold”.
  4. Summarise the relationship between that word “love” and the “cold” metaphor.
  5. Finally, write a few sentences based on tasks 2, 3 & 4 that answer this question: what feelings do you think Olly Alexander is trying to emphasise by placing those words (“love” and “cold”) so closely together?

ACTIVITY 3

  1. Listen to ‘Sooner Or Later’ and consider the line: “we’re forever playing hide and seek.”
  2. Brainstorm the connotations of the word “forever”.
  3. Brainstorm the connotations of the phrase “hide and seek“.
  4. Summarise the relationship between the hyperbolic “forever” and the “hide and seek” metaphor.
  5. Finally, write a few sentences based on tasks 2, 3 & 4 that answer this question: what feelings do you think Olly Alexander is trying to emphasise by placing those words (“forever” and “hide and seek”) so closely together?

ACTIVITY 4

  1. Listen to ‘A Second To Midnight’ and consider the line: “We left our fantasy behind.”
  2. Brainstorm the connotations of the word “fantasy“.
  3. Brainstorm the connotations of the phrase “behind”.
  4. Summarise the relationship between the “fantasy” idea and the preposition: “behind”.
  5. Finally, write a few sentences based on tasks 2, 3 & 4 that answer this question: what feelings do you think Olly Alexander is trying to emphasise by placing those words (“fantasy” and “behind”) so closely together?

Once you’re done, you can send your ideas (or questions) in. We want to publish the most exciting writing and offer advice.

Or have a go at writing about your experiences as a teenager with a little help from the inspirational Taylor Swift!

Main image by NME’s Andy Ford.