pOp-pUnK & tHe LiTeRaTuRe oF LoVe | Sound of Pen

Listen to lots of artists inc. Olivia Rodrigo, Maggie Lindemann, MGK, Holding Absence – and secure your ability to analyse any text (seen or unseen) about love.

MUSIC FOCUS: Maggie Lindemann, Machine Gun Kelly, Holding Absence, Alec Benjamin & lots more!
ACTIVITY FOCUS: Examine some of our favourite love lyrics. Write an essay that synthesises the effects of love and then note how the ideas you’ve explore are relevant to those stories about love that you’re studying in the classroom.

Okay, before we get started… there is NO need to start shouting just because Jax isn’t exactly a pop-punk artist or if you think Holding Absence are actually more of an epic rock band. The main thing is you’re here and that all of the songs we’re going to talk about have HUGE hooks which we LOVE singing along to x

The lyrics used to make up the video have been chopped from a variety of our favourite songs and then glued together in an order we think creates a cool narrative (boy wakes up thinking about girl he hasn’t seen for some time; boy gets ready to meet girl again; boy explains to girl how he feels). Importantly, the narrative also offers us the chance to explore many of the aspects of love that feel most relevant to our English studies.

TASK 1: Watch the video below or scroll through each slide. Examine the technique(s) used in each lyric. How do the writers use language to describe the experience of love? Bulletpoint your ideas.

TASK 2: Look back at your ideas about love or relationships. Highlight the most interesting, original ideas. Which of the texts you’re studying does each idea feel relevant to? Create a list/map of connections and you’ll find yourself with a whole range of original, exciting points to make when you’re writing your next essay.

TASK 3: Have a go at writing a complete essay. Use your ideas to create a response to one of these questions: How do the writers use language to describe the experience of love? (GCSE) or Explore the significance of love in the lyrics discussed (A-Level).

TASK 4: Create your own narrative from a selection of your favourite lyrics. Perhaps this ‘collage’ of different lyrics will tell the story of your life or a story about love or about something else entirely. Type the final piece up, handwrite it or present it as a video, a series of pictures, a collage – whatever format suits you.