So, I just saw the lyric video to Chinchilla's Elements for the first time about half an hour ago before starting to write this, and a second time a bit after that, because I needed to see it again and wanted to write about it so here goes:
That song is a fucking banger, omg!! I can't even decide which one is better, Little Girl Gone or Elements, and Little Girl Gone is one of a few songs that I just keep circling back to again and again, and I lipsync-scream through the entire thing almost every time...
Right before seeing Elements I learned that she produces all her own stuff and the production is what caught my attention first. That and the composition. It has some very strong Eastern influences, but I can't quite pinpoint it more specifically...
But there's something about the composition and how she pronounces words that give off that vibe.
Her singing voice is like... hands down, one of the best I've ever heard. Christina Aguilera is the best singer in the world, IMO, and she got some competition now!
The lyric video is not your typical lyric video, either, since it has a moving image AND lyrics. It's Chinchilla, dressed in a Eastern/royal inspired clothes. I really need a fashion historian to tell me what her exact influences are. I follow a bunch on YouTube, but idk if they take suggestions... Bernadette Banner is obviously the biggest channel, since she's an actual professional in the field. Others, great "amateurs", that come to mind, are Mina Le and Karolina Żebrowska. My favourite part is how she uses the outfit in one particular scene - she raises her arm to a Rosie the Riveter kind of pose and has these huge puffy sleeves that make her arm muscles look huge. It's absolutely perfect. She's a strong feminist icon, like Rosie, but that doesn't mean she has to be masculine. She can wear puffy sleeves and makeup and super long nails and tons of jewelry and still be the toughest bitch around.
Ren has mentioned multiple times that Chinchilla raps as well and this song had some rap in it! So cool. Lots of whispered vocals, too, those are hard to do...
The lyrics are amazing as well. So amazing in fact, that when I went to look for my favourite part, I ended up quoting half the song. So, I might as well do a lyrical breakdown right now, as well.
"Fire devil moon Chinchilla
Queen joker boss and sinner"
I love how she makes 'Chinchilla' rhyme with 'sinner'. It only works in a British accent.
She's fire, lit, awesome.
She's the devil, and a sinner. She's not gonna play nice, or sit still and look pretty. That gets you nowhere. She's here to rule.
For the moon, my mind goes to astrology, even though in astrology, elements mean Aries, Taurus, etc, those twelve. Moon is considered a planet. Whichever sign you have in your Moon is a "hidden side" of you, the opposite of your Sun Sign / Star Sign, the visible side. Chinchilla's hidden side is apparently Devil, or Fire Devil. I like the implication. She seems sweet and innocent on the outside, but she can get evil and burn you if you get on her bad side.
She's the queen, the ruler, the boss. You do what she says, you obey.
She's also a joker - makes me think of a joker like Loki, one that has fun messing with people. The Loki I know is the one from Supernatural, btw. I've heard some stories of the Marvel universe Loki and the OG Norse mythology Loki, but the Supernatural Loki is the one I actually know. The Supernatural Loki would i.e. throw the Winchester boys (the main characters) in a sitcom that played on loop, and once also threw them into our world, where they were still their characters, but their families existed, other actors were the actors and not the character, their life was the tv show, etc. Forget breaking the 4th wall, he fucking smashed that fucker down.
"She fire she water she earth and she air"
The four elements. Fire, water, earth and air.
She's a goddess, controlling all the elements. She's omnipotent.
She flows like water, when she raps. And she's smooth.
She's grounded. She's Mother Earth.
"She know where to go what to wear"
She got style, ok? And she's always exactly where she's supposed to be, in the right place at the right time. She's cool like that.
"She got every colour of hair
Turn you to stone in a stare"
Does she? *googles* I googled and she doesn't, not literally.
Figuratively, sure. She's not a one trick pony, she's multi-faceted. She raps, sings, produces, god only knows what else. I'm only five songs deep in the rabbit hole, if you count the duets she did with Ren. There's multiple different colors to her voice and sound as well.
"Every color" also makes me think of the rainbow flag. I tried googling if she's queer, but all I found out was that chinchillas (the animals) can be gay. Well, at least I learned that. :D
With her hair she turns you into stone, so she's Medusa. Medusa is a female character in the Greek mythology. In some versions of her story she transforms from a monster to a beautiful young woman, seduces a married god and the wife turns her hair into snakes as a punishment. In other versions, she is raped by the god and still punished. I'm not sure if she could turn people to stone before her beautiful golden hair was turned to snakes or only after that. Anyway, she is seen as a dual character - she's both the victim of rape, bodily mutilation and murder, but also a monster who turns people to stones, killing them, by just looking at them. Just like Chinchilla, she's multi-faceted. Half of Medusa's blood was deadly poison and the other could raise the dead - showing the dual nature of her, again. (I used the English and Finnish Wikipedia articles of Medusa for this part.)
"You made a point when you cared
Now she got diamonds and heirs
Sat on a throne for a chair
Virtual billionaire"
I'm counting diamond as an element, since it's 100% coal, which is an element.
I got the impression from her fans, that she used to be signed to a label and was treated horribly, is not signed anymore (I think she quit?) and when she's bashing someone in her lyrics, it's usually those people. These lines make a lot of sense when you know that.
The label used to care (that's what I'm getting from here), and when they did, they said she's gonna make it big in the music business and be rich. Then they didn't care anymore, she felt like she deserved better, quit, and is doing better in music than she ever was when she was with the label. She's "doing the numbers", as they say when someone is making a lot of money, but Chinchilla is a "virtual billionare" - she's making stream numbers, views, likes, etc. Any kind of internet success you can think of that can be measured in numbers. She's the queen on her throne, wearing her diamonds.
And she got heirs = there are people out there who have started their own music careers because they're inspired by Chinchilla. I don't know who they are, but that's the impression I'm getting. She could also be talking about her fans, like they're her heirs, inheriting her music..?
"She can dress it up
In the best attire
Drinking from a cup
Made of glass and wire"
Glass has a chemical formula, but idk if I should count it as an element...I'm going to, just for fun's sake. Wire is made of metal, so it counts as well. Metals are elements or combinations of elements.
She got great fashion sense (agreed) and the cup she's drinking from is fancy as well. This really paints a picture - you start picturing her, in a gorgeous royal gown, wearing diamonds, holding a fancy glass, sitting on her throne and ruling her kingdom.
"Friend or foe
She can smell a liar"
She's a rightful leader. If you're a friend, you're good in her books. But if you lie to her, if you cross her, she's ruthless. It's the Medusa duality again. AND she can tell if you're a liar, so don't even try.
"Well you raise me gold
I raise you sapphire"
Gold is an element. Sapphire counts because glass counted. Technically everything is made of elements, so everything counts, but most things on this planet are a combination of a huge variety of elements, where as in glass and sapphire are only made of a few.
This was one of my favourite lines right off the bat when I first heard the song.
I cannot find which material is more expensive, but I found a bunch of other cool stuff about sapphires that go along with the lyrics: Sapphires come in a variety of colors (like Chinchilla) - rubies are just red sapphires, btw - but the most valued color is called Royal Blue (and she's the queen). Chinchilla is British, and Stuart Sapphire is a big sapphire stone which is part of the British Crown Jewels. It used to be / is on the crown and everything. The roots of the word sapphire date back to a sentence "to score with a mark", which is believed to refer to how tough and resilient sapphires are. Sapphire is the symbol of richness and it is thought to bring strength, honor and immortality to it's owner.
Also, using gold in reference to being rich is kinda basic and has been used A LOT, where as in using sapphire to refer to being rich is brand new, this is the first time I've seen it used. She's saying they're basic ass rich people, she's royal & original.
Beyond this point we apparently evolved beyond elements and became something more complex. ;)
"Where my girls
Cos they said it, said it, said it, from the get go
We're a million times better off as solo
We can take em, take em, take em, take em down"
Hmm. I don't know who "they" are. Other women before our time, maybe?
Who were saying to girls, that they're better off without a man and will take them down.
Double meaning: Artists are better off without big labels and will win eventually.
"Well who can break your heart boy, I know who
Educate a smart boy, I know who
Lady of her art boy, ma'am to you
Been there from the start boy, through and through (woo)"
Chinchilla can break your heart.
She's royal, and a woman --> she's a lady. And she's a Lady of her art, aka she's ruling the music game because she's awesome. And you shall call her ma'am.
I'm not sure if a certain boy has been there from the start of her career and she's thanking him, or if Chinchilla is saying she's been there from the start, she's OG.
"She confident
And don't forget it
She'll start a storm"
If you anger her, all hell breaks loose, basically.
"Political medic"
I love this line!
The political situation in various Western countries - not to mention other countries - is very much divided into liberal and conservative, left and right, etc. She's the cure. We should all listen to her, because she's the doctor and knows what will help.
"That ass a blessing
But I wouldn't dwell
Well you raise me heaven
Ha I raise you hell"
A guy "complimenting" her butt. She saying he shouldn't.
He thinks he's being nice doing that, "raising heaven", but he's not. And she's gonna go after him, "raise hell".
Another duality, but this time Chinchilla is only the dark side of the equation.
"She won't settle if you're not what she wants
Fly to Paris for a nice restaurant
Then get rowdy with a cola and rum
Nike, Adidas and Louis Vuitton well"
You gotta have money if you want her to be interested. And a lot more, she won't settle.
She's listing stuff she likes: stuff regular people can afford, like rum and coke (a common drink, also known as Cuba Libre) and the occasional Nike and Adidas, but also stuff only rich people can afford, like flying to Paris, eating at a nice restaurant and Louis Vuitton. It's not just about the riches. You gotta have it all.
"Call her the doctor
Call the nightmare analyst"
She's the political medic, the good influence on the world.
But, she has the dual nature, so she can also be your worst nightmare.
Or she can be the nightmare analyst, which makes her the good guy again. The medic to cure the world.
"Call her the queen of hair, the queen of thighs and lips
You got your answer right between your fingertips"
Hmm. She's saying she's hot - got the hair, the thighs, the lips.
But I don't get the latter one, unless it's meant figuratively. She's figuratively between his fingertips, you can figuratively feel her, as she makes an impact not just in your world, but as the political medic, on the entire world. She's the virtual billionaire, you can't miss her.
"You give me sunset
I give you a fucking eclipse"
Another line that caught my eye right away. So cool.
He's trying to romance her, seem like he's sensitive and shit, but she's not interested. Either he's just lying to get with her and she can smell it, or he's actually sensitive and romantic, but not providing everything she wants (and she doesn't settle), or she's just simply not into him, whether he's sensitive and romantic or not.
She stands in front of the sunset you're trying to woo her with, blocking it and becoming an eclipse. In old religions, eclipses were seen as a battle between the Sun and evil forces, or Sun being taken over by evil forces. Just like Chinchilla's evil side is taking over her when she confronts this guy.
"Where my girls
Cos they said it, said it, said it from the get go
We can take 'em, there ain’t no such thing as macho"
Yeah. 'Macho' is a stupid word and I, too, don't mind at all if we're calling out 'macho' behavior as what it really is - possessive and toxic masculinity - and start holding those men accountable. Lets destroy the patriarchy and everyone - men, women and others - will live happier lives.
I could go a little bit deeper still - in how the fire, water, earth and air sort of occur in the lyrics even later on, after direct mentions of elements stop - but I have to go to sleep. Apparently the post is gonna be dated to the time I started typing, but it's actually 8min past midnight now...
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