10 Happy Songs With Really Dark Endings
When Sweet Turns To Sour.
Most people looking to get on the charts know that you need something that'll put your audience in a good mood. Though there have been plenty of acts in the world of metal and goth who have made their millions off of dark emotions, the best way to reach the masses is to make a pretty melody that anyone can get behind. Then again, sometimes the most creative artists know how to twist things around every now and again.
As much pep as these songs have on the surface, there's a lot more going on in these songs once you reach the ending. Although things might be shaping up to close out fine, there's a lot more of a sinister bent to these lyrics that will tell you otherwise. Some of them almost feel out of place in these songs, considering that everything is sunshine and roses only to give way to a blunt dose of reality towards the end.
Granted, that's not a slight against the artist at all. If anything, it's a testament to the quality of songwriter you're working with when you have a strong enough melody that'll make the message go right over the listeners' head. So before you add this to your feel good playlist, you might want to take a closer look to what's actually going on.
10. This Life - Vampire Weekend
For being the indie rock darlings of the late '00s, Vampire Weekend has a bit of a weird career trajectory before getting to Father of the Bride. Since Ezra Koenig was making more waves behind the scenes of the music industry alongside his bandmates, it almost felt like a new record was on the backburner. When This Life came across the stereo though, we saw them transitioning into their yacht rock final form...with a little cynicism underneath.
Despite having one of the most on-the-nose sunshine chord progressions in their catalog, This Life might be the most hopeless sounding lyric that Koenig ever put to music. Although he borrowed the signature "you've been cheating on me" hook from one of his many side-gigs, the rest of the lyrics paint a dark portrait of a coupe in peril.
It's clear that these two have some problems since they're both cheating on each other, but considering how much the world seems to be crumbling in around them, it doesn't make sense for them to be alone anymore. So why not just try to make it work, since you really have no other choice? While the theme might be about love prevailing through the dark times, it doesn't forget just how pitch black those times are going to get.