10 Song Meanings Everyone Gets Wrong

Throughout every project he's taken on, Kendrick Lamar has never minced words about the struggles that he has gone through living in Compton. This is a man who has had to go through Hell to get to where he is today, and he's counting his blessings every day that his demons never got the best of him. He does need a reminder every now and again though, and Swimming Pools is practically a bait and switch listening to it in your headphones.

Going through the actual chorus, this is probably the closest to a drinking song that Kendrick has ever done, from the glassy eyed 'DRINK' before every chorus to Kenny talking about turning it up a notch by diving into a swimming pool of liquor. So how the hell did Kendrick turn this around and make it into an anti-drinking song? Because outside of the chorus, this entire song is about the dangers that liquor can bring into your life, from Kendrick's family struggling with putting down the bottle to a separate verse where Kendrick has his own conscience talk him out of going too crazy.

Then again, maybe Kendrick making a song like this was more about sending out a message about alcoholism, even if it had to be masked as a standard drinking song. If anything, this was just Kendrick taking the reins of what his music was going to be. He might have been inching closer to pop music this time, but he was going to do in on his own terms if he had to.