Madeline Rosene’s “Everyday Existential Crisis” begins with a simple acoustic guitar part, and then her lovely high singing voice kicks in. It amounts to the unusual combination of big, philosophical questions, set to soft music.
The first line gets right to the point: “Is it too much to bear when I over share?” If that’s not troubling enough, the song continues with, “Is it you? /Is it me?/I don’t know what I’m supposed to be.” Yes, these are the words of one really confused young woman. The verse concludes with, “I don’t know anything besides this – everyday existential crisis.” On the one hand, the listener feels sorry for Rosene. If she’s feeling this way every day, then her life must be really hard. Then again, one might respond with the impression that this young lady overthinks life a bit much. Young people, after all, oftentimes feel like they’re in the midst of an existential crisis. It’s called growing up.
Rosene sings the song with a wise (shall we say it?) old sounding voice. It has a bit of an old timey feel to it, which makes its philosophical lyrics feel a little out of place at times. Musically, keyboards and string parts soon join in to accompany Rosene on her emotional journey. The way she phrases her dilemma is creative and somewhat unusual. She continues, “Squint my eyes, nod my head and make the lights dance,” she sings. This is the sound of someone all alone, dealing with troubling questions. These aren’t the behaviors done with a small group of friends or a crowd. Rather, this is all alone in the bedroom kind of stuff.
This tortured artist also sounds to be much too hard on herself times. “I don’t have a reason or a rhyme/I don’t want to waste your time/What kind of monster am I?” she asks herself. How could this gentle soul describe herself as a ‘monster’? She’s a kindly beast, at worst, based upon the way she sounds singing this song.
Thankfully, she gives the impression she doesn’t want to remain in this state of confusion. “Lift my sights from the streets and wake from the trance.” She’s in a temporary bad dream state, but she wants to break out of that and put her crisis to an end.
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Also, if she’s a monster, one imagines she’s a pretty one – if that’s not an oxymoron. Her voice is so sweet and high, without even the hint of a gruff growl. Gruff growling is what we associate with scary creatures. Unless, of course, she’s a monster on the inside. But then, how could she ever hide such a thing that well?
Let’s hope these feelings are only temporary. If not, then this girl really needs to stop reading so much Camus. Put on a summer dress, go outside in the sun, and pick flowers in your garden. There’s too wonderful live to be lived, so don’t let an existential crisis hold you back. With that said, though, Rosene deserves kudos for working such a deep concept into a pop song. One can safely say there’s no intelligence crisis here.
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-Dan MacIntosh
