by Jordan Allen

It’s 3:05 p.m. on a Thursday. I’ve just experienced the longest day of my life with homework and college on the mind, my future staring me down and the daily drama flooding my thoughts. I basically feel like my entire world might implode due to all my impending stress.

I pull out of the STA parking lot, dodging soccer moms’ minivans and frantic students bolting across the pavement to their cars as if they’re being chased by the school books strapped to their backs. I sit at a stoplight as I head to Rockhurst High School to pick up my younger brother.

With my head cloudy and overworked, I decide some music would be the best way to calm my nerves. I turn on the radio which has been set to Mix 93.3 by someone clearly trying to torture me. The first song I hear is Justin Timberlake’s “Suit and Tie.” As I listen, I am stunned to learn that these lyrics have earned him the number one song on iTunes: “I be on my suit and tie / And as long as I got my suit and tie / I’ma leave it all on the floor tonight / And you got fixed up to the nines.”

I immediately scan the next several stations only to hear the worst kinds of rhyming I’ve ever heard from artists like Nicki Minaj and Pitbull. Nicki blurts out, “I am Nicki Minaj, I mack them dudes up / Back coupes up, and chuck the deuce up.”

In search of some lyrical redemption, I plug in my phone while I’m waiting in the Rockhurst parking lot and tune to Soundcloud, an app for music sharing for anyone willing and capable of recording and posting their own music. As I go to the Soundcloud of senior musician Page Kemna, I am pleased to listen to her personal and meaningful lyrics of “Right Decision” and “Confide.”

When asked what Kemna thought of the current trend in lyrical laziness, she said, “Some of the current music doesn’t really have as much of a purpose as older music did. It seems like some artists just pick somewhat relevant words that rhyme, rather than those with a pertinent, more memorable meaning like groups like Of Monsters and Men, who keep the popular music industry what it used to be. ”

But when looking at which artists are getting the most attention, it is very easy to see that those artists with the number one hits are primarily those whose lyrics will not be remembered decades from now as Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel’s lyrics are today. With Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s “Thrift Shop” leading the charts followed by the explicit version of “Feel This Moment” by Pitbull, I am reminded of Billy Joel’s famous interview quote, “Have you listened to the radio lately? Have you heard the canned, frozen and processed product being dished up to the world as American popular music today?”

My answer to his question would be yes, I have unfortunately heard the ridiculous words being mashed together through auto-tune and paired with bass drops and fake beats. What I have also heard, however, is the memorable and meaningful words of classic as well as upcoming artists that put their hearts into their music.

As Stevie Wonder states his purpose “to create music that is timeless,” artists like Kemna have the same goals.

“I think it’s cool how I can put my thoughts with a melody and put it out there for people to hear,” Kemna said. “It’s just a way for me to get my feelings out of my head and into a more artistic and enjoyable piece of music that will last.”

With artists like Kemna intent on doing more than just rhyming their words to fake tunes, faith in the art of lyric writing can be restored.

Up-and-coming bands like The Wingdings, a group consisting of Kemna, Rockhurst junior Conner Ehman and Rockhurst seniors Drew Jurden and Ian VonFange, have the abilities and talent to put billboard-rising artists to shame as they play their fun and interesting music with passion and joy.

I want to stick up for those that are putting the most effort and soul into their music, not their egotism or wardrobe choice. There are times when artists like Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber make me feel as if all hope is lost, but I am comforted by the knowledge that I can always come back to songs like Billy Joel’s “Vienna,” John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Kemna’s “Confide” to restore my belief in music’s worth and promise.

Chris Brown can make headlines with the lyrics: “Yellow model chick, yellow bottle sippin’ / Yellow Lamborghini, yellow top missin’ / Yeah, yeah, that look like a toupee / I get what you get in ten years, and two days.”

However, Kemna shows passion through her words: “My novel of feelings is shared / Nothing between the lines / You see how much I care / Its. About. Time.”

Who couldn’t agree that the words of Page Kemna trump those of Chris Brown tenfold?