The eighth song I listened to was “Hey Angel” off of the album Made in the A.M. This song details a conversation between the main character and an angel. The main character is inquiring the perspective that the angel has on earth.
While doing some research on this song, I found that a lot of people interpreted this song as the angel being the “good girl” who is perfect and embodies warmth, cheerfulness, love, etc. The main character in this interpretation in the guy who is the opposite of all those characteristics, like a “bad boy” type. These two characters are having a conversation about basically wanting to be each other:
“Oh I wish I could be more like you
Do you wish you could be more like me?”
I think this interpretation, while not necessarily the only way to interpret the song, is really interesting to look at in regards to gender stereotypes. You have these two people where one is stereotypically feminine and the other being stereotypically masculine. Yet, the stereotypically masculine character wants what the other character has. While it’s not explicitly stated what that is, I believe it could be that the guy wants to break the gender norms placed around him and be whoever he wants to be. We see so often that men have the pressure to be this stone-cold, emotionless, dominant figure when really, that shouldn’t be the case. Maybe this song is his cry to the world that he is tired of living according to stereotypes.
Shared by: Gabby Kohn
Image Credit: Pinterest