Burn
La Canada, CA
2022, Senior, Performing Arts
The scent of the seas
The salt in your eyes
As you swim farther out into the waters
The sound of the seas
The crash of the waves (waves)
Cries of kids playing under the sand
Nothing could be
More than beautiful
Than the shining sight of hidden treasures
Nothing could be
More than beautiful
Than the shining sight of rising waters (they’re rising?)
And it’s just that the seas are adapting to the heat
Nothing too big to worry about
But we know that it’s not fine
That we’re running out of time
As everything burns in the big blue sea
Content to leave it be
And let it burn
Burn
In my very honest opinion
The future has not been looking so great
Ever since the North Pole started melting
It happens to be
Hotter than before
Instead of ice we see the drifting waters
Happens to be
Worser than before
We go along as nothing happened
(Because it’s not that important?)
Cause it’s just that the seas are adapting to the heat
Nothing too big to worry about
But we know that it’s not fine
That we’re running out of time
As everything burns in the big blue sea
Content to leave it be
And let it burn (burn)
Do we listen to voices that are drowning (drowning?)
Have we promised nothing to the future
It’s all the more merry (Christmas)
All the more charming (yeah)
As the seas are warming
Fun when it’s alarming (alarming)
Cause it’s just that the seas are adapting to the heat
Nothing too big to worry about
But we know that it’s not fine
That we’re running out of time
As everything burns in the big blue sea
Content to leave it be
And let it burn
I promise you the only way to protect our future
Is to make our own solutions
So we should help not tomorrow but today
Reflection
Reflection
I used my favorite types of chords, major/minor 7th chords, and tried to convey humor, particularily irony and sarcasm, through the lyrics. I thought that describing a "utopian world" where climate change doesn't exist (as some people continue to believe) in the verse, but slowly breaking that false reality, would make for an interesting contrast between the earlier and later parts of the song. I began to build upon this idea of what the people who don't believe in climate change would say; hence my lyrics, "It's just that the seas are adapting to the heat, nothing too big to worry about." I tried to counteract this statement with the following lyrics, trying to emphasize the urgency of the issue. I tried to show that it was ironic that humans say that climate change is happening but continue to ignore it. All throughout the song, parts of the monologue are said in sarcastic tones to almost copy this "perspective" of an anti-global warming person. When I say that "It's all the more merry"—sarcasm again—I follow up with "Christmas" to show that we have a habit of avoiding real-world problems. Finally, the title and hook of this song is "Burn." It can be taken in a literal sense, but what I tried to say was that the problems arising from climate change are similar to how a fire burns, destroying everything in its path. As we continue to live our lives, we put off the issues of climate change, making it seem as if we're "letting it burn." Burn became a sort of metaphor within the song, one that represented the negative effects of climate change and the irony of how we react towards it. Prior to participating in the Ocean Awareness Contest, I had a neutral stance towards climate change. I acknowledged that it was happening and was "oh, so bad," but I never made any direct steps to change my ways to help the world. Through the Contest and the making of my piece, I was able to learn so much, from coral bleaching to the increase of carbon dioxide that leads to ocean acidification, global temperatures rising that cause glaciers to melt (and the homes of many people and animals to be destroyed), and also the major effects upon marine life. From the perspective of an uneducated person (me in the past), global warming never seems to be truly impacting our lives. But humans are also affected with rising temperatures and suffering oceans. I want to spread this knowledge I have been given through this Contest by telling others of how much impact humans have.