In the last few years, the music industry has adopted a new form of production and lyricism — one that gets more personal and relatable. So much so that social media has coined the ideal ‘soundtrack to my life,’ a term used to describe particular songs as the music that plays in your life, as if your life was a movie. It’s easy to assume that music isn’t meant to be relatable or representable to one’s life, but the truth is, some songs can easily fit in a ‘soundtrack’ to one’s life.
If there’s one song that represents this period of my life to a T, it’s “BLENDER” by 5 Seconds of Summer.
Released as a single to 5 Seconds of Summer’s fifth studio album, 5SOS5, “BLENDER” is a play on a metaphor that compares one’s crazy rollercoaster of a relationship to a literal blender. One lyric in particular, “And we’re goin’ ’round again / In an emotional blender,” not only seems to play on the idea that a blender blends foods, but also that the relationship in question is going in circles, never fixing the solution, and ultimately mixing their emotions to create a catastrophe.
In hindsight, it doesn’t seem like this song would fit anywhere in one’s soundtrack because it refers to a relationship going through ups and downs, but “BLENDER’” actually highlights the back-and-forth relationship one has with the inner thoughts and ‘voices’ in their head.
Anxiety and insomnia have forever been struggles of mine, causing this constant need to do everything at the highest level. I also find myself fighting my inner snail-pace in a world that’s moving at the speed of light. In between these two grand struggles, I’m in a constantly shifting environment, transferring between my life in Los Angeles and Berkeley. My life is internships, work, studies, mental health, and a touch of sleep deprivation, all shoved into a blender.
“BLENDER,” as a title alone, reflects the strained and overworked lifestyle I find myself living. Having to fit all these different parts of me into one small human is like putting various ingredients into a blender and mixing them into one liquid.
The chorus as a whole reflects many of my mind’s inner thoughts, including a lot of contradicting views. Ultimately, the ‘voices’ in my head are represented here. A lyric that I relate to in particular is, “All the things you said in my head / Ricochetin’ off the bed.” This lyric describes a relationship where someone pushes opinions and views onto another, only for it not to affect the person. In my situation, it’s like my brain is playing angel and devil. One half is trying to knock some sense and reality into me, while the other half is pushing those thoughts away. One may argue that I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place (AKA one side of my thoughts vs the other side).
The soundtrack to one’s life isn’t always meant to be glamorous or happy. To me, the soundtrack is negative, real, and problematic. If you don’t see yourself as a blender, maybe you’re a spoon or sink. While “BLENDER” by 5 Seconds of Summer may seem like a constant fight in a relationship, the underlying and metaphorical ideals in the song provide more layers and storytelling than discovered upon first listen.