Track two on this album is a cliche fun pop song – following a very heartfelt, ripping us all to shreds opener about leaving the past behind and starting a new path in life. very cliche to being the next song with a fun bop that feels opposite. But it’s not.
If you know MGK’s past at all, he opened his career with a very much, cool, drug induced rap career. He talks about this a lot within his interviews- and even discussed how before he collaborated with Bob Dylan on this album’s trailor, how Dylan reposted on of his rap battles where he was high off his mind on Cocaine, rapping insanely, ‘but it kinda went off’ [lol]. When he made Tickets to My Downfall and Mainstream Sellout he was grappling with wanting to make music in other genres but the industry and other artists not liking it. Cliche is very much a fun pop song, so to start off this album playing, yet again, another genre that he wants to do, that is ‘frowned upon,’ leans into this concept.
The making of the music video and the music of cliche was a very fun video to watch – After he got out of therapy with Megan was his inspiration for the music
But his inspiration for the video shows his humor through and through
So sarcastic, such dry humor [lol] – This video was honestly the video that made me understand how much magazines do not understand his humor and how they take his words honestly and just simply run them without taking his inflection [or lack of] into account. So he literally sounds insane in text because they do not ever take his humor into account.
But this album is about letting go of cool, letting go of the cages we build for ourselves to be trapped in, and for MGK it’s musically, too. So this song is about embracing all of that – and it shows within the music video and in the audio tracks.
Im not gonna lie though, this is the song that is actually on repeat in my car –
Iconic.
Lyrical Analysis
Tell me, would you wait for me?
Baby, I’m a rolling stone
I got a lotta right in me
But I don’t wanna say this wrong
Tell me, would you stay with me?
Baby, we could make this home
You should run away with me
Even if you’re better off alone
To be called a rolling stone means you are someone who moves frequently and never settles down, leading a wandering or unsettled life. This phrase originates from the proverb “a rolling stone gathers no moss,” which historically carried a negative connotation of avoiding responsibility and lacking roots, but in modern usage can also imply freedom, wanderlust, and the avoidance of negative consequences by constantly moving.
Would his partner wait for him to settle down? He has a lot to offer and give, his intentions are good, but his words don’t come out right and he slips up. But maybe she could be a rolling stone with him? The last line I always feel like is the best definition of love. Love to me is wanting someone but not needing them. If we love someone, we choose them every day – but we dont need them. We know their flaws, but we want them any ways. We know we can be on our own, but we don’t desire that life.
I like that you like me
I kissed your lips, you got good taste
I like that you like me
I can close my eyes and draw your face
If you take this chance
I’ll give you oxygen to breath me in
But I’ll say sorry in advance, mm
I like that you like me feels so middle school [lol]- but it is a nice little simple truth of human relationships. However, it can be interpreted deeper, I like that you like me, and truly, me. You see me in all of my flaws. Especially with the timing of this album, coming out of rehab, walking out of therapy and writing this song – I like that you like me, and are willing to make this work with me –
I kiss your lips and I like how they feel, I can draw your face from memory, I’ll be the air that you need to survive, even if it’s toxic- I’ll say sorry for those times – but thankful for the chance, again, that you’re giving me. Because for him, it’s these lips, this face, or nothing.
My head’s a mess
It’s like that every day and
I’ll try my best
It sounds cliché but
The best part of the song IMO [lol]
Sorry in advance that his heads a mess. He’s been working on it. It has been like that, it is like that, and it’s what people say all the time, it is cliche, but there is truth in those cliches – but it doesn’t mean that it can’t be true.
Tell me, would you wait for me?
Baby, I’m a rolling stone
I got a lotta right in me
But I don’t wanna say this wrong
Tell me, would you stay with me?
Baby, we could make this home
You should run away with me
Even if you’re better off alone
Your name is in neon light in the sky when darkness surrounds us
Let’s leave this town, get married, go to Vegas and create nostalgia
Tell me, will you save this dance?
I feel my knees get weak beneath me
I know this night might be our last, mm
I can’t help but see a neon sky of MEGAN in a night sky with stars for this line lol – but also I can’t help audibly clap my hands after ‘surrounds us’. It’s actually such a deep line about her being a guiding light, helping him through dark times and through rehab when he was alone through struggles, but he has made it into such an unserious part of the song that I can’t help but bop around to.
This verse feels like a duality of two things – one is this idea of nostalgia, a supercut of this shitty quick wedding in vegas, dancing in the streets, dancing like its the last night, the end of the world, the feeling of ‘yolo’ and taking the moment in – just being excited to be with your person.
The other feeling is feeling like it’s the end of the relationship because it’s been too hard, holding on to the memory of ‘what if this is the end,’ loving someone so much in the moment knowing that you’ve dragged them through enough – feeling weak and tired, but giving them your all in hopes they stay another day.
My head’s a mess
It’s like that every day and
I’ll try my best
It sounds cliché but
Tell me, would you wait for me?
Baby, I’m a rolling stone
I got a lotta right in me
But I don’t wanna say this wrong
Tell me, would you stay with me?
Baby, we could make this home
You should run away with me
Even if you’re better off alone
Tell me, would you wait, wait, wait, wait, wait for me?
Tell me, would you wait, wait, wait, wait, wait for me?
With the repetition of these lines- of course it’s for an audible outro- but I almost feel this as a begging feel too – like would you wait? wait? are you going to wait? wait? will you wait? and there isn’t an answer yet. You’re waiting, you don’t want to pressure, but we also have anxiety about not knowing.
Tell me, would you wait for me?
Mm-mm
Baby, I’m a rolling stone
Mm-mm
I got a lotta right in me
Mm-mm
But I don’t wanna say this wrong
I don’t wanna say this wrong, yeah
[my spouse, particularly loves this, YEAH! in the background lol]
Tell me, would you wait for me?
Baby, I’m a rolling stone
I got a lotta right in me
But I don’t wanna say this wrong (say this wrong)
Tell me, would you stay with me?
Baby, we could make this home (make this home)
You should run away with me
Even if you’re better off alone
Tell me, would you wait, wait, wait, wait, wait for me?
Tell me, would you wait, wait, wait, wait, wait for me?
Wait for me
Visual Representation
Is it ‘cliche’ for me to take a photograph for ‘cliche’ with a ‘cliche’ t shirt in a ‘cliche’ way, in the same setting as the music video for ‘cliche’ for the song ‘cliche?’
getting rid of any idea of cool. leaning into all ideas of accessibility in art..
medium format film, 200 asa
lost americana series