My Understanding of the Song “Lucky” by Britney Spears – Music Class
I feel that the song “Lucky” performed by Britney Spears, written by whomever writes songs for Britney Spears addresses an important topic that is very relevant in society today. The song begins: “This is a story about a
girl named Lucky…” The way I interpret it, the girl referred to in these is not named Lucky. This is a name given to an imaginary person who, as you find out later in the song, has so much, yet so little. I feel the song brings up an important point and expresses that while some have lots of money, fame, fortune, and notoriety, they can also be morally empty, socially inept, and generally unhappy.
The first verse describes a girl, (the aforementioned “Lucky”) waking up in the morning to knocks on her door. These knocks are calls to put on “…makeup, perfect smile.” Someone tells the girl “It’s you they are waiting for…Isn’t she lovely, this Hollywood girl.” The girl in the song is demanded to come out so people can admire her and covet what she is and has. This very issue impacts today’s society, creating contempt, jealousy, and eventually unrest in people, more specifically youth and the poor. In a capitalistic society like ours, it is a hard fact that some will be “have”, and they will most definitely be in the eyes and minds of the “have-nots.”
The chorus explains how this girl is a star, but she cries, lonely in her heart, claiming there is nothing missing in her life. This situation happens in today’s society to a lot of yuppie types who concentrate the energy of their youth in attaining mainly money, and brush aside more solidly important things like character, moral values, intellect, health, and family bonds.
The next verse explains how the girl is “lost in an image, in a dream” in which she “…keeps on winning”. It goes on to ask the rhetorical question “…what happens when it stops?”, and answers with a reference to the first verse, “Isn’t she lovely, this Hollywood girl?” This verse describes the feelings the girl has about her current situation. I believe the song is saying that the girl really doesn’t think about what will happen when her winning streak stops, because she instinctively knows it will and she will be left empty, a shell of a ghost of a stranger. This situation arises in today’s fast-paced, extremely materialistic culture, awash with easy money and low moral standards.
Overall, the song is a light look at an underlying problem in our society. The problem does not lie in the present so much as in the future. The people in our country are robbing themselves of a stable future, cheating themselves out of a emotionally fulfilling lot, and devaluing their own self worth, all in the name of money and vanity. To look on the brighter side, which I always try and do, this gives hope to those with not much money or power, but who concentrate on strengthening themselves in more lasting ways.