Be There in Five

68: The Archer, a Welcome Departure

07.24.2019 - By Kate KennedyPlay

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This week, there will be two episodes - the first I've separated out for TS fans. This is an in-depth discussion of The Archer, the song I didn't know I needed, and how it (to me) relates to deeper themes of anxiety, internal conflict, patterns, self-loathing and the opposing self-awareness and objectivity that allows you to recognize the situation, but not necessarily correct for it. It's about the song, but it's also not about the song, if that makes sense. The lyrics start to be analyzed around a half hour in, and I discuss the parallels with her poem "If You're Anything Like Me," the theory behind track 5, the ever-present inquiry of it containing queer themes, and how I interpret and connect the lyrics stanza by stanza to what I know of her experience, what I can connect to my own, and what we can all potentially extract from this simple yet frantic, ethereal yet dark, vague but sensory song.

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