These overly analytical Spotify Genius footnotes are giving us life
The number one rule in comedy states that the best way to kill a joke is to explain it. But that doesn't account for Genius, which has mastered the art of comedy in over-explaining music lyrics.
And the internet is extremely here for it.
Spotify users are probably familiar with the Behind the Lyrics service provided by the crowd-sourced music annotation website Genius. But you might have missed the full scope of its brilliance, which brings the scholarly rigors of footnoting to the nonsense lyrics of modern pop music.
Amateur music scholars on Twitter shared their appreciation, and a Twitter moment gathered the most illuminating pieces of information gleaned from the Spotify and Genius partnership. They are nothing short of wiiiiiiild (and you can fact check us on that).
Take, for example, the hidden depths of the metaphor you might've missed in 50 Cent's 2005 hit "Candy Shop."
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There's also a lot of artfully delivered shade going on -- but you can bet your ass it is diligently fact-checked. Like, would Drake like to respond to this damning data point?
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Or can The White Witch Stevie Nicks corroborate the meteorological claims made in Fleetwood Mac's folky classic, "Dreams?"
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It's not all take-no-prisoners scrutiny, though. As respectable academics, they deliver balanced and fair context.
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This one peels back the hidden layers of Justin Bieber's "Sorry."
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Most helpfully, it provides the youth with explainers on sexually-charged slang, and stops the spread of fake news perpetuated by misinformed Panic at the Disco songs about strippers.
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Their service to the public goes beyond just edification, though, and uses tangentially related information from artist interviews to deliver disturbing PSAs.
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We've got our own annotation, too: 13 out of 10 times, Genius fucking nails it.
UPDATE: April 8, 2018, 11:26 p.m. PDT The name of the company, Genius, was updated and corrected.
Topics Music
Jess is an LA-based culture critic who covers intimacy in the digital age, from sex and relationship to weed and all media (tv, games, film, the web). Previously associate editor at Kill Screen, you can also find her words on Vice, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vox, and others. She is a Brazilian-Swiss American immigrant with a love for all things weird and magical.
