Elyse’s Rhetorical Criticism Blog

I chose to take a deep dive into the music and lyrics of my favorite artist, Dermot Kennedy. He is an Irish singer- songwriter who released his debut album, Without Fear in 2019. As soon as I saw his performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series, I was hooked. He has beautifully written lyrics and a sound all his own. Over the past few months I have applied various rhetorical methods to his music in order to better understand his music and who he is as an artist.

I enjoyed using the theory of the canon, it allows me to look into the invention and creative process of his work.This method allowed me to compare his work to other genres and artists to see how the music he is inspired by influences him as an artist. Dermot Kennedy uses metaphor and other tropes that can be interpreted differently by each listener. The tropes method was one of my favorites to cover. Tropes means a twist in meaning, for this post I broke down a metaphor in his song Glory. I looked at several possible meanings to the metaphors he used in the song.   Applying different rhetorical methods to his work allowed me to look into what messages he is trying to convey through his art. It also allowed me to appreciate his skill and creativity as a lyricist. Overall this course has given me tools to dig deeper and understand motives and deeper meanings that rhetoricians use in their craft. 

What can you expect from this blog?

I looked into his artistic process and how he created his sound, using the canon.

First draft: https://elysehagens142drive.car.blog/2020/03/21/genre-post-6/

Final draft: https://elysehagens142drive.car.blog/2020/04/22/the-canon-invention/

He is known for using a lot of metaphors in his songs, don’t worry I broke them down for you.

First draft: https://elysehagens142drive.car.blog/2020/03/05/post-5-metaphor/

Final draft: https://elysehagens142drive.car.blog/2020/04/22/trope-metaphor/

I applied the elegy frame, to get a unique reading on his song Power Over Me.

First draft: https://elysehagens142drive.car.blog/2020/02/28/elegy-post-4/

Final draft: https://elysehagens142drive.car.blog/2020/04/22/framing-elegy/

I did a close textual analysis on his music video, Lost. This allowed me to understand certain choices he and his creative team made in the video, and how those choices visually represented the song.

First draft: https://elysehagens142drive.car.blog/2020/02/21/close-textual-analysis/

Final draft: https://elysehagens142drive.car.blog/2020/04/22/close-textual-analysis

The Canon is a Neo Classical theory that takes into consideration: the invention, arrangement, style, delivery and memory. We will be taking a look at the invention, how Dermot comes up with his songs, and how he found his sound. Dermot Kennedy falls into the singer- songwriter that pulls inspiration from rap and hip hop music. In interviews, he is often asked about his hip-hop influences, which most people would not usually ask an Irish guy who is holding a guitar. He never claims to be a hip hop artist, he’s just an admirer of the genre. In an interview with iheart Radio he says, “I think what has always appealed to me in singers, songwriters and poets, and is super potent in rap, is it’s just storytelling. If there is any influence on the record it’s just a production thing” (iheart radio, 2019). He talks about being influenced by hip hop and rap and those influences are heard in his sound. A lot of his music has R&B beats and bass drops which are common in the hip hop and rap world. One thing that distinguishes a hip hop beat from other types of music is in the beats per minute. Hip Hop has a range of 60-100 beats per minute (Tempo and genre). Some of his songs fall into this category. Though his lyrics are not as influenced by rap, he uses machine drums and beats that create a hip/hop sound.

A great example of a song that showcases his hip hop influences is His song,  Power Over Me. The song Power Over Me is about the stage in a relationship where two people are obsessed with each other, completely taken by the other person. In an interview with KISS 92.5,  he stated that when creating the song they started with the line, “You’ve got this power over me”, (KISS 92.5, 2019) and then wrote the song around that verse and idea. Though his creative process varies for each song, he does sometimes start with a single line or concept and then build the rest of the song around it. The song begins with him humming while a piano plays in the background. When he starts singing, a hip hop drum beat drops. This song shows even though he is a singer-songwriter, he does not limit himself to playing just acoustically or solely with a piano. He pulls inspiration from different genres that give him a sound that merges his singer songwriter roots with his love for hip hop music.

Until obsessively watching interviews with Dermot Kennedy, I never picked up on his hip-hop influences.  I do now see how he is inspired by this genre. He also claims to listen to rap music daily. If something is so heavily on your playlist as a musician, it would be hard for it to not find its way into your personal works. Singer-songwriters and rap artists have strong ties in the way that they connect to their songs and write from personal experience. Artists from both genres are storytellers, they use experiences from their personal lives when writing and inventing their songs. 

Iheart radio. (2019, July 17). Iheart radio.

KISS 92.5. (2019, February 20). KISS 92.5

Tempo and genre. (n.d.). Retrieved from 

https://learningmusic.ableton.com/make-beats/tempo-and-genre.html

I will be using close text analysis to analyze Dermot Kenndys music video for his song Lost. An article by Sage Research Methods defined close textual analysis as; “Close textual analysis investigates the relationship between the internal workings of discourse in order to discover what makes a particular text function persuasively. A text is an artifact that stimulates meaning” (Close reading, 2017). When analyzing visuals, or in this case a music video, I will look at the scene, color palette, and music. 

I will be looking at the first 40 seconds of the music video. Dermot Kennedy’s music video begins with him walking alone on an empty city street at night. The scene is dark, he is dressed for winter and singing acapella. I believe they chose to use a dark, cold scene to display the feeling of being lost and alone. To contrast this idea and look more at the choices that were made for this video, I want you to think of a love song or a summer anthem video. Often those videos are shot on a beach, with lots of people running around smiling with waves crashing in the background and the sun on their skin. This video is doing the exact opposite.  It is shot in what looks to be the middle of the night on an empty street in New York City. The location and time of night are important. New York City would be an easy city to feel lost or anonymous in. The fact the video was shot at night is important too. It gives the viewer a sense that he is wandering the streets, unable to sleep because he feels overwhelmed by certain life circumstances. The fact that the song is shot in winter also helps to display the cold and lost meaning of the song. Winter is a season where things are dormant, and there is no growth of life attributed to this season. The winter season is often used as a metaphor for loss.  Lastly, he is singing the lyrics of his song acapella. This is raw and vulnerable, like he is trying to tell the listener something and doesn’t want the words to compete with any instrumental. Also, having it be acapella makes it seem more conversational and less like a performance. These choices help encapsulate the feeling he is trying to convey, and that is the feeling of being lost and alone. 

This song and video follow a format he uses in many of his songs. It starts with an issue and throughout the song he tries to inspire hope and resolve the situation through music. I think it is an effective approach, and makes for powerful music with a great message.

Using close textual analysis allows the viewer to make sense of different choices the creative team made in the video. I believe that the choices he and his team made helped to visually express the meaning of the song. Using this analysis allowed me to understand and appreciate all of the thought and creativity that went into making this video.

Close Reading. (2017). Retrieved February 13, 2020, from https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-communication-research-methods/i2533.xml 
Kennedy, Dermot. Without Fear. 2019

Power Over Me, by Dermot Kennedy, is a love song that talks about being overtaken by your feelings for someone. In an interview with Complex, Dermot explained the meaning of the song. “The whole song started with just that one idea, that sole lyric of ‘you’ve got that power over me’. The idea of being totally bewitched by somebody, to be totally under their spell, in a really good way. Just totally enamored.” (Espinoza, 2020)

I will be using the elegy frame to analyze the lyrics of this song. The elegy frame means that the person telling the story feels passive, or unable to control the situation. The first lyric I want to look at is, “I’m outrunning the dark, that’s all that love ever taught me” (Kennedy, 2019). With this lyric he reflected on past relationships. When he states that he feels like he is trying to outrun the dark, the darkness symbolizes an ending of a relationship. This is him stating that all his previous relationships have taught him that there is an ending or a breaking point. The lyric, “outrunning the dark”, also makes you as the listener feel that he is in a hopeless place. This is an example of elegy because he does not have total control over the relationship. 

Next we will look at the chorus:

“You’ve got that power over me, my my

Everything I hold dear resides in those eyes

You’ve got that power over me, my my

The only one I know, the only one on my mind

You’ve got that power over me (My my)

You’ve got that power over me (My my)

You’ve got that power over me” (Kennedy, 2019)

The chorus is showing how this person makes him feel. He is clearly infatuated with this person, and feels powerless when it comes to them. The lyric “everything I hold dear resides in those eyes”, perfectly states how this person is the most important thing to him. That statement conveys to the  listener that he would do anything for this person. The line that repeats in the chorus is “You’ve got this power over me”. This is a great example of the elegy frame. It shows that he is not in control of the situation and that the power lies within the other person. Ultimately, whatever happens is up to them.

Using the elegy frame to analyze the lyrics puts an interesting twist on this love song. Rather than focusing on the bliss of a new relationship, he looks back at past loves that didn’t work. The chorus reveals him realizing that he is in trouble because he feels powerless when it comes to them. 

This frame is a great choice and encapsulates the feeling of being taken by someone. The advantage of using this frame is that it effectively shows how Kennedy feels about this person. The disadvantage is that it is a one-sided frame, you are only seeing the relationship from his perspective. Also, using this frame does not give you a sense of this being a healthy relationship. He feels powerless and not able to control the relationship. However, it is normal feeling to have a phase in the beginning of a relationship when you are just completely taken by the other person. As the relationship grows, hopefully, boundaries and mutual respect do too. If his goal was to capture the feeling of falling for someone, using the elegy frame is a great choice. 

Espinoza, J. (2020, January 30). Premiere: Dermot Kennedy Shares “Power Over Me”. Retrieved

 February 26, 2020, from https://www.complex.com/music/2018/10/dermot-kennedy-power-over-me

Kennedy, Dermot. Without Fear. (2019)

A trope uses a twist in meaning. The trope I will be using this week is the metaphor. A metaphor is an implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words.  The word is not used in the literal sense, the two things being compared are unlike in nature but have something in common. Dermot Kennedy is known for using metaphors frequently in his lyrics. In the song Glory, Dermot Kennedy uses a metaphor in his lyric, “I guess I’m tired of talk of hope, I’ve learned that doves and ravens fly the same” (Kennedy, 2017). You are able to tell that this is in fact metaphor because he is not literally talking about the bird’s flight, but rather what the birds symbolize. A dove represents peace or hope, while a raven is  associated with loss or an ill omen. The colors of the birds show opposition, the dove is white and the raven is black. The color black represents darkness or evil, while white represents purity and light. The metaphor of the doves and ravens could be analyzed by what the birds themselves symbolize, or the colors that they represent.

Dermot Kennedy likes to use metaphor in his lyrics. He uses opposites to illustrate a point. The book discusses the use of light and dark metaphors, “When light and dark images are used together in a speech, they indicate and perpetuate the simplistic, two valued black and white attitudes which rhetoricians and their audiences so often seem to prefer” (Burgchardt and Jones, 331). The metaphor of light and dark, or good and evil, is something everyone understands and is able to relate to, which is why it is commonly used in speeches and songs.

In an interview with Ones To Watch, he explained the meaning, “It gives it a nice balance in terms of the light and shade, and in terms of good and bad. Even in the production, with it being a pretty songwriting thing versus this weird urban production, that’s happening now. ‘Doves & Ravens’ was a good representation of that idea to me” (Damoui, 2017). He continued to talk about how the metaphor is used to symbolize the good and hard times he has had in life. Not only did he use this metaphor within the song, he named the EP Doves and Ravens as well. This was a choice he made because of what the metaphor symbolizes. It also encompasses the feeling of the album, as it discusses the highs and lows of life.

He effectively used the metaphor trope in this song. He is able to illustrate the idea of light and dark and good and evil in just one line of a song. The metaphor is strong enough to be the title of his EP. 

Burgchardt, C. R., & Jones, H. A. (2017). Readings in rhetorical criticism. State College, PA: Strata Publishing, Inc.

Damoui, Y. (2017, June 22). Q&A: How Dermot Kennedy Strikes A Balance Between Bon Iver & Drake In ‘Doves and Ravens’ / Ones To Watch. Retrieved March 2, 2020, from https://www.onestowatch.com/blog/qa-how-dermot-kennedy-strikes-a-balance-between
Kennedy, Dermot. Doves and Ravens. 2017

The second persona is an invented idea of who the audience is. In order to use the second persona you must identify the rhetor and the audience. The goal of this method is to morally judge the rhetor. I will be applying this method to Dermot Kenndey’s song Rome. 

It could be argued that the audience are the people who listen to his music, but in this case his intended audience is the person he wrote the song for. Rome is a break up song where Dermot is asking his ex to look back on their relationship and remember him fondly. 

The song opens with the lyrics:

“So, what’s the past for?

I’ll need it if love don’t last long

You can run around infinite in my head

Oh, you can’t see, oh, I’d stay if you asked me

Now you know I care, but it’s hard to tell when you’re scared” (Kennedy, 2019)

This lyric shows that he is heartbroken. This lyric also sets the scene and allows the listener to know that this song is about their break up. 

The chorus states:

“Do you remember when

Midnight drives when you’d sing

I’d play you songs you were in?

I just want to be there again

Do you remember when

With Rome below us that day

You said, “I wish we could stay”?

I just want to be there again” (Kennedy, 2019)

He is not only recalling good times in the relationship but also a trip that they took to Rome. Since he is referring to instances that only she would remember from their relationship, this makes her his intended audience. As for the lyrics speaking to his morals, I would say that he is morally sound. The lyrics show that he  clearly cared for her and is invested in their relationship. 

A lyric that proves this is when he states:

“But last night

It hurt me to hear you say it felt broken

And even though I tried

All these memories run my mind in slow motion”

This shows his ability to empathize with her by him saying “It hurt me to hear you say it felt broken”. This again speaks to how he feels about her and shows that he is not okay with the state of their relationship either.

Writing a song for someone is a grand gesture, but is also his way of dealing with their beak-up. Song writers often write songs to think through and deal with their emotions. This could be a way for him to cope with the situation. The song is  sincere and heartfelt. His intention was to reach out to her and remember what was great about their relationship. Some could argue that it is not moral to gain notoriety from an event like a break up. Though he did release the song on his album he kept her name out of the song, which protects her identity.  I believe Rome is an appropriate response to the break up and does not show any immoral or ill intentions on the side of the rhetor.

Kennedy, Dermot. Without Fear. (2019)

Genre is a way to categorize and make sense the types of works of music. With a given musical genre there are expectations from the listener that include theme, character types and sound.

There are artists that bridge two genres or have influences from genres that are not their own. Dermot Kennedy falls into the singer songwriter genre. When asked to describe him, I usually say that he is an Irish singer songwriter with folk influences. That definition does not encompass his music entirely. In interviews he is often asked about his hip-hop influences. Most people would not ask an Irish guy who is holding a guitar how hip hop has inspired him. He never claims to be a hip hop artist, he’s just an admirer of the genre. In an interview with iheart Radio he says, “I think what has always appealed to me in singer and songwriters, poets, and is super potent in rap, it’s just storytelling. If there is any influence on the record it’s just a production thing” (iheart radio, 2019). A lot of his music has R&B beats and bass drops which are common in the hip hop and rap world. One thing that distinguishes a hip hop beat from other types of music is its beats per minute. Hip Hop has a range of 60-100 beats per minute (Tempo and genre). He has songs that fall into that range, which could be why people bring up his hip hop influences. 

Many rappers and hip hop artist write songs with themes including money, success, love, and loyalty. Dermot’s music does not touch on most of these topics, other then love. However, there is a type of rap that is more introspective and discusses real life problems and situations. A few rappers that fall into this category include Logic, J. Cole, and Mackelmore.

One of the artists he has mentioned wanting to work with from the rap genre would be J.Cole. J. Cole is no doubt a rapper, his music wouldn’t be confused for another genre. What these two artists have in common is that they both write about personal experience. The places and people referenced in their songs all have personal ties to them. The common themes that the two artists discuss are life’s hardships. They also talk about relationships and personal growth. Though these two grew up in different countries with vastly different childhoods, they each have a way of painting a picture for their audiences of their past experiences. What keeps Dermot out of the hip hop category would be in his delivery.  Many rappers are known for the speed of their delivery, whereas Dermot belts out incredible notes and is not as concerned with fitting in his clever punchlines. 

Until obsessively watching interviews with Dermot Kennedy, I never picked up on his hip-hop influences. Though I do now see how his music is inspired by the genre. He also claims to listen to rap music daily. Since rap is a genre he is such a fan of, it would be hard for it to not find its way into his personal work. Though I hope he sticks to his ballads that showcase his amazing vocals. I would not mind seeing him do a song with some of the rappers that have influenced his sound. I would say that the singer songwriter and rap genres do have strong ties in the way that the artists connect to their songs and write from personal experience. Dermot is an example of how the two genres can co-exist. 

One song that shows off his vocal range is his song of For Island Fires and Family.

His song Power Over me was played for Travis Scott (a well known rapper and producer), Scott said he liked the song. The song does have a hip hop beat, it is a great example of how he blends his singer songwriter roots with his love of the hip hop genre.

Iheart radio. (2019, July 17). Iheart radio.

Tempo and genre. (n.d.). Retrieved from 

https://learningmusic.ableton.com/make-beats/tempo-and-genre.html

• 

A trope is a twist in meaning. The trope I will be using this week is metaphor. A metaphor is an implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; a word is not used in the literal sense, the two things being compared are unlike in nature but have something in common. Dermot Kennedy is known for using metaphors frequently in his lyrics. In the song Glory, Dermot Kennedy uses a metaphor in his lyric, “I guess I’m tired of talk of hope, I’ve learned that doves and ravens fly the same” (Kennedy, 2017). You are able to tell that this is in fact metaphor because he is not literally talking about the birds flight, but rather what the birds symbolize. A dove represents peace or hope, while a raven is  associated with loss or an ill omen. Dermot Kennedy uses metaphor a lot in his lyrics, he likes to use opposites to illustrate a point. The book discusses the use of light and dark metaphors, “When light and dark images are used together in a speech, they indicate and perpetuate the simplistic, two valued black and white attitudes which rhetoricians and their audiences so often seem to prefer” (Burgchardt and Jones, 331). The metaphor of light and dark, or good and evil, is something everyone understands and is able to relate to, which is why it is commonly used in speeches and songs.

In an interview with Ones To Watch Kennedy explained the meaning of the lyric, “It gives it a nice balance in terms of the light and shade, and in terms of good and bad. Even in the production, with it being pretty songwriting thing versus this weird urban production, that’s happening now. “Doves & Ravens’ ‘ was a good representation of that idea to me” (Damoui, 2017). He continued to talk about how the metaphor is used to symbolize the good and hard times he has had in life.

He uses the metaphor of good vs. evil a second time in the song with the lyric :

“Shes’s everything the devil can’t be

When she’s singing to me “glory”. -Kennedy, 2017

The girl stands for everything good and right, where as the devil symbolizes evil.

I think that he did effectively use the metaphor in this song. He is able to illustrate the idea of light and dark and good and evil in just a few lines. 

Burgchardt, C. R., & Jones, H. A. (2017). Readings in rhetorical criticism. State College, PA: Strata Publishing, Inc.

Damoui, Y. (2017, June 22). Q&A: How Dermot Kennedy Strikes A Balance Between Bon Iver & Drake In ‘Doves and Ravens’ / Ones To Watch. Retrieved March 2, 2020, from https://www.onestowatch.com/blog/qa-how-dermot-kennedy-strikes-a-balance-between

Kennedy, Dermot. Doves and Ravens. 2017

Power over me by Dermot Kennedy, is a love song that talks about being overtaken by your feelings for someone. In an interview with Complex, Dermot explained the meaning of the song. “The whole song started with just that one idea, that sole lyric of ‘you’ve got that power over me’. The idea of being totally bewitched by somebody, to be totally under their spell, in a really good way. Just totally enamored.” (Espinoza, 2020)

I will be using the elegy frame to analyze the lyrics of this song. The elegy frame means that the person telling the story feels passive, or unable to control the situation. The first lyric I want to look at is, “I’m outrunning the dark, that’s all that love ever taught me” (Kennedy, 2019). With this lyric he reflected on past relationships. When he states that he feels like he is trying to outrun the dark, the darkness symbolizes an ending of a relationship. This is him stating that all his previous relationships have taught him that there is an ending or a breaking point. The lyric, “outrunning the dark”, also makes you as the listener feel that he is in a hopeless place. This is an example of elegy because he does not have total control over the relationship. 

Next we will look at the chorus:

“You’ve got that power over me, my my

Everything I hold dear resides in those eyes

You’ve got that power over me, my my

The only one I know, the only one on my mind

You’ve got that power over me (My my)

You’ve got that power over me (My my)

You’ve got that power over me” (Kennedy, 2019)

The chorus is showing how this person makes him feel. He is clearly infatuated with this person, and feels powerless when it comes to them. The lyric “everything I hold dear resides in those eyes”, perfectly states how this person is the most important thing to him. That statement conveys to the  listener that he would do anything for this person. The line that repeats in the chorus is “You’ve got this power over me”. This is a great example of the elegy frame. It shows that he is not in control of the situation and that the power lies within the other person. Ultimately, whatever happens is up to them.

Using the elegy frame to analyze the lyrics puts an interesting twist on this love song. Rather than focusing on the bliss of a new relationship, he looks back at past loves that didn’t work. The chorus reveals him realizing that he is in trouble because he feels powerless when it comes to them. 

Espinoza, J. (2020, January 30). Premiere: Dermot Kennedy Shares “Power Over Me”. Retrieved February 26, 2020, from https://www.complex.com/music/2018/10/dermot-kennedy-power-over-me

Kennedy, Dermot. Without Fear. (2019)

I will be using close text analysis to analyze Dermot Kennedy’s music video for his song Lost. An article by Sage Research Methods defined close textual analysis as; “Close textual analysis, investigates the relationship between the internal workings of discourse in order to discover what makes a particular text function persuasively. A text is an artifact that stimulates meaning” (Close reading, 2017). When analyzing visuals, or in this case a music video, I will look at the scene, color palette, and music. 

Dermot Kennedy’s music video begins with him walking alone on an empty city street at night. The scene is dark, he is dressed for winter and singing acapella. I believe they chose to use a dark, cold scene to display how dark and cold can be a metaphor for feeling lost and alone. The next scene starts with a guy holding his head in his hands. Next you see a girl lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling blankly. These visuals continue to show the people who are feeling alone and lost. There are two more people who are shown in difficult situations, then it flashes back to Dermot walking down the street.

Next a piano starts to play and the song has picked up a bit. The screen now shows the two people who we first saw separately, as a young couple who just found out that they are pregnant. The next person we see is a caretaker who is taking care of a very sick patient. The third person we see is a man sitting at his desk in business attire, looking overwhelmed as his daughter peeks in on him. As the song continues to pick up, you see the people being embraced and cared for by their loved ones. The lyric playing over these scenes says, “I was lost until I found you”. This lyric accompanied with these visuals shows how people who love you can guide you and give you hope when you are feeling hopeless. The next lyric says “If only you could see yourself in my eyes, you’d see you shine”. Which is again stating how your loved one can guide and give hope. They can help you see outside the darkness of your own situation. The screen then shows Dermot walking into a gate and up the stairs into his apartment building. He passes each of the people whose stories we saw play out throughout the video. I believe they made this choice to show how we are all connected and all fighting our own battles, but we are not alone. We are surrounded by people who can offer support and hope.

This song and video follow a format he uses in many of his songs. It starts with an issue and throughout the song he tries to inspire hope and resolve the situation through music. I think it is an effective approach, and makes for powerful music with a great message.

Close Reading. (2017). Retrieved February 13, 2020, from https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-communication-research-methods/i2533.xml 

Kennedy, Dermot. Without Fear. 2019