Conspiracy Theories

Songwriters and Their Lyrics

Some songs have really deep meaning to them, and some even have hidden messages to reveal something big about a songwriters life, or the world around them.

1. Lorde is far older than she claims

The lyric:
"I'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air / So there / I'm kinda older than I was when I revelled without a care / So there" - Team (2013).

The conspiracy theory:
When New Zealand musician Lorde, real name Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 19??) came to public attention with her 2013 hit Royals, there seemed to be a disparity of age and wisdom. How could a 17-year-old write music with such polish and knowledge of the world? Her age was surely a hoax.

For one thing, she made slips. In a 2014 interview with Rookie Mag she said a book resonated with her "as a teenager... I mean, I am still a teenager". Later, speaking to Lena Dunham for Dazed she said her mother was the daughter of escapees from the First World War. In a jokey piece for Gawker, which relied on the fact that Lorde hadn't got the World Wars mixed up, writer Jordan Sargent calculated the generational gap to be impossible.

'Lorde age truthers', as they came to be known online, cited the above lyrics from Team.

The truth (as far as we know it): Lorde was indeed born in 1996, as was proven when Hairpin journalist Emma Carmichael applied to New Zealand for the singer's birth certificate and its published online.

2. David Bowie warned us about his death and a coming cosmic apocalypse.

The lyric:
"Something happened on the day he died / Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside" - Blackstar (2016)

The conspiracy theory: Because David Bowie's work was always loaded with extra meaning, narrative strands and the presence of stage personas, it has a way of humouring those looking for conspiracy theories. With the album Blackstar, released two days before the announcement of the star's death, the theorists hit the mother lode.

Elvis Presley, with whom Bowie shares a birthday and who was an influence on the younger star, had himself recorded a forgotten song called Black Star. "When a man sees his black star," the song declares, "he knows his time has come." Coincidence?

Meanings of the term black star include a scientific stage between the collapse of a star and a black hole, a hidden planet, and a cancer lesion. Some even took the physics analogy to be knowledge of a cosmic apocalypse. UFO obsessives and those who believe in a hidden planet have claimed that Bowie's lyrics are further proof of a collision between Earth and what has been called Planet X or Nibiru. Kameran Falley, who said he has previously worked as a banker for the Illuminati, said in a video: "If you look at the end of the lyrics, there is the date of when the 'dark star' is meant to come and 1 August, 2016 is the date." The first object known to have passed through a black hole had just been spotted. Spooky...

The truth (as far as we know it):
Longtime producer and friend Tony Visconti was responsible for giving interviews surrounding the album, and described it as Bowie's "parting gift". It was recorded in 2015, but released on Bowie's birthday. Nobody in the public sphere knew he was suffering from cancer, but he and those around would have known for a long time. So, of course the album is packed with references to Bowie's death: a "day of execution" and falling angels. In Lazarus, he seems to be looking down on his own career and illness from "heaven": "Look up here, man, I'm in danger, I've got nothing left to lose."

Bowie stage managed his music around his death to speak of something that only became apparent after his passing, and would become his final masterpiece of art. As he sings on Lazarus from the album: "Ain't that just like me?".

3. Kanye West's Car crash in 2002 was faked.

The lyric:
"Thank God I ain't too cool for the safe belt" - Through the Wire (2003)

The conspiracy theories: Kanye's 2003 debut single Through the Wire, it was claimed in September by Chicagoan Twitter user @Flyer_thanu2, is not about a car crash that left the artist hospitalised: "And what's crazy is Kanye still got the world thinking he was in a bad car accident October 2002," he said, "all Im'a say is come to Chicagoland and ask." Instead, claimed another user, his injuries were supposedly the result of a gangsta rap beef: "Didn't he get jumped because he stole music or something for some people and didn't give credit?"

The evidence of the car crash, including pictures and articles in the local papers about the crash? Faked by the establishment.

The truth (as far as we know it): Andrew Barber of Chicago rap music blog Fake Shore Drive was quick to question the rumours, drawing tweeters' attention to a perfectly reasonable explanation of the supposed beef that he had posted in 2010: Kanye once gave a beat to upcoming rapper Payroll, which became his track Never Change. Jay Z liked the track, recorded his own version in 2001 for his Blueprint album, with Kanye even rapping Payroll's original hook. Payroll was uncredited but he got paid. It has become a Chicago legend, though, that he was unhappy with the fee and decided to settle things by attacking Kanye with a champagne bottle at a nightclub.

Spin have conclusively proved that the car accident happened and of course it always helps to think reasonably. Early Yeezy was about opposing the hip hop clichés of self-aggrandisement, his debut album College Dropout focusing on politics, everyday poverty, and the precarious place of a sensitive, educated black man in rap music. It would have been out of place for Kanye to be rapping about a label feud or beat down, and completely believable for him to be rapping about being in hospital, seat belts and not being to eat.

4. Rebecca block's Friday, was about JFK assassination.

 Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday.
Today is Friday, Friday . . . 
Tomorrow is Saturday,
And Sunday comes afterward.

Most people would probably agree that these song lyrics are neither mind-blowing nor exceptionally intelligent. Anyone with a few brain cells (or a calendar) could have come up with them.

However, some people allege that Rebecca Black’s “Friday” isn’t just terrible mumbo jumbo that somehow made her a quasi-famous person for all the wrong reasons. (The song received over a million dislikes on YouTube and made her the target of bullies and incredibly nasty comments) According to these conspiracy theorists—who are possibly having a laugh at Rebecca’s expense—the lyrics supposedly allude to JFK’s assassination.

This theory stems from a comment posted on an Internet forum in 2012. As the forum user explains, the lyrics go into detail about what happened to John F. Kennedy. At the beginning of the song, Rebecca sings about waking up at 7:00 AM on a Friday morning and having to be fresh before going downstairs to eat a bowl of cereal. This allegedly alludes to JFK waking up at 7:00 AM on the morning of his death (also a Friday) and having Bran Flakes (a kind of cereal) before going downstairs (a euphemism for dying).

The theory is stretched even further when the user states that “everybody’s rushing” sound like “everybody’s Russian,” which naturally would refer to the Cold War. And when Rebecca sings about getting to the bus stop, that’s really about how JFK missed out on signing a public bus transport bill.

But the real kicker comes in the form of the following lyrics:

Kicking in the front seat,
Sitting in the back seat.
Gotta’ make my mind up.
Which seat can I take?

The forum poster is adamant that the phrase “kicking in the front seat” refers to Samuel Kickin, the driver of Kennedy’s car. As for the question (“Which seat can I take?”), that probably refers to Kennedy sitting in the backseat after having a mental conflict on where to sit in the first place.

The forum entry goes on to detail the rest of the theory, comparing various lyrics to details of the assassination, no matter how ridiculous. For instance, when Rebecca sings that everyone is “so excited,” that refers to the excitement around JFK’s death. Plus, when she says that we’re going to “have a ball today,” the ball supposedly refers to the bullet that killed Kennedy.