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Writer's pictureBasil Faisal Qureshi

Deciphering the Lyrics

Below are the lyrics for "Retrograde" by James Blake:


You’re on your own In a world you’ve grown Few more years to go, Don’t let the hurdle fall So be the girl you loved, Be the girl you loved

I’ll wait So show me why you’re strong Ignore everybody else, We’re alone now I’ll wait So show me why you’re strong Ignore everybody else, We’re alone now

Suddenly, I’m hit It’s the starkness of the dawn And your friends are gone And your friends won’t come So show me where you fit So show me where you fit

I’ll wait So show me why you’re strong Ignore everybody else, We’re alone now (we’re alone now) (we’re alone now) I’ll wait (we’re alone now) (We’re alone now) (We’re alone now) I’ll wait (we’re alone now) (we’re alone now) (we’re alone now) (we’re alone now) (we’re alone now)

Suddenly, I’m hit It’s the starkness of the dawn And your friends are gone And your friends won’t come So show me where you fit So show me where you fit


Since this song is Adbullah's favorite, we will let him write the interpretation for the lyrics.

" I’ve been listening to this song for years. The lyrics are quite vague and can be adapted to fit a wide variety of meanings. They do, however, suggest a theme of loneliness and anxiety. There’s almost a sense of malformed self-help in the lyrics; encouragements and affirmations caving in on themselves. I’m getting too abstract. Point is, we decided that our theme was going to be loneliness. "


Now that the basic theme was deciding, we also started working on the basic concept.

We toyed with some ideas involving a lonely character dealing with social anxiety; the disorientation of personal interaction and fear of rejection. Abdullah had just seen that episode from season 6 of Modern Family which takes place entirely on a MacBook screen, and he suggested we do something similar. The use of screen recordings is becoming increasingly ubiquitous, such as in the films Unfriended, Searching and music videos like Selena Gomez’s “Wolves” vertical video, as well as Blake’s own lyric video for “Don’t Miss It”.


Everyone was loving the idea so far. Huzaifaa suggested we follow the daily routine of a lonely man – how he lives his life out in his devices. For example, he might watch a talk on YouTube about making friends (which would be original footage). We’re going to draw this idea out into a detailed concept in the coming days, and present it to our teacher. Primarily, we hope to make a list of tasks we’d show our character carrying out on his phone/laptop/television etc., as well as develop a more conspicuous narrative arc to the whole thing.

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