Watsky's 'Lovely Thing Suite'

Warning: themes of death and suicide.

The 'Lovely Thing Suite' is a series of four songs from Watsky's album 'x Infinity' (Times infinity). Each song perfectly blends into the next and contains rap and spoken word poetry discussing themes of life, death, after life and suicide. The songs are; Lovely Thing Suite: Conversations, Knots, Roses and Theories. At the end of the songs, it cuts to ambient city sounds for three minutes. People talking and singing can be heard, police sirens, airplane noises, trains, cars. The sounds of life. It symbolises how sudden a death can be, but also how the world and life while still continue.

SONG 1: CONVERSATIONS

The first song in the Lovely Thing Suite looks at Watsky and his father's relationship with death and the idea of an afterlife.

Having had a great deal of anxiety about death in the past I really connected with the lyrics in this song and its one of my favourite Watsky songs ever because of this.

"I remember vividly My tears dropping on the grey carpet on the top step Pops giving me his best guess Me confessing the burning question stressing and concerning me and Turning me to a wet mess It's probably nothing I get it, I'm aware I know it's probably stupid to be scared But these days are flying past us and nobody seems to care It's like we're sprinting towards a brick wall we're pretending isn't there What happens when we hit it? Do we split into a million bits Or do we come back as a bullfrog and talk in ribbits? What is it? What is it? You got the answer so give it, so give it, so give it Don't lie, what happens when we die?"

"Famous or not, we fade from the plot"

"Don't dwell on it dad, that isn't for a long long time"

SONG 2: KNOTS

This song focuses around pianist Arthur Rubinstein and is more of a spoken word poem than a rap song.

The song / poem begins by describing Arthur's life and his piano playing and gradually transitions into describing his attempted suicide.

I was so shocked at how well the transition happened and I still believe the last verse of the song / poem is incredibly effective and powerful.

"For Arthur it all came too easily To learn the scales in every key"

"To pose a question with a pinky on a key"

"To toss the braid above the ceiling beam and to affix the noose To bid adieu to all of you until there's nothing left to do but Climb the chair To cinch the collar Find the edge To step into the air"

SONG 3: ROSES

The third song of the Lovely Thing Suite discusses the thoughts of those who commit suicide as well as the thoughts and feelings of those left behind to deal with the loss.

"Don't let my ghost drag you down If you don't see me around It doesn't mean that I fell Yeah I'm doing well I got some roses to smell I hope you smile when I'm gone It means I had the strength to move on To find another story to tell To answer the bell I got some roses to smell"

"Man I thought it so was selfish of people I love to keep falling out of my life But now I know No I don't take it personal If you got a really lovely place to go I will chase my goals yeah, to make me whole"

"I'm done being a bitch to ambition I'm already rich I got a head that's full of million dollar questions"

SONG 4: THEORIES

The final song, theories, picks up from the end of Knots, with Arthur having failed at committing suicide. The song talks about how if Arthur had succeeded Watsky's father would never have been able to see him play fifty years later.

As previously discussed the song ends abruptly with three minutes of ambient sound.

"And then Arthur found himself looking up from the ground Looking up, looking up, found things looking up Looking up, looking not so down, no not so down"

"Twenty feet, twenty feet, yeah my dad's twenty three Twenty feet from the hands on the keys Yeah, the hands on the keys of a man with the hands that almost didn't exist That almost didn't exist to see"

"The evolution of the mind's not the hunger to conquer Or to want or to seek or to wander Or even wonder, but to simply to be Until we cease to be any longer"

I loved these songs with the themes and meaning in them as soon as I heard them but the release of the music videos increased my love for them even more. The videos, like the songs, seamlessly lead on from one another and are some of the most aesthetically pleasing animations I have ever seen. They were animated by Diego Huacuja & Pablo Díaz.

Death is still something I struggle coming to terms with from time to time. But I really feel like these songs played a part in making me feel understood and comforted. I am now able to look at death as something that gives our lives meaning rather than something to fear.

- Kaitlyn.