https://youtube/watch?v=NVUmQPQA7iM Countless individuals on the cusp of enlightenment have reported to me that this song is catchy, enjoyable, or uplifting, but these individuals lack the necessary toolbox of critique to establish precisely why Ariana Grandes Break Free is sublimely excellent. Because they are only on the cusp of enlightenment and have not yet consciously embraced der Wille zur Macht it is not yet obvious to them that Break Free is a clear yet subtle exposition of the most central principles of Friedrich Nietzsches philosophy. As in the vein of Zarathustra, I preemptively determined this claim would be met with skepticism and derision, and have thus produced a warrant for my claim. Even in the opening lines this is clear: If you want it, take it I shouldve said it before Arguably the most central concept in Nietzsches philosophy is der Wille zur Macht, oftentimes imperfectly translated into English as The Will to Power. Compare with Nietzsches Lemma 1067 where he states My Dionysian world of the eternally self-creating, the eternally self-destroying, this mystery world of the two-fold voluptuous delight, my “beyond good and evil,” without goal, UNLESS THE JOY OF THE CIRCLE IS ITSELF A GOAL. (emphasis mine) In the very opening lines Ariana Grande both rejects the denial of this truth, saying that individuals should pursue what they enjoy rather than engage in pointless self-denial, and laments that she did not make this statement earlier; You can see she herself notes that her act of critical scholarship was long overdue and she Should have said it before. Tried to hide it, fake it I cant pretend anymore Here Grande presents her own experiences of living in contemporary society, where pursuit of ones own desires is denied in favor of an emotional pacifism and superficial harmony similar to the state of der letzte Mensch introduced by Nietzsche in the prologue of Thus Spake Zarathustra. Her admission that she cannot pretend any more is identical to Zarathustras realization that he must emerge from his cave and enlighten his fellow human beings; Neither can pretend that their previous mode of being is adequate, and neither can deny the meaninglessness of not pursuing ones own desires any longer. I only wanna die alive Never by the hands of a broken heart Nietzsche himself frequently stated in his introductions that he introduced errors or contradictions into his work to provoke additional thought from the 1% of students who would actually consider his work deeply, and Ariana Grande is no different. The contradiction embedded in I only wanna die alive is illuminated to be nothing more than a statement of Nietzsches principle of eternal recurrence; That we must live as though our lives would be repeated indefinitely, for eternity, and in doing so experience true paradise. The alternative would be to allow oneself to destroy oneself every day for eternity by suppressing ones desires: Dying by the hands of a broken heart. Dont wanna hear you lie tonight Now that Ive become who I really are The surface meaning of these two lines is obvious. Now that Ariana Grande has embraced the Will to Power, she no longer is willing to entertain other individuals being dishonest with her or themselves about their desires. But the contradiction in the second line warrants additional examination. Instead of saying she has become who she really is, she states she has become who I really are. I believe here we see a deeply progressive and nuanced interpretation of Nietzsche where she points out that the true self is eternally self-destroying and self-creating; That she is no longer bound by a fixed identity but embraces becoming a multitude, a sprawling plurality of identities she is eternally creating. (Exercise: Compare and Contrast with Walt Whitmans He too is all qualities, he is action and power, The flush of the known universe is in him (I Sing The Body Electric, 6, 2-3)) This is the part when I say I dont want ya Im stronger than Ive been before This is the part when I break free Cause I cant resist it no more The frequently-repeated chorus was wisely chosen, as it most clearly states the Nietzschean contrast between the slave morality, morality that requires suppressing ones own desires to follow societal conventions, and the Overman (or Overwoman, in this case), who establishes their own morality based on their desires. Two parts are clearly delineated; In the first part, Grande attempts to suppress her feelings towards some unwanted object of desire, falsely identifying this as requiring strength. The duality of Im stronger than Ive been before is important; True strength involves following ones desires, and in the following line, it is clear that Grandes strength leads to her refusing to suppress her desires any longer, breaking free from the slave morality. In the final line her evolution is complete, as she not only no longer indulges the dictates of a societal slave-morality that requires resisting ones ambitions, but cannot even do it. You were better, deeper I was under your spell Like a deadly fever, yeah, babe On the highway to hell, yeah The first line is a proclamation of the superiority of der Wille zur Macht to superficial (shallower) codes of social morality, whereas the second line contains her admission that she was under the spell of societys conventions. The last two lines here have a double meaning: On the one hand, Nietzsche states in the prologue of Thus Spake Zarathustra that the slave morality leads to a state of affairs where all individuality and creativity are eliminated in favor of superficial harmony: A highway to hell. On the other hand, following her own desires involves taking risks and will ultimately necessarily lead to a rejection of Christian morals. I came alive It was lethal It was fatal In my dreams it felt so right But I woke up every time I came alive clearly refers to Grandes embracing of her own desires. It is not clear whether It was lethal, It was fatal refers to her prediction of the societal consequences for her refusal to conform or is simply an acknowledgement of her own mortality. By juxtaposing this adjacent to the last two lines, the doctrine of eternal recurrence is clearly referenced. Ariana Grande continues to pursue her own desires because she has accepted that this life will repeat eternally: It will feel so right, she will wake up and die, and begin dreaming again. In summation Break Free can be seen as Ariana Grandes first-person account of how she rejected what Nietzsche calls slave morality and embraced being an Overwoman to the point where she has left contemporary behind, aiming to fulfill her own der Wille zur Macht to the point where the only cosmology she realizes is her own joy in the fulfillment of her own desires repeating onwards into infinity. It is not surprising that few people are able to grasp so many complex ideas being conveyed so succinctly in a 3-minute piece of music. Hopefully, this will help someone ascertain why they enjoy this song so much, and perhaps even encourage a few new listeners.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 02:05:34 +0000
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