Despite the brilliantly melodramatic title, Piper Connolly‘s latest single “body bag”, which sounds like the title for either a horror soundtrack or early-2000s emo compilation album has nothing at all to do with the actual idea of death. The idea that “nobody can do what we all see as justice”, in this song about people who you’d like to consider your best friend doing what comes naturally to them that just so happens to lead to betraying you in more than one way that not only makes people question not only if that person was actually real but also if anyone in the world is even real but the song about not being able to have what somebody else perceives of you to be is just a general description.
That idea itself would typically come from a person a great deal more grown-up. However, that idea comes to a young pop singer who does not do any of the music without emotion. She manages to keep that part of herself that just so wants all the world’s best and that does so really loud with that chorus that has the lines “can’t put me in a body bag” in that place to the point where she really does not use empty promises that are typical of young pop singers of today where if you really look close at her choruses that you see a part of that frustration in them until they turn around and turn them into resiliency. She will definitely start with those frustrating and unhappy sentiments, yet she really can go with it in order to make something positive of it so that by the time that you hear it once again, that chorus will already feel well-earned.
At the point in which the alternative pop and pop music have begun to both borrow from the other; a number of songs can end up sounding so familiar. That is certainly not an area of pop which has not been inhabited already but this could be a welcome expansion. The thick guitar crashes through well-produced music while synth textures add an epic, grand scale. That commercial instinct does seem present, but not at the cost of losing any of the organic elements of the composition; so that the final track does retain a sense of personality with some rough edges left on it.
The ability of Connolly to be so calm and so reserved might be the strongest trait on the track. Because of the nature of what she’s talking about, there is so much that she could say or do but because she decided not to, the song stands tall and proud. “Body bag” seems like a very natural and expected progress from her earlier “beautiful life”. That is a track which will likely be used to showcase who Connolly is as an artist for the time being. She manages to blend personal lyrics with plenty of grit, and as a result, the track never succumbs to mawkishness, while still keeping the undeniably catchy choruses that are crucial for popular music to thrive and connect with its listeners.
The title of the track also might come off like a bit of hyperbole, but in reality, Connolly has created something quite honest and substantial; something which is, almost certainly, a lot more complicated than the title implies. It would be very simple to dismiss body bag, at least upon the initial listen, as merely a pop single to sing along to. However, the track itself has a good deal more to say than just that, because Piper Connolly does more than just write catchy songs that pop music requires her to write for. The artist is creating her own unique place within music.
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About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for publications in the US and former lead writer of Atop The Treehouse. Reviews music, film and TV shows for media aggregators.
