English Song Lyrics Analysis - Maria Regina Iskandar

Counting Stars by One Republic
Counting Stars by OneRepublic is a nostalgic song almost to everyone including me and this song
is still one of my favourites. The lyrics of the song are beautiful and motivating, the music is very
upbeat which supports the motivating lyrics. There are a lot of rhyming in the song, which makes it
sound smooth and supresses the meaning of the lyrics for me. When I finally gave my attention to
the lyrics of this song, I realized that the lyrics hit hard and is a good motivator. At the start of the
song, the singer talks about how things could be different, and he wished that things could be
different, these were the lyrics that he sang to convey this message, “Lately, I’ve been, I’ve been
losing sleep. Dreaming about the things that we could be.” Then the singer said that he does not care
about money anymore and just hopes for his life to be better, this was the lyric he sang to convey this
message, “Said no more counting dollars, we’ll be counting stars.” The singer described hoping by
“counting stars” in the lyric, I believe that is hyperbole. Moving on to the next part of the lyrics, “I
see this life, life is like a swinging vine, swing my heart across the line,” there is a metaphor here. In
this part, the singer compared life with a swinging vine and that is metaphor, the meaning of that part
metaphorically is that he sees life as an unpredictable journey filled with difficulties and happiness.
Moving on, “In my face is flashing signs,” the singer meant that he is starting to see troubles in his
life. Next, “Seek it out and ye shall find,” the singer was referring to Matthew 7:7 where Jesus
commands to relentlessly seek answers about life and God will help them find the answer, since the
start of the song the singer talked about life, so I suppose that this part he meant that he was trying to
follow His command at that Bible verse. Here comes the rhyming part, “Old but I’m not that old,
young but I’m not that bold,” old in age but not wise and young yet not brave to stand up for oneself,
is the meaning of this part. Moving on to the next rhyming, “I don’t think the world is sold on just
doing what we’re told,” the singer is not convinced by the idea of the world filled with people that
must follow whatever they are told to do like robots, the word “sold” in this verse does not have a
literal meaning, which in slang means enthusiastic of an idea. “I feel something so wrong, doing the
right thing, I feel something so right, doing the wrong thing,” the singer is having conflict between
his own beliefs and society’s beliefs. Then the singer revealed that every obstacle that he likes to
overcome obstacles in life in two verses, he used hyperbole to convey this message to the listeners at
“kills me” and that part does not mean “kill “ literally, but it means troubles, the lyrics of that
message go like this “I couldn’t lie, couldn’t lie, couldn’t lie; everything that kills me makes me feel
alive.” Then the singer sang the song’s chorus, it is about his wish that things could be different and
how he does not care about money anymore, with the exact same lyrics that is at the start and the
music for this chorus very upbeat. In the next line, “I feel your love and I feel it burn,” the singer is
fuelled by love. “Down this river, every turn,” means in everywhere. “Hope is our four-letter word,”
he said that he hopes again with a different lyric. “Make the money, watch it burn,” he said that
money will not last forever again. Then the lyrics about the singer’s view on his age and on himself,
how he does not agree on a world where people must do whatever they’re told to do, the conflict
between his beliefs and society beliefs, and how he likes to overcome obstacles in life. This time
with a different hyperbolic lyric, “Everything that downs me wants to make me fly.” Finally sang a
lyric with a new meaning in this song that is “Sink in the river the lessons I’ve learned,” sink in
could be an idiom which means understanding something fully, so this lyric means that the singer is
understanding the lessons that he has learned in his life. The lyrics continued to the bridge of the
song, the bridge of this song tells us that money is not forever and in the end is worthless. The lyrics
then continued to, “Everything that kills me, makes me feel a live.” Finally, the song ends with a
chorus and an outro that has the exact same meaning as the bridge.
Counting Stars by One Republic

English Song Lyrics Analysis - Maria Regina Iskandar

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Counting Stars by One Republic

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