HOPELESSNESS AND GLAM ROCK: Zeros

By Andrea Guachalla

Given the humanistic, incoherent ideologies that are taught in schools, and flood every social media platform, and how this causes the loss of identity and purpose in today’s youth, it was only a matter of time until a representative of this age group would speak up his mind in frustration saying: “We are lost, and anxious. We find no peace, nor comfort.” And that representative is Declan Mckenna…

Declan what?

McKenna. 

If you hadn’t heard the name of this artist before, let me give you a proper introduction: 

This young, talented man was born in 1998 in Enfield, London, and started experimenting with music at the age of six along with his siblings. This comes close to explaining why his taste for music and composition was so developed by the time he was 14 years old when he won the “Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition.” This is when his music career took off, first falling into the music genres indie-pop, and indie-rock, and falling into glam rock and dream pop in his latest album.

He is statedly a leftist, LGBTQ rights activist, and also a vegan, whose song lyrics are characterized by containing critiques on politics, religion, and foreign policies which is rare to find in a young person like him. Part of his reasoning comes most likely from his being raised as a catholic, and his attendance to St Mary’s Church of England High School, where he was exposed to the (anti-biblical) teachings and practices of the Church of England. Like most of the kids and teenagers in Western society, he might have also learned different traits of critical theory through school education and news outlets. Added to all of this, his parents might have been an important influence in his thinking, his mother is a teacher, and his father is involved in local politics.

In 2017, the then 18-year-old Declan released his very first record album titled What Do You Think About the Car?, in which he criticizes and addresses issues that represent a source of anxiety and discomfort for young people: corruption, transgenderism, religious hypocrisy, and politics. Though Declan argues that he would have liked to write lyrics about his own experiences, he found that his life was so uneventful that it was easier to turn to politics, and social conflicts that are already discussed by his generation, or at the very least -when not discussed openly-, criticized on social media. 

Now, at this point, you might ask yourself: Why would it be important to know something about this random artist whose name you didn’t know before reading this article? And I would answer: Because this random artist represents what youth believes nowadays, and what his generation struggles with. We encounter in him not only the reflection of those who share similarities with his upbringing, and (ideological) education, but we also encounter a talented young man whose career seems to be emulating that of David Bowie who was considered the most influential musician of the 20th century. More likely than not, in a hundred years people will look back and see Declan as the most influential musician of the 21st century. 

Because of this, and my deep appreciation of his talent for music, I will take the next paragraphs to break down his new album titled Zeros, as an album that is both a superb musical genius and an ideological statement from today’s youth. At the end of the article, I will contrast hopelessness in the youngest generations, with the hope that we have as Christians. Let’s start!

Declan’s second album released in September 4th this year, in contrast with the first one, discusses a different set of issues. Zeros expresses how youth nowadays is overwhelmed with a sense of emptiness, anxiety, and fear as they have to face the toxicity of social media and the news outlets, while at the same time they are trying to find purpose, identity, comfort, and peace. Similarly to his first album, Declan also exposes his (flawed) understanding of who God is, but less directly, and not as harsh as he does when he criticizes religious hypocrisy in his song “Bethlehem” in his first album.

Though the album has mainly a negative connotation, the music is very up to beat and fun in most of the songs, and the cinematographic production for the video clips took a video-game theme. Both music and production seek to make this statement – according to the young artist -: that though all the feelings and issues addressed in the songs are negative, real, depressive, and destructive, they are at the same time ridiculous and absurd. Accompanying the lyrics with fun melodies, crazy choruses, synthesizers, bright costumes, glitter, and video-game scenes seemed like the best way to portray the nonsensical chaos and how it can be taken with some humor.

All the songs address the same set of negative feelings, but it might be interesting to see the different elements that are presented in the songs. One of the elements is the use of characters to express different points of view, and the inner battle Declan goes through. The first character introduced is Daniel in the songs “Be an Astronaut” and “Daniel, You’re Still a Child”, when Declan refers to him he refers to an immature, naive person who dreams big but is intimidated by the world. This character might be indirectly present in the song “Beautiful Faces” that talks about intimidation, and how rapidly the world changes. The second character introduced is Emily in the song titled like her name, she portrays the inner battle in Declan’s mind that reminds him of his inability to fix things, and how that culminates in anxiety.

Another set of songs introduce the issue of destruction. These are “You Better Believe!”, “Twice Your Size”, “Rapture”, and “Sagittarius A+”. All of these portray the humongous stress youth has to face nowadays given the danger of imminent destruction, the world doing so badly in every sense, and how that seems to be leaving their generation isolated and burdened. In Declan’s words, it feels kind of as if the older generations were expecting for them to fix everything that is wrong, which causes them to feel fear, anxiety, hopelessness, and loneliness. It is at this point that Declan reflects briefly on two “gods”: in “Sagittarius A+” he sings to “Mother Earth” apparently in an effort to comfort her for the destruction she’s going through, “You don’t have to be sad about it, Mother Nature. [] So wouldn’t you take the day off, Mother Nature?” In this song, he also mentions Noah as a character, though it is not clear if he’s referring to the building of the arc, he sings “Noah you better start building.”

More explicitly, in the song titled “Rapture,” he expresses his frustration with the god he learned about in his childhood and youth. He reflects upon what the Bible says about the rapture, the Book of Life in Revelations, and the apocalyptic destruction of the earth. But he makes it clear that he has a biased or at least flawed understanding of God’s character when he sings: “Oh, god, tell me I sure am on the list. How can you make yourself so scarce from someone you love? Oh, it [doesn’t] make sense”, with this referring to how in his view god is completely absent or indifferent to the destruction the world is going through despite the claims of “god loves you” often repeated by Christians and religious platforms. In short, he feels doomed, hopeless, and lost. The song ends with an acknowledgment of his being condemned “I’m already dead, Rapture in my head.”

Two songs that come out of the categories addressed above are “The Key to Life on Earth” that is a critique of everyone thinking their beliefs are the truth, where Declan shows an agreement with relativism, and at the same time expresses reality is a construct based on experiences on the one hand, and a result of news and media outlets on the other. Finally, “Eventually Darling”, which was chosen as the last song of the album purposefully, contains the pinnacle of the whole thinking process in this work, and that is: “Everyone leaves eventually, darling.” This song addresses how temporal things seem to be, while the earth is getting destroyed, everything changes rapidly, technology evolves at high speed, and people come and go. In Declan’s words: 

“Everything changes, everyone leaves eventually. You can’t hold on to everything forever.”

But we can actually… As Christians, we can hold on to He who is eternal and unchanging, and Whose love is everlasting and perfect.

Here’s why I consider it relevant to see the contrast between how Declan (as someone representing a godless generation) sees life and how we as Christians see it: we are all facing the same challenges, circumstances, and chaos in the world, and well… sin and wickedness in general, what makes us different though is the response we have to all of that. While Declan and the godless youth are sadly filled with anxiety, fear, hopelessness, and wander trying to find their identity and some sort of comfort, we as Christians are (should be) filled with peace, joy, and hope having found our identity in Christ, Who reconciles us with our loving God, and who comforts us through the Holy Spirit while we are constantly being sanctified. Whereas people now struggle to find meaning and purpose, we know, by His grace, that our purpose is to glorify God. 

In a documentary about his second album, Declan states that everything comes down to one question, for which his peers have no answer:

“Where do people turn when the world rejects them and who they are as invalid?”

And there is an answer: Christ. Always and forever.

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References:

• Tom Cridland (2020). Declan McKenna Interview – Greatest Music of All Time Podcast.
• Marion Walmer (2020). Declan McKenna reflects on “Zeros,” authenticity and self-expression.
• Face Culture (2020). Declan McKenna interview (2020).
• Radio X (2020). Declan McKenna breaks down Zeros track by track | X-Posure.