Jonah & LOSS
“Like who's here when I need a shoulder to lean on?
I hope you're here when I need the demons to be gone.
And it's not fair that I had to fight 'em all on my own.
Like who's here when I need a shoulder to lean on?
I hope you're here when I need the demons to be gone.
And it's not fair that I had to fight 'em all on my own.”
I’m really enjoying Kanye’s album, DONDA. At first listen, I was apprehensive about the bellowing, anthemic and dogmatic sounds and themes but as I gave the album a second, third, fourth listen, I realized something. I wasn’t listening to these songs anymore….I felt part of the journey…the emotion…the pain.
“Jonah” opens with Vory belting out a beautiful, tormented and urgent falsetto harmony. He begs for answers, apart from the one he held close. Just by reading the chorus, I can feel Kanye, Durk and Vory’s loss and nearly feel transported into their hearts and minds as they pour their hearts with melancholic crooning. This song hit me….I know I’m not alone in feeling like a great movie or song transports me into that world. I feel what they feel. It’s also not profound to obsess about death….right?? It’s an absolute truth. There’s no running from it.
Every time I hear this song, I’m thrusted into an echo chamber of loss, pain, death and well, rhythm. The ‘Walmart’ scanner-type beep that repeats throughout the track, with its alarming, yet controlled sound brings me out of the immersive storytelling and haunting vocals and back to alarming reality. Vory dives deep and introspective while also being relatable when referencing his demons. Like mine. like yours. Like all of us.
Durk reflects and ponders the irony of his brother’s murder as his father is released from jail after 26 years and his explosive presence in the music industry.
Finally, Kanye completely diverts expectations by creating walls to shield his emotion and instead uses his confident bravado to send a direct and clear message to his opps. Jonah is a metaphor for all three artists, as Vory and Durk reflect on loss but repent like Jonah to God for forgiveness.
Kanye is aware of the potential sin he could commit and immediately repents. His emotions and loss can mold the aggressive and confrontational Kanye, in light of his opposition.
On a literal level, Jonah forces me to confront mortality, loss, pain and self-reflection.