Both By Passenger and By Avicii represent speakers who are young adults that are finally getting to experience the world through their own eyes. In the case of “Hell or High Water” the speaker is taking life more so from a head on point of view. As a result the speaker of “Wake Me Up” is trying to take life by figuring out where he belongs in society., and how he wants people to view him .The speaker of “Hell or High Water” instead is trying to figure of relationships and how to better understand thim.
Nonetheless all of theses songs relatable show the challenges people go through in life as they grow up and age. This line “guided by a beating heart” from the song “Wake Me Up” is written in way that shows the religious aspects of life. In this line the word heart is being referred to as a spirit. Here it is describing the part of a person that makes up his characteristics, emotions, and ones highest self. The writer isn’t sure where he will end up but he knows that his spirit will always be there to guide him and help him make the right life decisions.
The speaker of “Wake Me Up” is using his spiritual religion to help find a healthy way to life, were everyone can benefit. Furthermore so the song “Hell or High Water” continues to shows the ways in which people go about taking their own approach on life. Like “Wake Me Up” this song is showing someone who views themself as mature now that freedom has rung upon them, and they have more responsibilities. The author of this piece however is set to determine his life of relationships.
Line 24 “See, all my life I’ve been/ Silently reaching for/ A hand to hold to warm the cold, a spark of light”, is showing the love between 2 people that is slowly fading as they realize they don’t have a so called spark of light or special connection. Again this is about the experience of a first time relationship. In relation to Passengers “Hell or high Water”, lines 9 and 10 of Avicii’s song “Wake Me Up”; “So wake me up when it’s all over/ When I’m wiser and I’m older”, shows a speaker who is again very young. Although in this song the older generation a.k.a his parents and grandparents are telling him he’s clueless and doesn’t know what’s in store for him. The speaker responds with the phrase “wake me up, when i’m wiser and older”, meaning he thinks he needs to be woken up when life and his goals are both clear.
He is viewing this as an opportunity to find his own place in society rather than others making their own generalisations about him This line in relation to other lines of Passengers is about being beaten by life. “Life will pass me by if I don’t open up my eyes/Well that’s fine by me”. The speaker is hoping to forever stay young and that if he opens his eyes to see the world as an adult that will to begin to quickly end. This is about living life with the identity you have created for yourself, and finding the inner child within yourself, and not letting others bring you down.
Similarly the first sentence of “Hell or High Water” , “Trick of the light” is also about life being more of a flash of light in the sense of it being that people grow up and life passes by very quickly. This line is more so however is more so about how fast he feels that his relationships go by. Here he is comparing it to almost like turning on and off a light very quickly, as if it almost didn’t happen, and it was something soon to be forgotten of. Then again both of these songs in their own unique way show just how 2 different people can take on the challenges of life. You may go through life with the ambition of a relationship or simply finding where you belong in society, just know wherever you choose is the write opion if you take it one step at a time.
