Lyrics Interpreted: “Work from Home”-Fifth Harmony featuring Ty Dolla $ign
Examining America’s Crowning Achievement
The purpose of this exercise is to bring further meaning to the most popular songs on the democratic airwaves of this country. By providing a layman’s understanding of these trending songs, I will provide context and commentary to the stimulating lyrics that have captivated the nation’s conscience just as James Madison had done with the Constitution in 1787.
Artist: Fifth Harmony featuring Ty Dolla $ign
Song: “Work From Home”
I am already hooked since my favorite pastime is working from home and who better to help illustrate that enjoyment than an artist’s name that has more references to money than Scrooge McDuck. But that is solely a straightforward depiction of this song based off its title. Below is an interpretation of the song’s underlying message of feminism and gender stereotypes as told by this groundbreaking group.
I ain’t worried ‘bout nothin’
I ain’t wearin’ na nada
This song begins with the woman’s blissful ignorance that she should not worry about anything, especially the plight of their gender. Ignore the double negative that is shrewdly used for melodic purposes and only the most intellectual of listeners will get that the double negative is truly meant to be nullified. I also cannot ignore the amazing ability to interweave from English to Spanish. We all wish to be as proficiently bilingual as Fifth Harmony, even if the term “na nada” means “na nothing” in English, according to the expert linguist known as Google Translate since I am nowhere near as cultured as this enriching group. But perhaps “na” is just meant as a phonetic sound and if so, I apologize for potentially pointing out their error.
I’m sittin’ pretty, impatient, but I know you gotta
Put in them hours, I’mma make it harder
I’m sending pic after picture, I’mma get you fired
The lyrics quickly expose the conflict of this song, that women will quickly resort to their stereotypical ways of relying on their looks and patented impatience as seen throughout history depicted by men. But they swiftly shun the false labels of a woman by triumphantly declaring that they will be diligent, which will prove the contradiction of these gender-based labels. Fifth Harmony boasts that they will exploit the fruits of the digital age, the photo, by capturing their hard work, which they hope will get the man of this song fired.
I know you’re always on the night shift
But I can’t stand these nights alone
And I don’t need no explanation
’Cause baby, you’re the boss at home
The women of Fifth Harmony try to sympathize with the man who relies on the trusty, archaic stereotypes that are inflicted on women since this man happens to spend his days dutifully at work. The next line shuffles to a brief emotional breakdown since the woman of this song cannot bare being alone and being unjustly victimized by uneducated stereotypes. The woman implicitly states that if the man were home, then he’d realize the error in using labels on women. But these women of Fifth Harmony embody strength by asserting that the woman will not fall for another explanation as to why the man is not home, learning about the struggles of females. Yet their solidarity hastily falters, reluctantly admitting that their man is the master of their home. This song has enough twists in tension and emotion, from strength to vulnerability articulated by these women, that a Pulitzer Prize would almost be a disservice to this magnum opus of the oppression of women.
You don’t gotta go to work, work, work, work, work, work, work
But you gotta put in work, work, work, work, work, work, work
You don’t gotta go to work, work, work, work, work, work, work
Let my body do the work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work
We can work from home, oh, oh, oh-oh
We can work from home, oh, oh, oh-oh
The members of Fifth Harmony belt an emotional cry unseen since the crooners of the blues over a half-century ago. The woman laments and wails that their man doesn’t have to fall victim of society and the pitfalls of work. But they realize that work is necessary to pay the bills and to at least maintain the status quo. Fifth Harmony deduces that the woman can help with the man’s work and help show that women are just as capable as men in performing jobs. Especially, the physical jobs seen in the music video (link below) and as noted by their suggestion of their body.
Let’s put it into motion
I’mma give you a promotion
I’ll make it feel like a vacay, turn the bed into an ocean
We don’t need nobody, I just need your body
Nothin’ but sheets in between us, ain’t no getting off early
Fifth Harmony amasses the tenacity to put their idealistic plan of gender equality and understanding into action. They are willing to entice the man with a reward, a promotion, if he agrees to their feminist plan. Fifth Harmony decrees that their course of action is as appeasing and enjoyable as a vacation. It’s also nice to see Fifth Harmony be willing to substitute the typical mattress for a buoyant waterbed. It’s a genius idea so that they can cut costs now that the woman and the man are working from home, which most likely means a lesser salary than an “on-the-site job”. Fifth Harmony realizes the difficulty in getting the minds of millions of men to change and accept feminism, but they are willing to at least correct the mind of the man closest to them, still a noble endeavor. And this verse finishes off with a high-brow allegorical reference to sheets of cookies (after much thought, there was no other suitable item to be subjected to sheets within the context of this song). The sheet of cookies is used to reward their man who stayed at home to work and persevered through the demonstration of women’s rights and the inaccuracies of stereotypes that have branded women for most of the world’s history. They cleverly, underhandedly, alluded to timeshare presentations where the viewers will obviously not buy in, but the ambitious presenters will forge ahead against the face of obstinance and the viewers will stick through the end since, like the cookies implied in the song, the viewers will obtain a free vacation or dinner.
[The linguistic savant known as Ty Dolla $ign:]
Girl, go to work for me
Can you make it clap, no hands for me?
Take it to the ground, pick it up for me
Look back at it all over me
Put in work like my timesheet
Dolla $ign first appears in the song, publicizing himself as the voice of the man, in a very domineering manner, demanding a girl to go work for him. I have a feeling this will take a turn for the worse and unintentionally setback feminism similar to how KFC waged war against the health of America with the inception of its “Double-Down Dog”. Clearly, Dolla $ign does not understand the concept of clapping by asking one to clap without their hands. He continues to embellish on this impossible act with simplistic directions unheard since the “Electric Slide”. Dolla $ign neatly ties the bow of this exemplary piece of English language by cleverly referring back to the concept of “work”.
[Ty Dolla $ign contd.]
She ride it like a ‘63
I’mma buy her no Celine
Let her ride in a foreign with me
Once again, Dolla $ign channels what he deems is a better time for mankind, specifically man, by alluding that she rides a 1963. I’m unsure as to how one can ride a number, but I will suppose that the brilliant artist is relating the difficulty of the Civil Rights movement with the oppression faced by women in the 1960s, which results in the narration of the difficulty of a woman who has to bare the fact that her man has to work. Another intellectual reference is made by stating that the man will not buy his lady “Celine”. The only Celine that can cause emotional distress is obviously Celine Dion, so clearly Ty Dolla $ign is paying his respects to other artistic legends while also keeping the reference attuned to the song’s message of the sensitive, emotional subject of women’s rights. Dolla $ign than relents some of his dominion by allowing the woman to ride in a foreign with him. This piece of sharing shows the critical character development of the man to succumb his selfish ways, denoting the greatness of this work, and illustrating its undeniable popularity.
[Ty Dolla $ign contd.]
Oh, she the bae, I’m her boo
And she down to break the rules
Ride or die, she gon’ go
I won’t judge, she finesse
I pipe up, she take that
Putting overtime on your body
Dolla $ign further strokes his brilliance by using modern jargon to connect to the unsuspecting and philistine members of the public. The mindset of the song shifts gears, as Dolla $ign appears to be accepting of the woman being able to be free of his demands and faulty, constraining views. By bequeathing this woman with the prestigious term of “ride or die”, Dolla $ign is signaling his reverence for women and his impending openness to their rights and opinions. Dolla $ign channels the new age thinking of being mindful and declaring that this woman has the sophistication of devising their own thoughts and actions. The action of piping up notifies the observer of this classical work that Dolla $ign has too much to take in and needs to exhale all the new, revolutionary information that he has inhaled. Dolla $ign’s verse ends with a revelation of his awakening that women are as important men, declaring that he needs to work overtime to further his thoughts on this woman and her enlightenment.
Yeah, we can work from home
Yeah, we can work from home
Yeah
This virtuoso piece of artistic brilliance finishes with the acceptance and gratification that women are equal to men and that, in this advanced age of the human species, both sexes can live in harmony.
Music Video of “Work from Home”
