Growing Up Is Getting Old Song Analysis
BULGARIA IN EUROVISION STAGE
Bulgaria has not been very successful throughout its history
of Eurovision. Their biggest achievements in Eurovision are fourth place with
Poli Genova in 2016 and second place with Kristian Kostov in 2017
(eurovision.tv). Bulgaria, which participated in the competition later compared
to other countries (in 2005), missed their chance to be the first by not
participating in some years. They had to withdraw from the competition in 2019
due to economic reasons. With Eurovision not being able to organize the
competition in 2020 due to Covid-19, they returned to the stage with VICTORIA
after two years. Initially, Victoria should’ve been in the competition in 2020
with a different song called “Tears Getting Sober” (eurovision.tv). After she
got selected for 2021, she didn’t think she could top her old song, but she
worked hard and became 11th in 2021 (Feliks, 2021).
VICTORIA
Victoria Georgieva was born in Varna, Bulgaria on 21
September 1997 (wikipedia.com, 2023). So, her mother language is Bulgarian. Her
career started in 2015 when she became sixth on the X Factor Bulgaria season
four after three failed attempts (Feliks, 2021). She is a very hard-working person
and never stops making new music. (wiwibloggs,2021, 1:05-1:23) She said in an
interview that “I can’t live without music. I woke up with music, go to sleep
with music.” (ESCXTRA,2021,1:13-1:51) The most important muse in her
songwriting process is her family which was her muse to write her Eurovision
entry song too. (youtube)
Growing Up Is Getting Old
Victoria and her friends (Maya Nalani, Oliver Björkvall, and Helena
Larsson) wrote the song’s draft in 2019 at a
songwriting camp on the Bulgarian seaside (ESCXTRA,2021,2:45-3:20). The
song is fully in English, and her songwriter friends are all
from Sweden. This brings us to the concept of cosmopolitanism. “Cosmopolitanism
is the belief that all people are
entitled to equal respect and consideration, no matter what their citizenship
status or other affiliations happen to be.” (Brock,2015). For the Eurovision
stage, we can call the concept of Balkan countries showing their Europeanness
on the Eurovision stage by performing other than their ethnic nationalism,
cosmopolitanism (Sieg, p.255). We can observe that Victoria
keeps up with the idea of cosmopolitanism, as there are no Bulgarian words or
features in the song and the songwriters are all from different nationalities. Also,
the song’s genre is chamber pop which is a subgenre of indie pop
(wikipedia.com, 2023). This genre is very similar to Billie Eilish's songs. In
this way, we can say that because she is influenced by a Western country pop
star, it fits in the cosmopolitanism idea.
She said while she was writing this song she was feeling very
down and wanted to write a song that gives people hope (ESCXTRA,2021,
3:20-4:05). She said, “Half of the song is about appreciating your family and enjoy
your little times with them and half of them is about it’s okay not to be
okay.” (Eurovision Song Contest,2021,0:46-1:11). She chose this song,
particularly because after being in quarantine in 2020, mental health problems
are increased. She thought that by listening to this song she can help people
feel better (ESCXTRA,2021, 9:52-10:05). According to her, it’s important to
write new songs which are giving some message to people
(ESCXTRA,2021,8:35-8:57). She said she has some love songs too but on a world
stage, it’s important to give your message with an influential song when
millions of people are watching you perform. She adds “I wanted to be more true
and honest with people. And to tell them that they are worth saving.”
(wiwibloggs, 2021, 3:35-3:52). Because the song’s topic is different than
love and heartbreak, it counts as a novelty song. Novelty songs are categorized
under four different topics according to Ellie Chalkley. These are unusual
vocals, eye-catching props, musical innovation, and other than a love song
(Chalkley,2017).
Lyrics
When
we look at the lyrics, describe the steps experienced by people who have mental
health problems and explain how to live with them. It’s really brave and
personal to put out a song like this on Eurovision. The song is full of
wordplay and metaphors. For example, at the beginning of the song, it goes,
“Playing
tetris with my feelings / Trynna keep them all inside / […] / Lonely is a way
that I survive”
In those lyrics, she is using symbolism. She
likens sitting at home alone to a video game, putting her feelings inside her
(Feliks,2021). In the chorus we see the song title in the wordplay which is the
key to the song. “I'm torn by nervous system's aching / Growing up is getting old /Anxiety
is draining / Getting up is growing old” In
those lyrics she’s describing how sometimes it feels really heavy to wake up
when you’re suffering from anxiety. While telling the truth about people's bad
moments until the last moments of the song, when we come to the last line of
the song, it shows that no one is alone and sometimes everyone has bad moments
and tells that a new day coincides with a new chance (Feliks,2021). The outro goes
like this, “If your world is breaking/ And growing up is getting old/ Know
that you're worth saving/And
getting up is all you've got”
The Scene Performance
Her stage designer is a very famous Austrian
choreographer called Marvin Dietmann. Dietmann is a very-known name around the
Eurovision stage. His most popular work are Rise Like A Phoenix (Austria,2014),
Snap (Armenia,2022), and El Diablo (Cyprus,2021). (eurovision.tv)
When we look at the stage
design, we can observe that it is a simpler decor compared to other performances.
Her stage designer is a choreographer. In her performance, Victoria is sitting
on a rock. The rock is turning. It looks like there is a sea under the rock
with orange and black light effects. Sand flows over the stage towards the edge
of the rock. She’s saying the sand metaphorically signifies how time is
slipping through your fingers. At some point during the performance, she tries
to touch the sand and flow stops. She said that this symbolizes how you can’t
catch some moments during your life because the time cannot be stopped. The
lights behind the stage are also orange and yellow, as are the lights under the
rock. There are star effects behind the lights and with orange lights. On the
rock is a picture of Victoria. The picture is from Victoria's childhood with
her father. While she’s singing the lyrics, “Cause I’ve never understood/ How so much
can fit in little me” she touches the picture frame and caresses the photo
with her finger. The reason why she used this picture she explains in an
interview she gave is because her father is very sick and cannot watch her. Her
family is very important to Victoria, as she has shared it many times
everywhere. She already dedicates her whole Eurovision performance to her
father. She even yells “Love your family” when the performance ends. She’s
wearing a blue shirt and jeans, and a glowing necklace.
Conclusion
Growing up is getting old really is a song that
refers to a very special residence in general and is not normally found in the
Eurovision scene. While such innovations put a different atmosphere on the
competition, they also enable the audience to meet different genres. After the
last three years, we spent in the shadow of the coronavirus, mental health has
played a very important role in all of our lives. It is very critical for
Victoria to mention this issue and show that she is with people who have to live
with such problems, for a competition watched by millions. that's why, even
though it was the 11th, it made a lot of noise throughout the competition and
was loved by the audience. As a result, I think Victoria opened a new path for
Bulgaria with this song and took a solid step for her country to be successful
in Eurovision in the coming years.
Word Count: 1374 words
References
Brock, G. (2015, July 8). Cosmopolitanism.
Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/cosmopolitanism-philosophy
ESCXTRA. (2021, May 1). INTERVIEW: VICTORIA (Bulgaria 2021) // ESCXTRA
[Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYFCf623eAs
Eurovision
Song Contest. (2021, May 17). LookLab VICTORIA – Bulgaria 🇧🇬 with NikkieTutorials [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0uAQXXsg_g
Feliks, N. (2021, March 21). Victoria's
"growing up is getting old" lyrics delve into her inner fears and
emotions. wiwibloggs. Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://wiwibloggs.com/2021/03/20/lyrics-growing-up-is-getting-old-victoria-bulgaria-eurovision-2021/263142/
Gimmicks, glitter and glam: Eurovisions'
novelty song contest. ESC Insight - Home of the Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest
Podcast. (2017, May 10). Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://escinsight.com/2017/05/02/eurovision-song-contest-novelty-songs/
Growing up is getting old - rate
your music.
(n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/victoria/growing-up-is-getting-old/
NDR. (n.d.). ESC 2021: Victoria
Singt "growing up is getting old" Für bulgarien. Eurovision.
Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://www.eurovision.de/videos/2021/ESC-2021-Victoria-singt-Growing-Up-Is-Getting-Old-fuer-Bulgarien,bulgarien760.html
Sieg. (2013). Cosmopolitan empire: Central and Eastern Europeans at the
Eurovision Song Contest. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 16(2), 244–263.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549412450639
Victoria. Eurovision
Song Contest. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://eurovision.tv/participant/victoria-2021
Wikimedia Foundation. (2023,
February 18). Chamber pop. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamber_pop
Yorumlar
Yorum Gönder