No More Candles — A dreamers paradise.
Album art for Dream Workz by Songer
Songer has been making waves on the internet for a while now, attracting a strong and loyal fan base in the process. He has made several appearances on Black Box, a platform that puts the lyrical ability of an artist to the test, with one particular appearance attracting 3.4 million views. Here is a promising young talent, blessed with impressive diction and wordplay. I came across No More Candles by chance, through Spotify radio, and I won’t lie it struck a chord.
No More Candles is one of 10 songs in Songer’s first studio album Dream Workz released in December 2019. It is a rap album, with varying types of beats orchestrated to allow Songer’s lyricism to flourish. Rappers are and have been for decades, modern poets. Songer’s ability to combine charisma with colloquialisms, neatly pouring out such in lyric form conveying what compels him to get out of bed each morning.
Songer places particular significance on No More Candles and stating the tune to be his favourite from Dream Workz lyrically, because ‘that one was personal for me’, during an interview for Link Up TV. No More Candles’ focus on an existential desire to be great is palpable; a tangible sense of self-belief that fights against the idea of living a life that is average. For Songer, anything but being a musician would be an abject failure, and there simply is no room to contemplate such. To release a song expressing such thought processes not only allows for healthy self-expression but too motivates the listener who may be in similar circumstances, regardless of career path. You get the impression that No More Candles required a deep search emotionally to expand his sense of life, through increased openness and subsequent truth. The instrumental serves as the perfect bed for the consumer to take in the lyrics, and though they are personal to Songer, they too become personal for the listener.
Album art for Good Enough, by Chance the Rapper
No More Candles bares subtle similarity with Good Enough by Chance the Rapper, his first song in his first project where he too best displays a visceral need to make a success of himself. Within the body of Good Enough, Chance refers to waking up in anxious cold sweats attributed to his deep fear of not being successful.
Good Enough reveals Chance’s fear of failure is very real, and self-doubt begins to consume as ‘a dream deferred dies, and shrivels’. This is a reference to Langston Hughes’ critically acclaimed poem A Dream Deferred, exploring the concept of dreams collapsing inward. As the tape rolls and the song progresses, a shift in Chance’s mentality is noticeable stating ‘we revolt against that thought’. He is now taking control of his destiny, at least mentally. Back to No More Candles, and the similarities now become more explicit; Songer decides to stop attributing his desire to be successful through merely formulating wishes, and blowing out candles. Instead, ‘no more candles, it’s time open my e-y-es’, going on to confess his enticement to perform live, travel the globe on tour and avoid the habitual ritual of the 9 to 5.
What is key is a shift in attitude and the development in understanding that if there is even but a slim chance of dream becoming reality then we must chase it with full vigour. Success is an innate desire we all share, but perhaps it is about what we are willing to sacrifice. It is very common for artists to hit the studio, and use their art to convey what they want most from life, and it many cases it plants the seeds in their fledgling careers. To transcend dream into reality. Following Good Enough, Chance the Rapper officially released his debut mixtape 10 Day compiled whilst suspended from school, followed by Acip Rap and the rest is history.
Chance the Rapper performing live, via usatoday.com
Dream Workz is by far more of an accomplished body of work if directly compared with Good Enough. However, what Songer and Chance share is a thirst for greatness at an early stage in their careers, and talent to match their ambition. Confident but cool, not brash. It is clear that Songer is an artist who chooses his words carefully. A lot may argue that the British music industry is saturated, but spotting a talent who is distinct amongst the masses is often easy, and for me, Songer is the one who shows up in an orange North Face jacket amongst those in black.
‘Why do you only dream when you’re snoozing?’ is a quote from No More Candles which reverberates. This is a question we must all ask ourselves if there is something we wish to achieve, but we are not doing our utmost best to achieve it.