Music Review // Royal Castles "Stage Fright"

 

Royal Castles have really created this fun and quirky rock song which discusses something which I don't feel gets talked about enough.  I, for one, do not like to be the center of attention, so I'd never really get on stage.  That always makes me think the people who are able to get up on stage are so brave, but what many people don't realize is that a lot of them do suffer from stage fright and other forms of anxiety.  

As this distorted rock and groovy beats take us into the chorus, we get the lines: "I give you butterflies / You give me stage fright".  This makes me begin to think that it's not only about the give and take between a band and their audience but maybe also about the relationship between two people.   But as someone with a lot of anxiety (I don't like going places I haven't been before, for example, which is its own problem) I feel like "Stage Fright" could help you with any of your anxieties.

During this music video the musicians switch spots but overall the whole vibe on the stage just looks like so much fun.  I feel like that's such an important visual because often times the more we have that face of confidence and being fun and the life of the party, the more we want it all to end and are slowly dying inside because of anxiety.  Seeing someone on stage, nervous and all sweaty just doesn't seem as realistic to me as to what is happening in the video.

Anxiety seems like something we all have to some extent.   People who just go out there and have no fear are probably criminals, but the way that this is all tackled in this song makes me feel better about it because it makes me feel like awkward people can get together and not feel so awkward.   There are also these sort of robotic elements to this song, a little like Oingo Boingo and that era of music, which makes it stand out even more.