Music Review // Dynasty "Hope"

 

When this song begins with the big synths, I think we're about to go into something which is from a different time.   This song begins to feel like Cyndi Lauper and just that sort of vibe from the 1980's and early 1990's.  While this tone can stay dreamy and blissful, it also takes on more of a pop feel as it kicks in.  This begins to make it feel more modern and in some ways I think about this musically as sounding like a band such as Audio Jane if they went from rock to synthpop.  At times, this song can also become hypnotic.

From a lyrical standpoint, you definitely feel like from the title that this song will be about "Hope".  It should have that positive energy, and it does, because if it was going to feel the opposite way it would be called "Hopeless" or "Hopelessness".  But the thing about this song is that it does talk about when things are hopeless and as the lyrics say: "It wasn't meant to be".  So more than just "Hope", this feels like "Hopeless/Hope" in the lyrics because it can be about both.

But perhaps the most important part of this song is that it has that theme of things might be hopeless now, but they will eventually get better as there is still hope.   As the line says: "There is so much left for me".   "Hope" truly feels like that type of song where it's not just about spreading the positive message of hope, but it's doing so by saying that there are times when we're down and this song is here to pick us back up.

At times I even feel like this song can be influenced by the Toto song "Africa", as it has similar sounds in it, but Dynasty just does such a great job of blending that synth pop nostalgia with modern pop and synth rock.  Ultimately, "Hope" can take on this sort of mantra within the song where you can listen to it when you're feeling down and feel reassured that things are going to get better.   Even just the sound itself can help to lift your spirits.