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heavytuned · 8 years

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A New, Nu-Metal

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“Daddy Issues” by Gift Giver can be found here: https://youtu.be/dLkAkWaq5rE I remember it all so vividly, the night I had discovered Detroit-based nu-metal/deathcore band Gift Giver as a high school student. Excited, I had been attending a concert for a more popular headliner to but little did I know the highlight of my night would be a support band I'd never heard of. When Gift Giver began their set, I was skeptical and unengaged until they played their single “Daddy Issues”. Everyone, including myself, seemed to enter an altered state of mind halfway through their performance; as if the whole venue’s dynamics had morphed into something different. “Daddy Issues” by Gift Giver is a uniquely heavy song in the confines of metal. Not only does its distinguished execution of sonic and lyrical heaviness, but its interesting cultural context and powerful affective force on its listeners make it stand out in a somewhat saturated genre.

In order to analyze this track, the reader is invited to listen to it while dedicating special attention to certain highlighted components and segments. Fading in, the listener is immersed in an unnatural dissonant soundscape in the form of a high-pitched drone noise produced by the heavy use of a pitch shifter pedal on a guitar (Kitts et al. 148). This squealing noise played in vibrato is a recurring and significant component of this song; easily compared to the sound of a police siren, it represents a state of panic and chaos. Seconds later heavily down-tuned overdriven guitars backed by steady drumming make an appearance. The guitar tone and rhythms are played very percussively; unlike that of traditional metal they have a very clear-cut, compressed tone influenced heavily by modern djent and deathcore bands such as Meshuggah, Emmure, and Sworn In (“Gift Giver Biography” n.d.). Throughout the majority of the song, the guitarists and bassist (aided by the drummer) play these catchy, rhythm-focused riffs without relevant variation. The tightness of their playing greatly contrasts with that of the siren-like drone; they act as a strong structural back-bone to the instrumental track amidst the chaos. This peculiar dynamic of chaos and order not only provides sonic heaviness to the song, but its more significant role is analogously reinforcing its vocal and lyrical themes of strength through hardship.

Having taken the instrumentals into account, the vocals are evidently the most powerful force behind this track. Gift Giver’s vocalist, Justin Johnson’s style of vocal delivery incorporates a wide range of techniques. From the rap influenced singing (most audible within the first minute) to the constantly disappearing and reappearing gutturals, fry vocals, and screams, the employment of this mixture of technique places an emphasis on the song lyrics. The lyrics are implicitly focused on the themes of bullying and abuse, with the metaphorical abuse of a fatherly figure being explicitly stated. Despite their unfortunate themes, they don’t get across a message of submission nor self-pity. Upon closer inspection, “Daddy Issues” is all about empowerment of the one who suffered—forgiving but never forgetting the attacker who never gave an apology. The emotional climax of this song is perhaps the most instrumentally quiet section: it is the forty-second chant that begins before the two minute marker. Justin asks “Did you think that I forgot? This is what you fucking told me:” followed by a repeated chant taunting “Why don’t you kill yourself? Just fucking kill yourself” (Johnson 2013). Backed by the chaotic drone noise and ordered tightly played guitar breakdown, chanting these highly sensitive phrases provide a sense of empowerment. It can be interpreted as a resistance to submission towards an oppressor who told Justin to commit suicide. The unprecedented and harsh nature of this chant contribute to “Daddy Issues” affective heaviness on a level that distinguish it from other songs of the same genre.

Of course, the historical and social background of a musical piece shouldn’t be overlooked as they indirectly contribute to its creation. Through deduction and a general consensus from music publications, this song, like the rest of the Gift Giver discography possesses many nu-metal and deathcore influences. Conceived in the United States, nu-metal was a short-lived but highly commercialized subgenre that is generally believed to have found its roots in 1994 (Porcello 7). Mixing rapping with harsh vocal techniques and being often lyrically associated with the themes of exclusion, pain, and anger it is clear that nu-metal’s target audience is millennial youth who have suffered from bullying and abuse (Weinstein 275). Around 2004, nu-metal had entered a major decline where lack of community in the scene as a result of its commercialization was a major driving factor (Mehling 2015). On the other hand, deathcore is a subgenre that mixes the sound of death metal with the breakdowns of hardcore music; it was founded more recently in the early twenty-first century (Tofalvy 2014). Being difficult to trace back to a specific local scene, deathcore became an extremely globalized subgenre amongst teenagers by finding its success online through the Myspace social media platform as its primary medium (Tofalvy 2014). Given that both subgenres are fairly recent with an appeal to a younger scene raised in a different era than that of many older metal bands, the optimal conditions have been put in place for a less-commercialized nu-metal revival with a heavier dependence on the global scene unity of deathcore. Gift Giver are one of many young artists that are a part of this movement, with a short history touring alongside similar bands.

Taking its sonic qualities, lyrical meaning, and cultural origins into account, it is easy to consider the affective force “Daddy Issues” has on its listeners. Although it has a unique representation of heaviness, this song’s primary force is affective overdrive—a common property of the metal genre as a whole (Wallach et al. 13). In the 1990s, a study conducted on Ohio metalheads had found that for them, metal’s affective overdrive emphasized “taking control of one’s life, an expression of freedom in the face of society’s attempted imprisonment” (Wallach et al. 15). Furthermore, a recent study on metal youth in Australia concluded that “metal was vitally important when participants felt vulnerable to bullying and exclusion by popular peers at school” (Rowe 2016). Gift Giver’s sound and lyrics exceed both the explicit and implicit criteria that qualitatively determine the extent of a (metal) song’s emotional heaviness. The climactic chant in this song not only questions listeners why they don’t give up when faced with the hardships of society and life in general, but it also provokes an answer inside. Every individual that identifies with the meaning behind “Daddy Issues” will find their own answer under the influence of its affective overdrive along with the strength to face their disadvantages, maltreatments, and the realities of modern life.

Works Cited

"Gift Giver Biography." Century Media Records - Gift Giver. Century Media Records, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. <http://www.centurymedia.com/artist.aspx?IdArtist=748>.

Johnson, Justin. Daddy Issues. Gift Giver. 2013. MP3.

Kitts, Jeff, and Brad Tolinski. "Effects." Guitar World Presents Nu-metal. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard, 2002. 148. Print.

Mehling, Shane. "They Did It All for the Nookie: Decibel Explores the Rise and Fall of Nu-Metal." Editorial. Decibel Magazine Oct. 2015: n. pag. Decibel Magazine. Decibel Magazine, 13 Aug. 2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. <http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/2015/8/13/they-did-it-all-for-the-nookie-decibel-explores-the-rise-and-fall-of-nu-metal>.

Porcello, Niccolo. "Affective Masculinities and Suburban Identities: Nu-metal as Reflexive Art." Digital Window @ Vassa: Senior Capstone Projects. Vassar College, 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. <http://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1592&context=senior_capstone>.

Rowe, Paula. "Becoming Metal: Narrative Reflections on the Early Formation and Embodiment of Heavy Metal Identities." Journal of Youth Studies (2016): 1-19. Taylor & Francis Online. Informa UK Limited, 30 Nov. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2017.

Tofalvy, Tamas. "‘MySpace bands’ and ‘tagging wars’: Conflicts of genre, work ethic and media platforms in an extreme music scene." First Monday [Online], 19.9 (2014): n. pag. Web. 10 Feb. 2017

Wallach, Jeremy, Harris M. Berger, and Paul D. Greene. "Affective Overdrive, Scene Dynamics, And Identity In The Global Metal Scene." Metal Rules the Globe: Heavy Metal Music around the World. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2011. 13-15. Print.

Weinstein, Deena. "Nu-Metal." Rock'n America: A Social and Cultural History. Toronto: U of Toronto, 2015. 275. Print.

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