The document discusses the themes presented in modern music and how they relate to cultural expectations. It uses Lorde's song "Royals" as an example of rejecting cultural ideals of wealth, possessions, and fame. The document argues that not meeting cultural expectations can lead to feelings of anxiety, rejection, and inadequacy. However, the biblical story of Leah shows how God extends grace to the unloved and unwanted.

2. WHAT IS MUSIC?
• Music has powerful influence:
– Music teaches a worldview (content of songs)
– Music creates a powerful emotional response
• Music is an expression of culture.
– “If you want to get to know a culture, listen to its songwriters.” – Andrew Peterson

3. THEMES OF TODAY’S MUSIC
What is our culture like?
• We care a lot about:
– Possessions à What we have to show off
– “Tonight” à Temporary, or immediate focus
– Authenticity in others, but not ourselves à Hoax of authenticity
– Love, but we don’t know what it is à Shallow, idealized love songs
– “The Beat” // Dancing à Simple & predictable music

4. OUR WAY IN
• We’re NOT saying any of the songs we are looking at are “bad”
• They are merely “our way in” to understanding ourselves better.

5. TONIGHT’S SONG: “ROYALS”
• Ella Yelich-O’Connor (Lorde) in her song, “Royals” is essentially
inserting herself as a critic of today’s music scene
• We are going to follow her lead, using this song as a launching
pad for our series & analyze today’s music

6. LORDE: “ROYALS”
• 17 year old from New Zealand
• In an interview about her song she said:
– People like the song because they “appreciate the honesty”
– She said her inspiration for the song came from her listening to hip hop
& pop music and then comparing her & her friends’ lives with what these
songs said were “cool.” She discovered that “by their standards we
weren’t cool at all.”

8. LORDE: “ROYALS”
What is the meaning?
• “The ‘Royals’ of the title makes its appearance here (in the chorus)
as an obvious stand-in noun for standard pop stardom, a status
which Lorde declares herself not only to not be a part of—by her
DNA, even—but which she seems to hold no aspiration towards,
saying that she wants something else out of her life and her
music. ” -- Andrew Unterberger

9. LORDE: “ROYALS”
What is the meaning?
• “’Royals’ is about how money doesn't buy happiness. Lorde is
saying that she is happy without all of the fancy things in life, and
how she refuses to envy the people who are richer. ” – Anonymous
• “Clearly she is commenting on how the music industry / pop
culture idealizes materialistic lifestyles.” -- Anonymous

10. LORDE: “ROYALS”
What is the meaning?
She is saying that this lifestyle is not a viable option for her (or others):
• She doesn't have “that blood” (wasn't born into fame)
• She doesn’t belong to old money (postal codes - old money tends to live
around the same areas, i.e. Beverly Hills).
• And according to her dream lifestyle, she’s arrived (hence the symbolism of
“driving Cadillacs in our dreams”)

11. LORDE: “ROYALS”
What is the meaning?
• “… now that she’s reaching stardom, Ella risks becoming a
dangerous cliché of her own—that of the successful singer
performing outsider songs from the inside, of becoming a part of
the machine that she originally mocked.” -- Andrew
Unterberger

12. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH
CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS?
You have two options:
1. Conform to them
• Pursue what these songs are calling you to (ending with success
or failure)
2. Reject them (Like Lorde)
• Create your own standards (I’m cooler than the other guys)

13. HOW DO I KNOW IF I MEASURE UP?
Scary, Underlying Questions We’re All Asking:
1. Am I really loved & accepted by my friends?
2. Am I _______ (smart, thin, cool) enough?
3. Am I wanted?
4. If I wasn’t here, would anyone miss me?

14. WHAT DO WE ALL WANT?
To perform well, so that we can be accepted by others.

15. BIG QUESTION:
What happens when we don’t measure
up to cultural expectations?

16. BIG QUESTION:
What happens when we don’t measure
up to cultural expectations?
1. Feelings of Anxiety
2. Feelings of Rejection
3. Feelings of Inadequacy
4. Feelings of nonfulfillment (the unending elusive chase)

17. IN SHORT:
When we don’t measure up, it crushes us.

18. REAL LIFE EXAMPLE:
Conan O’Brien
“Just reached 4 million
twitter followers. IS
THIS GOOD ENOUGH
FOR YOU, DAD?!?!”

19. REAL LIFE EXAMPLE:
WILL CHATMON
@will_matters

21. BIBLICAL EXAMPLE:
Genesis 29: Jacob & Leah
Cultural Expectations for Women of the Day:
1. Be Beautiful
2. Get Married
3. Have Kids

22. BIBLICAL EXAMPLE:
Genesis 29: Jacob & Leah
Leah & the Cultural Expectations:
1. She was not beautiful (some would say ugly) & she knew it
•
Gen. 29:17

23. BIBLICAL EXAMPLE:
Genesis 29: Jacob & Leah
Leah & the Cultural Expectations:
2. Leah’s dad decided it would be impossible for her to get married
so he resorts to deception. - Gen. 29:21-27
•
Her dad had to trick Jacob into “laying” with her
•
Once Jacob found out that he was deceived, he was FURIOUS &
blamed Leah.

24. BIBLICAL EXAMPLE:
Genesis 29: Jacob & Leah
Imagine how Leah is FEELING right now:
The questions we mentioned earlier are RACING through her mind
1. Am I loved & accepted?
In this moment, her
2. Am I _______ enough?
answer to each
3. Am I wanted?
question is a
4. If I wasn’t here, would anyone miss me?
resounding NO.

25. BIBLICAL EXAMPLE:
Genesis 29: Jacob & Leah
Leah & the Cultural Expectations:
3. In His astounding love & grace, God gave her a child
•
Gen. 29:31
•
“When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb…”

26. SUMMARY:
God sees the unlovable, unwanted, detested, hated
reject & gives her GRACE.
When she doesn’t measure up:
•
God knows her when no one else wants to.
•
God comes to her in her failure, isolation & rejection.
•
He gives grace to the ugly one, the abandoned one & gives her a child,
the ultimate sign of rich blessing in her culture.

27. SUMMARY:
Just like Leah, God meets our isolation & despair in Christ.
Although we may not like to admit it, we don’t measure up:
•
We are not good enough to get God’s attention & grace
•
We have failed (sinned) over & over
•
We are utterly helpless apart from His grace
•
God has chosen to love the unlovable
•
He is willing to accept us, despite our ugliness!

28. APPLICATION:
No matter where you are tonight, accept the grace God is
offering to you & turn to Him.
• Don’t try to clean yourself up, come to him dirty.
• Remember, He is pursuing the unlovable.