{"id":11030,"date":"2019-10-06T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2019-10-06T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=11030"},"modified":"2019-10-06T10:05:25","modified_gmt":"2019-10-06T14:05:25","slug":"praying-to-a-god-by-mr-probz-luke-remix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2019\/10\/06\/praying-to-a-god-by-mr-probz-luke-remix\/","title":{"rendered":"“Praying to a God” by Mr. Probz (LUKE remix)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I tuned in to my weekly discover on Spotify, absentmindedly listening to songs while I weeded through tangled thoughts. Midway through folding my laundry, the words from my stereo harnessed my focus into one single line of thought. I ran to my phone to check the name of the song\u00a0“Praying to a God” by Mr. Probz (LUKE remix). I listened closely.<\/p>\n

She’s praying to a god who won’t talk back
\nHer faith is dying to tears aside, she’s going off track
\nShe’s praying to a god who won’t talk back, won’t talk back
\nDown on her knees said praying to a god who won’t talk back<\/div>\n
Her momma believed that the devil had her dress on
\nSo she’s out on the town tonight, she got her best on
\nHer daddy believed that the needle was a highway
\nSo she powders her nose, she’s just looking for direction
\nIt gets hard to feel the friction underwater
\nAs she’s breaking down, she’s tearing out the borders
\nAnd too deep to save herself, she takes a pill that seems to help
\nClose her eyes, forget she standing at the alter<\/div>\n

There was a story. The song writer uses euphemisms to gently describe a callous life,\u00a0softened descriptions an intensely painful lifestyle surrounding drugs and hopelessness.<\/p>\n

She’s praying to a god who won’t talk back
\nHer faith is dying to tears aside, she’s going off track
\nShe’s praying to a god who won’t talk back, won’t talk back
\nDown on her knees said praying to a god who won’t talk back<\/div>\n
–\u00a0does she ever give up hope?<\/em><\/div>\n
Her momma believed that the devil had her dress on<\/div>\n
–\u00a0Evil can come in disguise. Referring to a\u00a0<\/em>home wrecker?<\/i>
\nSo she’s out on the town tonight, she got her best on<\/div>\n
– Vengeance, put on her own dress…<\/em>
\nHer daddy believed that the needle was a highway<\/div>\n
–\u00a0Her father is a heroin addict, so she looks for guidance from her heavenly Father, but He does not seem to\u00a0guide her either…<\/em>
\nSo she powders her nose, she’s just looking for direction<\/div>\n
–\u00a0Powdering your nose sounds like a pampering gesture to get her back on her feet, like say cleaning up in\u00a0preparation for a job interview. However, the reality of this story is the dangerous resort to cocaine as a means of feeling of elevation.<\/em>
\nIt gets hard to feel the friction underwater<\/div>\n
–\u00a0her coping strategy works for a moment, though she knows she’s drowning<\/em>
\nAs she’s breaking down, she’s tearing out the borders<\/div>\n
–\u00a0alas, the temporary high only leaves her feeling further submerged in her despair.<\/em>
\nAnd too deep to save herself, she takes a pill that seems to help<\/div>\n
–\u00a0deeper in despair, she must find a stronger means of elevating herself, since she has more vertical distance to cover you could say<\/em>
\nClose her eyes, forget she standing at the alter<\/div>\n
–\u00a0and\u00a0life, through\u00a0what could be the happiest moments, goes by in an apathetic blur<\/em><\/div>\n

Then, I began pondering the meaning of the title. How curious it is that people have faith…and keep faith even when their god doesn’t respond to them or decide to let go.\u00a0I dug up the novel song published in 2015 originally by the Norwegian duo Nico & Vinz. I’d heard of these guys! They did the radio hit “Am I Wrong?” that anyone with remote exposure to contemporary R&B music would know, but how come more people don’t hear this one? I always wonder what merits a radio hit. Praying to a God includes expressive language about the absence of peace and order, like what one would see without the presence of, for many people, God. Statistics show an obvious decline of organized religion. Why this is the first time in history that “no religion” dominates the results of surveys of Americans’ religious identity?<\/p>\n

Throughout college, I’ve spoken with people who live with an absence of religion or are deeply grounded in one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I tuned in to my weekly discover on Spotify, absentmindedly listening to songs while I weeded through tangled thoughts. Midway through folding my laundry, the words from my stereo harnessed my focus into one single line of thought. I ran to my phone to check the name of the song\u00a0“Praying to a God” by Mr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2182,"featured_media":11324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11030"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11323,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11030\/revisions\/11323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}