That wasn’t what I was expecting. Well, I don’t know what I was expecting, but there was something about the artist’s name and song title that, in my mind at least, suggested something more full-on, less, well, clever. But that was before I played it, that was before I understood it. Books and covers…I fall for it every time.
As the chiming notes lead us in, as the gentle harmonies set everything in motion, you realise that this is something a bit special. Those deft opening vibes then explode into an indie-rock groove, but one that knows how to play pop at its own game.
Then you dig down into the lyrics and you realise that far from being something aggrandising and bloke-ish, which was my initial worry, this is, in fact, the exact opposite. A satire and take-down of toxic masculinity and the modern male ego, this is not only a song that pulls the rug from under your feet…okay, from under my feet…it is also full of literary reference.
Aside from the name, Drwg being the Welsh for naughty (a nickname given to him by his daughters), and pronounced “droog”, which is a, perhaps accidental, reference to the street gang in Anthony Burgess’s controversial “A Clockwork Orange”, he also tips his hat to his countries finest poet, Dylan Thomas, in the lyrics.
And a clever song requires an ingenious video, and this goes beyond even that. Blending images of those who many see as successful, powerful, the embodiment of the “guy that gets the girl,” the alpha male, with footage of those who have taken drastic and fatal action against a society that they see holds the likes of them back, whilst such people thrive, makes for a talking point in its own right. Stop, think, it asks, in a society which advocates such misogynistic traits and which many women still seem beguiled by, what happens to those who feel disenfranchised and discarded? It draws no conclusions, not directly at least, that is for you to do.
The most poignant of pop, the most intelligent of indie music. The more I play it, the more I love it. What more can you ask of a song?
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