Song Analysis - Aidan Hargett

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Aidan Hargett
Stanard
ENG 1201
1 July 2021
Analysis of MGMT’s “Kids”
“A baby is born / crying out for attention,” sings MGMT’s Andrew Vanwyngarden in
“Kids,” a song that seems, at first glance, innocent and cheerful. However, this line, as well as
the entire song, alludes to something deeper and more pessimistic about humanity. When people
are first born, they are instinctively selfish as they cry out for attention, humans selfishly crave
attention. The entirety of the song depicts the greed of humanity, and the inability of humans to
directly see the effects of their consequences on the Earth, all due to the infatuation with the
briefness of life. The uniqueness of MGMT’s music allows for the audience to perceive their
songs in completely different ways, simply through the way other artists perform the songs and
what visual elements complement the song. This is exactly the case with Colin & Carloine’s
cover of the 2008 hit. The presentation and performance of “Kids” by Colin & Caroline
promotes a much warmer feeling and message, one of love. Throughout the performance and
music videos of both renditions of “Kids,” MGMT and Colin & Caroline use many visual and
stylistic elements to promote two entirely different narratives.
Visual elements often have the largest impacts on an audience, music videos are no
exception to this. These visual aspects, as powerful as they are, may determine the entire
meaning, tone, and narrative of a song, as exemplified in both versions of “Kids.” MGMT’s
visuals for their music video had such a realistic and profound impact on the audience that it
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often drew children's rights protests. The beginning of the video consists of a lonely child, first in
his crib, being traumatized and followed by monsters, which continues throughout the video. As
expected, the child reacts in horror, attempting to flee every chance he gets. MGMT purposefully
does this as it not only represents and alludes to a deeper and more somber meaning to the lyrics,
but it also engages with the audience’s sense of morality, emotionally engaging them within the
video.
On the contrary, Colin & Caroline powerfully depict different stages and feelings of love.
Colin & Caroline’s video starts out with a few scenic cuts between lakeside views, and peaceful
forests, completely different from the imagery shown in MGMT’s video. The two are smiling
throughout their performance, there are soft cuts and the zooms in on their fingers as they play
their respective instruments. This relaxed form of motion picture allows the audience to feel
more relaxed and conveys a much warmer feeling entirely. This entire music video includes the
artists themselves, but MGMT’s version only shows the band once, most of the video follows the
character, a little boy. Colin & Caroline’s video, in harmony with the style of the music in the
video, convey a duet between two lovers, both growing and maturing, experiencing different
stages of love throughout their lives: maternal, platonic, and eventually, romantic love at the end,
between each other. The ability for visual elements to alter the meaning of two versions of
identical songs indicate its importance in the depiction of a narrative in any form of media.
Another strong tool in musical narration, and arguably the most important, is style. The
two different renditions of “Kids” epitomize this. Andrew Vanwyngarden sings as the only
vocalist in MGMT’s version of “Kids,” already isolating the song to a single person, giving him
sole control over how he uses his voice to portray his emotion. MGMT’s version also contains a
very strong electronic element and a dominant percussive sound, driving the tempo quickly from
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the start. On top of this, the vocals are distorted throughout the song, including lots of reverb and
compression, this gives the song a very distorted and disassociated sound. Throughout the song,
many pauses between verses are elongated by synthesizer solos, as well as the inclusion of a
children’s voice screaming, further adding to the uncertainty and uneasiness of the song, which
advances the darker theme. Colin & Caroline’s cover of the song contains elements that could
not be further than the opposite of MGMT’s style. By simply changing the instrumentation and
number of vocalists used in songs, artists can entirely alter the meaning behind certain tracks.
Colin & Caroline first sing in duet, this classically and historically represents a love song. The
two also dramatically slow the song down from its original brisk pop tempo and, in combination
with the sounds of acoustic guitar and piano, promote a calm and romantic feeling using the
acoustic sound. The most important element in a music video is the song itself, this also includes
the way certain stylistic elements complement the overall message the artists are trying to
convey.
The complex and sophisticated nature of creating music videos goes into many different
things. Every element of a video must be specifically tailored to the message that the artists wish
to deliver, even something as simple as the facial expressions the characters in the video make
may change the meaning behind an entire verse. The use of different instrumentation and style is
also just as important as any visual element in delivering this message to the audience. MGMT’s
more standard use of typical pop elements promotes their darker theme that expresses the nature
of human greed, while Colin & Caroline harmonically depict the different stages of love that one
may feel throughout their life. The two versions of “Kids” by MGMT and Colin & Caroline
typify the detailed nature, structure, and thought that goes into video production.
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Works Cited
Vanwyngarden, Andrew W, and Benjamin N Goldwasser. MGMT - Kids (Official HD Video).
YouTube, Sony Music Entertainment, 25 Oct. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?
v=fe4EK4HSPkI&ab_channel=MGMTVEVO. Accessed: 1 July 2021.
Healy, Colin. Kids - MGMT (Colin & Caroline Cover). YouTube, TuneCore, 27 June 2013,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg2tqtXXC0w&ab_channel=Colin%26Caroline. Accessed: 1
July 2021.

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Analysis of MGMT’s “Kids”

stylistic elements to promote two entirely different narratives.

Vanwyngarden, Andrew W, and Benjamin N Goldwasser. MGMT - Kids (Official HD Video).

YouTube, Sony Music Entertainment, 25 Oct. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=fe4EK4HSPkI&ab_channel=MGMTVEVO. Accessed: 1 July 2021.

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