St. Vincent – “Digital Witness” from St. Vincent (2014; Loma Vista)
Lives aren’t lived so much anymore as they are live-streamed, documented via social media and backed up on remote servers. It’s a reality we’ve grown used to even if we don’t necessarily like it—nothing we do is really of any value unless someone else envies it. Or at the very least, if it’s on a smartphone, there’s proof that we exist. That’s the fairly bleak observation at the heart of St. Vincent’s funky, impossibly catchy “Digital Witness.” Annie Clark ponders an existential question over the song’s buzzing, charged chorus: “If I can’t show it, if you can’t see me/What’s the point of anything?” It’s an uncomfortable place to go if only because the answer somehow reflects back on our own vanity, FOMO and narcissistic need to be constantly validated. It puts into awkward perspective the trivialities of modern life. Pics or it didn’t happen. – JT from www.treblezine.com
https://www.treblezine.com/37692-10-essential-songs-about-technology/
